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149 
HOW TO LAY OUT COTTAGE GROUNDS. 
The design for a cottage upon this page affords, 
in its description, a favorable opportunity to give 
some useful hints and suggestions regarding cottage 
grounds and ornamental planting. 
The plans for the house, and even 
for laying out the foot-paths, walks, 
roads, etc., are necessarily the work of 
the architect, but the arrangement of the 
shrubbery, flowers, etc., are far better 
attended to by the proprietor himself, 
who can develop his taste, and add, 
leisurely, some tasteful touch, or some 
graceful outline, and fill in one after an¬ 
other choice shrubs and climbing vines. 
This lot may be located either in 
the suburbs of the city, or in some 
country village of considerable popula¬ 
tion—facing the village green perhaps. 
It is at the intersection of two streets, 
and comprises between an eighth aud 
a quarter of an acre, devoted to orna¬ 
mental purposes alone, the kitchen 
garden and domestic offices being in 
the rear, and not included in the plan. 
The dwelling stands back thirty feet 
from the street, on a slightly elevated 
spot, which slopes gradually away to 
the boundaries. A foot-path, five feet 
wide, starting from the front gate, passes the front 
entrance, and finally terminates in the open yard in 
the rear. This, with the carriage road, which leads 
from the side gate to the stable, is the only path we 
have introduced on the plan 5 nor is it desirable to 
traverse the whole lot by graveled walks, tending as 
they do to diminish its apparent size by bringing the 
boundaries nearer the eye, and involving a con¬ 
siderable outlay of money and time in making 
and keeping in order. It is, however, of great 
importance that what paths we do make should 
be made in a thorough manner at the outset. 
In order to have a perfect road, the soil, in the 
first place—after the curves have been marked 
and the lines run—should be excavated from 
eighteen inches to two feet deep, and all the 
loam taken away and spread upon some part ot 
the garden; then this ditch should be about half 
filled with any small stones which may be picked 
up here and there about the place, and the whole 
filled up to the desired height with the best 
gravel that can be procured, taking care to make 
it a little higher in the centre than at the two 
sides—say a couple of inches in the five feet 
path—in order that the surface may better shed 
what water does not soak through into the drain, 
and finally, the whole may have a finishing coat 
of blue screened gravel, evenly spread, and well 
rolled, and with proper care we shall have, at all 
seasons, firm, dry and clean walks. 
Tlie foundation of the ornamental portion is 
smooth, green lawn, extending to the boundaries 
on either side, which are hidden by plantations of 
evergreens and shrubbery, with occasionally a decidu¬ 
ous tree introduced, to produce a variety and give 
character to the whole. They are mostly arranged in 
irregular clumps, connected together by other shrubs 
and evergreens, and planted with a view to obtain as 
great a diversity of outline as possible, and heavy 
masses of foliage and flowers, from spring to late in 
the fall. The clump on the right of the front gate is 
composed principally of tall-growing shrubs and ever¬ 
greens. In the corner is an American Mountain Ash, 
the color of whose red berries contrasts well with the 
heavy green of the two Norway Spruces, one on each 
side of it. Close to the path is a large, flowering 
Syriuga, and in front some low, bright, flowering 
shrub, such as Rose Weigela, Double Tree Peony, or 
underneath, heavy plants of the rose-colored Kalrnia 
and Rhododendron. 
In the centre of the lawn is a single specimen of the 
Larch, which will here have ample room to show its 
graceful form and light, airy foliage, to the best 
advantage. 
Returning to the gate, we have on the left a Sugar 
Maple, and a Scarlet Flowered Haw¬ 
thorn, surrounded by a white Persian 
Lilac, a Rose Weigela, a St. Peter’s 
Wreath, and a Fragrant Currant. 
; ’ Beyond this, and close to the fence, 
is another specimen of the Scotch 
Larch, and a little beyond, a Maple or 
Tulip, or some other deciduous tree of 
graceful form. In the corner range, 
we might have first a Venetian Sumac 
or Fringe Tree — desirable on account 
of its brilliant yellow flowers —and 
near it one or two pilants of the Persian 
Lilac, or white Mezereum. A Tulip 
tree, near the corner, forms the central 
point of this group, while beyond it, 
and along the side street, are a Syringa, 
a red Strawberry tree, a Catalpa and 
a mixed Althea, besides a couple of 
Evergreens and smaller shrubs to fill 
up the front. Next comes an area of 
law'll aud flow'ers, with a view across, 
into the street, from the bay-window, 
and beyond this, extending to the 
Design for Suburban Cottage. " • , 
carriage road, another group is made 
Double Dwarf Almond, while farther back, near the ] up of a Larch, a broad-leaved Laburnum, a tall Silver 
fence, are a tall Purple Lilac and a Tartarean Honey- Maple, Persian Lilacs, and a trimmed Arbor Vitm 
suckle. From this clump the range to the stable is as tree, with a Fragrant Currant and a Double Dwarf 
follows: A row of half a dozen evergreen trees of good Almond in the foreground. On the opposite side of 
size near the fence — two or three deciduous trees at the road we have a Rose Weigela, a white Japan 
convenient distances, and between, and forming the Quince, a tall Catalpa, and a couple of Evergreens, 
clumps, are Purple and White Lilacs, Altheas, Honey- j From this group an Arbor Vitae hedge extends to the 
pump, and will in a few years separate and par¬ 
tially hide the kitchen garden from the more 
ornamental portions. A tall Norway Spruce or 
a White Pine should be set where indicated on 
the curve of the road, as a reason for making 
the curve as prominent as we have. 
If the buildings are already built, or their 
positions located, finish up the roads and paths, 
and as much of the lawn as possible ; set the 
hedges, the larger trees, and the principal back¬ 
ground shrubs. Let them get well started, and 
their forms and outlines in a measure determined, 
and then, by another spring, perhaps, set out 
the smaller foreground shrubs, so that they may 
fill up the space left between the others, and 
thus form, when fully grown, thick masses of 
foliage and flowers from the trees down to the 
grass. Flowers may be cultivated wherever a 
suitable place offers itself. We have marked 
the positions of a few of the principal beds. 
Around the house are four large beds of standard 
roses, which should be selected so as to offer a 
variety of color and a constant succession of 
flowers throughout the season, and in other spots 
are figures cut in the turf and filled with attract¬ 
ive flowers. 
Plan oe Grounds and First Floor. 
suckles, Syringas, Hawthorns, and Laburnums, while 
the foreground is made up of specimens of the Spirea, 
Rose Weigela, Japan Quince, Pink Mezereum, and 
Fragrant Currant. 
Near the corner of the stable is a group of three or 
four Evergreens, and between it and the corner of the 
dwelling house there is a clump made up of a couple 
of Firs, an American Mountain Ash, and in the shade 
The house itself is an example of the simplest rural 
Gothic style. It is one and a half stories in height, 
and contains three finished rooms below T and three 
chambers on the second floor. 
This cottage is designed to be built of wood, covered 
in the vertical and battened manner, and finished 
inside and out with moldings of a simple Gothic pat¬ 
tern, and will cost from $2,500 to $4,000. 
