IMPROVEMENT OF HOME GROUNDS. 
At this season of the year, many people are making 
plans to ornament the grounds about newly-built 
houses, or to add to the plants already in their lawns 
and gardens; and a few suggestions about the arrange¬ 
ment, and what is most suitable to plant, wilj be of use 
to many. 
The object to be gained in these plantings is, of 
course, to have the grounds attractive at all seasons to 
the owner, his friends and neighbors, and it is to be 
secured by the proper arrangement of walks and lawns, 
Evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, with beauti¬ 
ful foliage or flowers. 
We want flowers during the whole season; we want 
pretty foliage effects both in winter and summer; we 
want nice lawns and well-arranged walks and drives, 
with such a selection of plants as will not require a 
great amount of skill, time and expense, to keep in 
good order. 
It must be evident to every one that there are very 
few places that attract the eye by their neatness or 
tasteful arrangement, or that seem to give a fair return 
for the labor.bestowed upon them. We see everywhere 
awkward, straggling shrubs, placed in most inappropri¬ 
ate places, broken and unkept terrace-banks and grass- 
plots, with unsightly holes cut in them, filled during 
only a small part of the season with tender bedding- 
plants, that seldom give a satisfactory return for the 
labor and expense bestowed upon them. There is very 
little encouragement to be derived from working on 
such a place. 
To be successful, it is important to have a good and 
deep soil; for without it you will not have good lawns 
or plants. There should be two feet of soil, although 
one will do, and it should be thoroughly plowed, or 
better still, worked over with a spade to the depth of a 
foot-and-a-half, with a liberal supply of stable-manure 
added. 
If the soil is not already on the ground, it should be 
brought on, but be careful to utilize everything you 
already have to good advantage. Where gravelly soil 
is to be removed, it may be used in the walks and 
drives. Where a cellar is dug, do not allow the good 
soil to be covered with the gravel; neither allow that 
in the drives and walks to be covered: you not only lose 
the value of the soil, but you have poor and muddy 
drives during wet weather. 
In building drives and walks, the soil should be dug- 
out to the depth of a foot or more, then filled in with 
stones, the coarser at the bottom, the finer ones at the 
top, and finished off with gravel. The water will run 
through the gravel quickly to the stones below, and 
there will be very little washing, and this layer of 
rocks, serving the purpose of a drain, as it does, should 
be graded on the bottom so as to have a continuous 
slope towards an outlet of some kind where the water 
may run away. 
All may not like gravel walks and drives, as it is con¬ 
siderable work to keep them in repair. Concrete is 
frequently used, but the black surface is not pleasing, 
yet, it saves much labor, from the fact that it always 
presents a smooth surface, needs very little repairs, is 
free from weeds, and does not allow the edges of the 
grass to overrun to any extent. 
In small grounds there should be as few walks as 
possible, considering the convenience. * A long, grace¬ 
ful curve is far prettier in effect than a straight 
walk, and prettier to group trees and shrubs about. 
The walk should be, or appear to be, on the out¬ 
skirts of the lawn, and not cutting it through in the 
middle; for an unbroken stretch of lawn is one of the 
prettiest objects to be had, and is really the foundation 
of a nice-appearing place. 
In a small lot, the driveway will very likely run 
straight in from a single entrance, and there should be 
space enough between the drive and the fence to plant 
some trees and shrubs. In a larger place it may run in 
at one entrance, around the house, and out at another; 
it is not always desirable to run in front of the house, 
even if the front door is there, for it cuts up the lawn 
too much, and it is pleasanter to look out of your front 
windows on a lawn unbroken by driveways. You can 
easily enter and leave the carriage at a side door, or at 
a stepping-stone on the drive reached by a path from 
the front door. 
In grading your grounds do not make a steep-terraced 
bank with sharp angles, such as are seen so frequently. 
They are difficult to keep in repair, the sod is so easily 
broken, it dries up quickly, cannot be cut with the lawn- 
mower, and is not graceful or pretty. It is a good rule 
to make only such slopes as can be readily run over 
with a lawn-mower. Ground that is newly graded 
should stand over winter to settle before it is seeded 
down, for if it does not it will make an uneven lawn, 
that will be hard to smooth up after it is established, 
but trees and shrubs may be planted as soon as the 
grade is determined. 
After the grounds are laid out the next important 
question is what to plant, and how to arrange what is 
selected. It is here that the greatest mistakes are fre¬ 
quently made. The most important thing to consider 
in the selection is to determine what will be the size of 
the plant at maturity, or in ten years, also its habit6 of 
growth, as on this depends largely the arrangement. 
A large growing Evergreen, like the Norway Spruce, 
is not a suitable tree for a small lawn, yet it is fre¬ 
quently planted where there is only a space of a few 
feet; the consequence is the yard is completely filled, 
everything about the tree killed, the windows shaded 
and the house made gloomy. 
There are many dwarf Evergreens of great beauty 
and variety in form and foliage, that are suited for 
small lawns, and that can be readily obtained. The 
Japan Retinisporas give us several fine hardy trees. 
Retinispora squarrosa is a slow-growing, dwarfish tree, 
irregular and picturesque in outline, with foliage of a 
delicate, bluish green, the finer branches in tufts, 
with their tips drooping. Retinispora plumosa has 
light green, soft and fine foliage, arranged in flatfish 
branches. It is a conical and symmetrical tree, and not 
a rapid grower; its var. aurea has a bright, golden-yel- 
