Laying Out a Country Home 
a woman’s sewing balcony overrun with vines 
your drive be, without pretense, broad and 
well drained, and the entrance be between 
stone piers. These drives should invariably 
be dictated by Nature. This great Land 
Artist is always on band with her suggestions. 
Here she says, “I have a knoll for your drive 
to pass around. Let it be covered with 
shrubs; while these hollows, or swales, I 
have been grooving down on purpose for 
your roadway. It gives you a fine curve 
and an easy slope.” So you will have your 
elbow nudged everywhere, if you will listen 
and heed the Old Mother. 
Hedges, must not be used if the lawn sweep 
is broad, and to be viewed as a whole. It is 
also true of very small places that they will 
not bear the subdivision created by hedges. 
But when you come about to need nooks and 
retreats, or to hide a compost pile, or to 
create a shelter, or partly to cover a tennis 
court or a croquet ground, there is a chance 
for hedges. They should never, or very 
rarely, flank the street. The best material 
is hemlock and arbor-vitse—with occasionally 
pines. Windbreaks on the contrary are 
always in order, and should be planted at 
once along your lines, generally to the north 
and west. 
So, as you go on, you see that you are really 
planting yourself; and you are finding out 
Nature. You two will soon get acquainted, 
and will learn to work in harmony. The 
place will grow of itself, year by year. No 
one can create a country home out of hand; 
certainly not for another person. And here 
is the fun of it. You are living now, not just 
staying; and 1 '«ing means developing, chang¬ 
ing, growing. Each year will have its new 
departure, and you will see more clearly, and 
feel, the contents of the whole place. You 
should know, and should help plant every 
tree and shru . A gardener may be needed, 
but if you cannot name the varieties of trees 
and plants you have made a failure. If by 
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