October, 1912 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
249 
Did you ever notice a country boy on 
the face of the fields? He goes about his 
business curiously a part of Nature, it 
may be industriously gathering nuts un¬ 
der a brown hickory, or a tiny figure dis¬ 
appearing over a pasture ridge or cross¬ 
ing a square of stubble surrounded to the 
knees by a swarm of startled grasshop¬ 
pers. He fits into the landscape like a 
squirrel or a bird. So the little orange 
and gold blooms of the paint brush in the 
grass by the wayside, or the Canadian 
iilies looking up over a wall, or the banks 
of golden rod and asters laying their 
splendid colors with the curve of the road 
mile on mile, have no blight of artifice 
upon them, but, though seen, are yet un¬ 
seen, are rather felt as a part of the peace 
and loveliness of Nature. They do not as¬ 
sault you with their showiness, they and 
their sisters, nor cry of their clever ar¬ 
rangement nor whisper excitedly to the 
breeze that the house up the path cost 
$200,000. They are humble weeds at best, 
wind-sown, bird scattered, bound into a 
wild garland only by the ribbon of the 
road. They are fairest on neglected by¬ 
ways, and for him who still tramps the 
by-ways they are garden enough. What 
need hath he of vast estates whose ways 
lie where the mountain laurel climbs the 
hills or the purple of flowering raspberry 
and the tiny jewels of gold-thread are the 
foreground for a vista of falling brook 
and emerald vale to the blue dome of the 
Taconics? What gardened estate shall 
ever satisfy him, indeed, that does not hold 
something of the simplicity and wild 
grace and pictorial naturalness of this 
rural America, of this landscape which 
shall always be to him as the thought of 
home ? 
It was an old road out of Concord that 
Thoreau hymned, in one of his lyric pas¬ 
sages, “The May weed looks up in my 
face there, the pale lobelia and the Canada 
snap-dragon; a little hardtack and 
meadow-sweet Deep over the fence: noth¬ 
ing more serious to obstruct the view, and 
thimble berries are the food of thought 
(before the drougiit), along by the walls. 
A road that passes over the height-of-land. 
between earth and heaven, separating 
those streams which flow earthward from 
those which flow heavenward." 
He did not scorn the flowers, intent on 
this high rhapsody. To him they were 
lovely and of g'ood report. He only asked 
that they should not shut out his tran¬ 
scendental view. Even in more earth- 
bound mood we may well ask of gardens 
that they do not shut out our view of Na¬ 
ture. and even though they lie but a screen 
against our neighbor’s clothes yard that 
they seem less a horticultural display than 
a bit of spontaneous growth from the soil 
wherein they stand. The larger our gar¬ 
dens are planned, the more feasible it be¬ 
comes to make them truly spontaneous and 
reproductive of the landscape, or a part 
and parcel with it. And toward that 
achievement many an old New England 
roadside still points the way. 
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| Flints Fine Furniturf | 
| Colonial | 
| Reproductions | 
One of the main efforts of our craftsmen g 
= lias been to produce furniture of the pure g 
g Colonial style, correct in dimensions and ^ 
proportions, and keep constantly before g 
them our motto of “ Flint Quality ” in M 
g construction. g 
= We have a very large variety of Colonial 
H Furniture Reproductions in complete suites, 
or single pieces for every room in the house. 
§§ many of them reproduced from rare, antique 
models. g 
= Inspection of our new Fall g 
Fall - The Ideal 
Tree PI antin 6 
Osmsmsm 
I F some kind friend told you of his 
success in planting trees and shrubs 
in the Fall and was thoroughly con¬ 
vinced of its decided advantages over 
Spring planting, wouldn’t you be inclined 
to give the question enough serious 
thought to at least send to Hicks for 
full information and a catalog showing 
kinds and prices of the trees you want'? 
If, however, you haven't any such helpful 
friend, then let 11s act as both friend and 
adviser and strongly urge you to do your 
tree and shrub planting this Fall—now. 
Plant Ilicks big trees if possible— big 
ones like the maple in the illustration, 
which was moved from our nurseries. If 
you want smaller trees, we have them in 
sizes, from' 3 () feet down to 0 inches. 
No choicer, sturdier, more carefully root- 
pruned stock can be found anywhere. 
Come to our nursery if 3^011 can and 
make selections. If 3*011 can’t, you can 
depend on our handling your mail order 
in a way entirely to your satisfaction. 
Westbury, Long Island 
i 
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