The Garden for the Colonial Type of House 
THE SECOND ARTICLE ON THE SORT OF GARDEN THAT FITS THE HOUSE—GEORGIAN AND COLONIAL GAR¬ 
DENS—UTILITY AS IMPORTANT AS BEAUTY—THE PLACE OCCUPIED BY VEGETABLES, FRUITS AND HEDGES 
I T is only after one has come to regard gardens very closely 
and with a keen eye to their various features, that the dis¬ 
tinctions which certain periods and styles have to offer are appar¬ 
ent. And it is not to be wondered at that this is so—for naturally 
one’s perceptions concerning outdoors grow in the same way that 
every other faculty does — by use — and not without use. All of 
which leads me to the thing I wish to say in the very beginning: 
that there are styles in gardens quite as distinct as the styles in 
houses. And it is perhaps easier to combine wrong “styles” in 
exterior decoration than it is in interior decoration — which is 
saying a good deal, as the professional decorator will, I am sure, 
bear witness. 
The reason that this is so is because the distinctions in style 
are not, as just noted, commonly seen at all; and when they are 
seen, they are not recognized—or, recognized, not regarded. For 
we have a general feeling that whatever we like, that we should 
have. 
Of course, this is true up to a certain point. We are a cosmo¬ 
politan people, with cosmopolitan tastes, and we may select from 
among all the things in the world, the things we like and want. 
But surely, surely, we should learn first to want and like the best 
—the right kind of things! That is the trouble with us, indoors 
and out; we select without discrimination and apply without 
knowledge. And indoors and out we achieve some remarkable 
effects as a consequence; but remarkable effects and beauty are 
seldom synonymous terms. 
We are trying to do better, however; this magazine would not 
Divisions in the Colonial garden were marked by hedges, separated 
by paths and made apparent by differences in level 
Overshadowing trees, an arch or similar feature now and then, grass 
paths, and everywhere evidence of nice precision in the planting are 
characteristics of the Colonial gardens 
live two minutes if we were not, for who would read it? And 
so, before many years, I hope, we shall have here in America 
both houses and gardens that are harmonious, and restful, and 
beautiful, with a beauty that is not open to question, for it 
reaches the height of the highest standards. And surely our 
ambition to this end is a laudable one — for the world was created 
good, you know, and it is part of our task to work it back to this 
condition as fast as our understanding will permit us. 
Style, whatever it may be and however good or bad, is the out¬ 
come of conditions — even so transient a thing as the style of a 
frock. So styles of houses, and of the gardens about the houses, 
were and are the result of conditions; they evolve along natural 
lines, as the result of social customs, manners, religious thought 
and all the numberless small influences as well as large that mark 
the course of human living. Therefore, any effort to graft a 
style of one kind, the result of one series of conditions, upon the 
style of a totally different kind, the result of conditions as dif¬ 
ferent as different can be, is a failure always; and it ought to be. 
For when this is attempted, someone is being dishonest. Perhaps 
he is innocently dishonest, but that does not matter; ignorance of 
the law is no excuse for breaking it in the eyes of the powers that 
be, be they gods or men; and dishonesty is punished, whatever its 
form. 
For some reason or other, however, we each have within us 
preferences for certain types or styles — in architecture, art, or 
whatever it may be. Therefore, we build according to the in¬ 
spiration afforded us by that style; but if the building is planned 
and constructed according to the conditions of our own living, 
we have not expressed anything but ourselves and this one little 
twist in ourselves which leans to that particular style. So we 
have not been dishonest, strictly speaking; we are perhaps, let us 
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