-36 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1913 
say, Colonial in our instincts—or English half-timber, or Mission, 
or whatever it may be. 
Now, if we truly are this, we shall go right on and still further 
express it in the furnishing and fitting within, and in the garden 
making without. This does not mean that we shall follow a style 
slavishly; that is always very dishonest, it seems to me, for in 
doing that we are not expressing truly what we are at all. 
We are simply trying to pretend that we are what some 
old chap, perhaps, who lived down in Virginia or up in 
Massachusetts a hundred and fifty years ago, was. But 
if we are satisfied to acknowledge that we are people of 
today, living under today’s conditions, who like the same 
kind of things that that old chap liked who lived a hun¬ 
dred and fifty years ago, and that we therefore are 
being guided by his very good taste in the matter of 
design generally, and in furnishing and garden-making 
especially, then we are doing exactly and truly just what 
we, as individual human beings, ought always to do. 
The model of yesterday is perfectly legitimate as a 
model from which to evolve, today, the thing of today. 
It is not the old-time Colonial garden, therefore, that 
we are to make, around the Colonial house; but a gar¬ 
den suited to today’s conditions and plants and flowers, 
inspired by the old Colonial garden — by the very best 
that it contained and represented. Of course, it is only 
the best that should serve as an inspiration, whatever 
the work or subject may be. 
What, then, was the best in the old Colonial concep- 
Next to this — not second to it, but alongside it—was their de¬ 
lightful sense of order; such careful, neat, straight lines, corners 
so precisely turned, walks and beds so exquisitely defined and 
kept — all these bear witness to the love of order and to the fine 
breeding which delights in perfection, whether it be in a line or 
in the nice adjustment and arrangement of variously shaped units. 
The planting here is typical of the best treatment for towns and suburbs. The 
dooryard is politely presented to the public, and is not hidden with planting, 
while the garden itself is as distinctly withdrawn and reserved for family use 
tion of a garden ? 
This is the first thing to be answered. 
I think the best, unqualifiedly, was their appreciation of the beauty 
of the useful. Quantities of lovely things they had in their gar¬ 
dens, to be sure, that had no claim to utilitarian value; but these 
were incidental. They were the trimming, so to speak—the em¬ 
broidery upon the fabric of sturdy quality and true worth. Their 
gardens were carefully laid out to furnish the things needed and 
used — fruits, herbs, vegetables and perfumes — and then, wherever 
there was space, purely decorative features were added. 
An excellent example of a garden entirely laid out in the Colonial spirit. There are boxwood 
hedgings, flowers, vegetables, fruits, arbors, and tall trees. The entire treatment is restful and 
gives the effect of quiet elegance 
So the Colonial house to-day must have a garden that is at the 
top notch in useful products; and it must be carefully and definite¬ 
ly laid out, with the straight lines straight, and the curved lines 
curved in just the right degree to fit their reason for being curved. 
Another striking feature, quite likely to be overlooked unless 
special attention is directed to it, is the subdivisions of the garden. 
There is, of course, to be a great inclosure, embracing the entire 
place; then there is the garden, in the large sense of orchard and 
vegetable garden and fruits, all taken 
as a whole. But each of these has its 
division; and within these there are 
frequently subdivisions, so that a stroll 
through the garden is a succession of 
surprising and delightful vistas, some¬ 
times down a long walk ending under 
an arch, where another garden waits; 
sometimes through an avenue of trees, 
or along a green alley of boxwood—or 
our modern cheap substitute for this, 
California privet, — with an arch of 
green spanning a gate. 
Of course, such treatment is only pos¬ 
sible where there is considerable space; 
but the same idea should prevail 
whether the grounds are large or small. 
Some features worth having are walks 
edged with their trim hedges, kept low 
or allowed to grow so high that they are 
walls of green, beyond which every¬ 
thing is concealed — either one, accord¬ 
ing to conditions and requirements — 
beds within the garden similarly edged, 
and over all, the trees — apples, pears, 
cherries, plums, peaches—one here, one 
there as space allows, sometimes in the 
middle of a walk, sometimes in the mid¬ 
dle of a vegetable bed, again in the 
midst of flowers. Obviously they have 
