A GARDEN r T' HE obstacles placed in the way of those 
EYESORE trying to accomplish better things, 
greater culture or higher ideals, are many. 
They usually come from the ignorant or reactionary; but occa¬ 
sionally the well-informed, either through a misconception or 
lack of special knowledge, put a check upon the good offices of 
those striving for improvement. 
Such a case has recently attracted our attention, in the review 
of a book on suburban gardens, published in The Nation for 
July 24, 1913. The opinion given in this criticism is very much 
at variance to the attitude of this paper on other questions, but 
it is the position held by many, and one which House & Garden 
has for a long while attacked. Here is the section to which we 
take exception; the first sentence is the author’s statement, the 
reviewer’s comment upon it follows in the second sentence: 
“ ‘Of all gardening offences the flower-bed is surely the worst, 
and better no flowers at all than a flower-bed.’ She forgets 
how convenient and useful such beds are to those whose time and 
means are too limited to permit them to attempt florally decorated 
grounds.” 
The critic thus advances the claim that the man of modest 
means must content himself with bedding plants and lawn bed 
plantings because they are inexpensive and convenient. It is 
furthermore implied that floral design is a matter of such expense 
that it may only be undertaken by the well-to-do. 
We believe that this is far from true. We have constantly en¬ 
deavored to give advice against just such a position, and we wish 
once more to explain the reasons for our stand in the hope that 
a few words now will convince our readers that beauty is not only 
for those with the fat purse but that in matters of garden-making 
at least beauty may be achieved by everyone with the desire to 
follow an ideal. 
It is barely possible that the word “bed” was misunderstood by 
the reviewer; but from the previous context its meaning should 
be clear, for the advice was given to “banish the salvia, the gera¬ 
nium, the fearful coleus, . . . the canna and the elephant’s ear,” 
all plants which are commonly used for “bedding.” Therefore, 
the author evidently meant those arrangements of brilliant 
plants in the form of ovals, circles, stars, crescents and conven¬ 
tional designs placed usually in the midst of a lawn. Beds of 
flowers are indicated, not flower-beds such as occur in all garden 
designs, formal or informal. 
Now, the objections to the beds of flowers are countless. The 
author farther on in her book speaks of the “outrage which de¬ 
sign suffers by having a detached, meaningless unit dropped in 
the midst of an open space.” That arraignment is none too 
severe. Such plantings have no part in any scheme, however 
simple; they prevent the carrying out of a plan of garden design, 
for they break all the rules of order, harmony and composition 
and are absolutely artificial, stiff, awkward and graceless without 
accomplishing a purpose. The iron stag was their contemporary, 
and they should be consigned to the same oblivion whence he has 
gone together with other anachronisms and eyesores. 
If these beds are retained under the misconception that they 
cost less than any other form of floral arrangement, it is time to 
correct the delusion. Almost all the commonly used bedding 
plants are not hardy. They are seldom raised from seed or cut¬ 
tings by their users, but are purchased in pots and set out in beds 
in one lump of ready-made ugliness. The florist or gardener 
who sells them has to charge for rearing the plants and for the 
cost of his business, so they are naturally more expensive than 
the many beautiful flowers which are grown easily from seed and 
with little care. The little English cottage garden which every 
traveler speaks so enthusiastically about, is a poor man’s garden 
for all its many blooms. No, a garden full of flowers can be 
grown as cheaply as a bed; perennials may be planted in seed 
and a conscious, attractive scheme followed which becomes more 
beautiful each year. The difference in effect is simply one of 
artistic conception. As a matter of fact, most beds appear in 
gardens of the very wealthy tended by a gardener who can take 
time to arrange them, each row above the other, until the result 
of his painstaking effort is a monumental example of misdirected 
energy. 
Probably the bed came into being from the desire to produce a 
garden attraction that commanded attention, and in this it is cer¬ 
tainly successful, for its rigid, uncompromising outlines of glar¬ 
ing hue stand out positively to all within seeing distance. But 
we are no longer making gardens for the transient passer-by. 
We plan to render the home grounds the fitting environment for 
our domestic life, and we hope to make them as beautiful as pos¬ 
sible. Therefore we study out a scheme which by its relation of 
parts best accomplishes this. Our schemes are simple or com¬ 
plex according to our time and money, but there is within the 
attainment of all a beautiful result. No arrangement of borders 
and beds can be effective with the jarring presence of an un- 
harmonious star of flamboyant color in its midst. No soft edg¬ 
ings of nicely blended color, or graceful shrubbery groupings can 
play their part in the garden orchestra when bed plantings shriek 
out their loud, monotonous notes of crudity. Let us abandon 
this unsightly relic, which is simply preserved because so many 
misguided ones aped the lead of those who knew no better. There 
are dozens of ideas to follow which are infinitely better, which 
satisfy, for they aim to approach a garden ideal and, comforting 
thought, they are just as reasonable and just as convenient no 
matter what the amount of one’s garden purse may be. 
JOHN ANTHONY r I WTE profit and loss figures of a back 
AGAIN to the land article are not the most 
important part of the story. In some 
cases they are delusive because they claim results for ten acres in 
arithmetical proportion to the yield from one; of course, that is 
not true. But what is most important is the man and his method. 
Here is a fragment from another John Anthony letter. It shows 
the man to be an ideal twentieth century colonist. He is never 
beaten, and upon his resourcefulness rests his success: 
“Between outdoor work and indoor changes we have been 
rushed to the verge of distraction. This has been intensified be¬ 
cause the apples are again a hope deferred. Intensified, for the 
reason that our apples are to supply luxuries like hire of painters 
and carpenters, and when we haven't ’em we retrench by going 
without or doing the things ourselves. 
“John Anthony has enough glimmerings of wisdom to sit still 
and say nothing. What can a fellow say after the second con¬ 
secutive crop failure ? The first was caused by wet weather. For 
the second neither wet nor dry could have availed. Open trees 
made sure of every minute of sunshine, while ploughed and har¬ 
rowed ground made certain of retaining every drop of moisture. 
So we viewed the prospect with cheerfulness. But old King 
Frost played trumps and froze everything up hard for seven 
nights of a week. I doubt our having 200 barrels on the place as 
against 400 barrels last year and 1,500 the year before. Now 
don’t you think John had better keep quiet? 
“Out of it all good will come, for I am already planning to put 
the place on a war footing by a dairy and other crops so that 
apples will be all ‘velvet’ and the other things carry the farm 
along. Thus we can wait with placidity for the abundance of 
fruit which will mean money. 
“As quiet side issues we have the best acre of potatoes around 
here and have the locality ‘skun a mile’ with our vegetable garden.” 
(238) 
