HOUSE AND GARDEN 
4G 
June, 1915 
partition or two, the addition of three or four windows and the 
opening of the fireplaces, we about completed the alterations in 
the house. Then came the beautifying and the decorating — the 
walls were covered with simple, inexpensive paper, suitable to 
the Colonial style of architecture, and, with the woodwork painted 
cream-white, it really was a transformation. 
The garden seemed the most hopeless proposition, as, in April, 
when we began work, the whole place was in such a state of 
neglect and decay that it would have discouraged the most ener¬ 
getic. The lot is situated at the corner of two lanes. Although 
one is called a street and boasts of a sidewalk on one side, for¬ 
tunately there was only a path on our side, which ran along 
our old broken-down fence, almost buried by a wonderful old 
woodbine, a valuable asset, we thought, and which later was 
trained over and almost entirely covered the 
new fence ; the other road is one of those quaint, 
charming lanes in New England that one reads 
about, and is known as The Lane. From time 
to time these lanes had had a generous sprink¬ 
ling of ashes, gradually raising their level, and 
the lot became more sunken from the overflow 
and rains. The question of grading became 
important: to grade the lot to the level of the 
street would mean to cover entirely the brick 
foundation, giving an ugly, squatty appearance 
to the house and depriving the old cellar of 
light and air. 
The advice of many, who were supposed to 
know about such things, declared then the only 
way we could prevent the water overflowing 
our place was to build a sunken cement wall 
which would extend a foot above ground and 
on top of this to build the fence. This was 
not only a big expense to consider, but would 
be most unsightly. Finally, after much thought 
and figuring, we decided on a plan, trusting it 
would come out right: to build the fence on 
the street level, which, when finished, was, curious enough, resting 
on posts two feet above the lot. The next thing was to remove 
the sod, which was of the poorest; then the rich, black earth 
that had been accumulating for nearly a century, and was from 
twelve to eighteen inches deep, was removed to the back of the 
place for future use; and after filling in with common soil, which 
had to be bought, and, finding the best grade, the rich earth was 
put back, also the sod, which we had been advised to discard, 
but did not, being thrifty and knowing the price of sod. Along 
the front we graded to a foot of the street level and filled in 
under the fence with brick saved from an old chimney that had 
to come down—not with bricks and mortar, but with bricks piled 
irregularly on one another, with old Mother Earth filling in the 
cracks, and making necessary a step down from the street into the 
yard; in front of the fence was a broad flower bed four feet wide, 
which was in constant bloom from June to November. 
On the Lane side of the lot we graded gradually to meet the 
street, so there was no perceptive grade, and along the fence 
(which was a plain, simple, Colonial picket fence with the green 
top rail) about two and a half feet wide was a sudden rise, or 
terrace, one might say, about a foot high ; in front of this were 
And this was the result! A pergola, rambler-covered gate, a seemly fence, a flower-bordered walk—all 
accomplished between October and June 
The garden had suffered from neglect. It needed grading and fencing in, and the soil had to be enriched 
before plans were set for flowers 
placed large boulders, brought from a nearby beach, and filled in 
with small stones; this would keep the water from running in 
from the lane and gave 11s a broad bed for nasturtiums, which, 
before July, were trailing over the rocks and fence, absolutely 
disguising the little terrace and making that part of the garden 
a thing of beauty and constant bloom. On the outside of the 
fence we built up from the road to the fence, so that the grade 
was imperceptible. To this we used ashes, cov¬ 
ering them with six inches of good earth and 
sodded with some of the much-scorned sod from 
the old place, but good enough for wagons and 
other vehicles to pass over, and with grass seed 
sown now and then the lane was none the worse 
for the operation. With the wonderful growth 
of scarlet runner and nasturtium peeping 
through and trailing over the fence it was alto¬ 
gether charming. 
We next turned our attention to the laying 
out of our garden, arranging beds for flowers 
and sodding around them. We knew nothing 
about gardening—which flowers require sun 
and which shade, or how to plant—but being 
fond of flowers and determined to make the 
old place beautiful, we left no stone unturned 
that would help us. With the help of seed 
books and advice from friends and neighbors 
we went to work. We did not do the actual 
spading, as that was too hard work for women, 
(Continued on page 445) 
