Late in March the place ivas 
adorned hy snow and rubbish 
C OLUMBUS discovered America, 
Franklin learned about electricity from 
a kite string—clearly it was up to us to 
search out the latent possibilities of our 
small city lot. Like other famous experi¬ 
menters we were full of theories. We had 
the place, the desire to make the most of 
it, and the belief that in working out the 
design the details of the house must not 
come first. All else lay in the future, a 
future composed chiefly of ideas. 
Here was the situation: 
Our new domain measured approximately 
90'xl00'. The northern landscape was oc¬ 
cupied principally by a vacant lot, that to 
the south and west by an equally blank 
high board fence coldly regarding us with 
a large-private-grounds-I’m-here-to-keep- 
you-out expression. To the east was a 
house, which we promptly decided wouldn’t 
bother us much, anyhow. Design, con¬ 
struction, planting and maintenance were, 
we knew, the four generals to whose orders 
obedience must be rendered. We divided 
our theories into four squadrons, dutifully 
subservient to these commanders. Then we 
drew deep breaths, 
burned joss-papers to 
the great god Success 
and the little tin one on 
wheels, Efficiency, and 
started. 
The Preliminary 
Planning 
Gently and tentative¬ 
ly the first draft of the 
house plan settled down 
on the plan of the lot, 
close t o the north 
boundary. Looked 
rather well there, too, 
and there was room 
enough behind it for a 
walk and bit of plant¬ 
ing. Why, this thing 
wasn’t going to be 
so hard — there were 
the front hall and 
kitchen, both served by 
the same imaginary 
walk, taking shape 
already. And for 
the southeast exposure 
with its abundant light 
and morning sunshine, 
why not a big living-room, and the dining¬ 
room ? Fine ! We’d do it that way. 
With growing confidence the design of 
the grounds developed from this beginning. 
Obviously, the best and most direct place 
for the entrance would be on the north. 
Some time a neighboring house will go up 
on that side, counseled the Chief, and we 
have no particular desire to study its win¬ 
dows and interior decorations from the 
vantage point of our own living-room. 
Furthermore, this arrangement would make 
possible on the south side that broad, un¬ 
broken sweep of lawn which General De¬ 
sign commanded. A 30" walk would be 
wide enough, and after it reached the en¬ 
trance porch it might just as well go on 
through a high gate into the service court. 
Such a course would be quite pleasant, for 
that court was to be surrounded with a 
6%' vine covered fence and paved with 
bluestone screenings. 
By this time we felt like regular experts 
in the home-making game; the thing was 
traveling under its own power as easily as a 
super-six. Confidently the Chief an¬ 
nounced : 
“We will now turn our attention to plan¬ 
ning the flower garden, our most pro¬ 
nounced ‘design.’ ” 
Still on paper, then, we studied its loca¬ 
tion and general proportions. A main axis 
it must have, of course, and what better 
than one leading from the dining-room 
door? This should be the central path, 
2y 2 ' wide and brick floored. Minor 2' wide 
walks could connect with it, and for a focal 
point we imaginatively planted a hemlock 
hedge at the end to set off a pleasant garden 
seat. Minimum in width were all these 
paths, for there must be as much space as 
possible for the 6' double flower-beds and 
the 4' single ones around the edges. 
August brought full development. Where six months before had 
bareness, now close standing plants crowded close to the brick 
out the world and filling the air with fragrance 
By May the garden was laid out, 
and order had succeeded chaos 
The pleasantest anticipation, philosoph¬ 
ers tell us, is often followed by the dull but 
distinctly audible thud of realization. When 
we went to look at the place one day in 
late March we viewed a huge heap of loam 
in the geometrical center of the lawn, a con¬ 
tractor's shanty occupying the flower gar¬ 
den, and mud, snow and rubbish every¬ 
where. It required imagination, faith, hope 
and not a little charity to reconcile that 
scene with our visions of future perfection, 
but we set the brakes on our eagerness, 
conversed with the contractor, his driver, 
and the policeman on the corner, and, as 
soon as the rough grading was finished, 
started in to put our paper plan into actual 
execution. 
The Actual Application 
First came the walks. Board edges, our 
contractor agreed, after due ponderous con¬ 
sideration, would be needed to keep the 
loam from washing into them. No need to 
buy expensive wood—those cheap 6"xjkj" 
boards, stained brown, nailed at the cor¬ 
ners and pegged on the inside so that 1" 
would be exposed on 
the outside and the 
loam be flush with the 
top after settling, 
would serve the pur¬ 
pose. Old bricks of 
pleasing color and tex¬ 
ture, laid in basket pat¬ 
tern over 6" of cinders 
and a 2" sand cushion, 
we insisted upon for 
the center walk. For 
the surface of the 
others bluestone screen¬ 
ings to a depth of 1" 
were discussed and 
adopted in solemn con¬ 
clave. Their color, pre¬ 
dicted the before-men¬ 
tioned policeman on the 
corner, would “get dar- 
r-ker be th’ weather, 
praise be!” He was a 
genius, that minion of 
the law. 
In time the shrubs 
and plants arrived and 
been unsightly were .“heeled in” in 
walk, shutting a moist corner until 
we were ready for 
A Miracle 
Wrought in Three Months 
ELIZABETH LEONARD STRANG 
DEVELOPING A CITY GARDEN 
