10c 
House & Garden 
The 
Richmond 
Pattern 
STERLING SILVER 
As Graceful 
as a Minuet 
The courtly grace of old Virginia 
is reflected in the Richmond Pat¬ 
tern—that rare charm which comes 
from the happy union of dignity 
and daintiness. 
Here is a design one will never 
tire of—a gift worthy of the solid 
silver of which it is made. 
There is an assortment of silver¬ 
ware in the Richmond Pattern on 
sale at leading jewelers throughout 
the country. 
Will you not send for our little 
booklet that pictures other articles 
in this exquisite design? 
Also makers oj Alum Long-Lije Plate 
ALVIN SILVER COMPANY 
20 MAIDEN LANE, NEW YORK 
One of the delightful qualities of The approach on this country 
the curved approach is that it place illustrates a good informal 
opens fresh vistas at every turn treatment of a wooded drive 
The Approach to the House 
(Continued from page 49) 
height in a very few years. Pretty and 
elegant in their youth, poplars become, 
in course of time, magnificent trees. 
What is finer than those long, straight 
roads in France or Belgium running 
through unhedged fields and planted on 
either side with a double line of enor¬ 
mous centenarian poplars, tall as a 
church spire, and at the same time mas¬ 
sive enough to have a fine air of sta¬ 
bility ? 
Of the big trees elms are, perhaps, the 
most satisfactory for avenues. The fact 
that they can be transplanted large 
makes it possible to obtain a decent ef¬ 
fect with elms in a comparatively short 
time. When full-grown they are the 
most stately of trees, being admirably 
fitted for formal planting on a grand 
I scale. 
For those who feel a real concern for 
the welfare of posterity elms have this 
d : sadvantage: that they begin to grow 
very shaky on their roots at the age of 
two hundred or thereabouts. The oak, 
of course, is much more abiding. But 
an oak avenue is in many ways not so 
fine as an avenue of elms. The trees 
tend to be much less uniform in shape 
and run to width rather than height. 
In certain soils beeches may be rec¬ 
ommended. With their pillar - like 
trunks and tufts of enduring foliage, 
they are among the most beautiful of 
trees. Lindens can be used in short 
walks, pleached or pollarded. Very 
beautiful effects may, however, be ob¬ 
tained by planting them on either side 
of a narrow walk and allowing them to 
grow uninterrupted, when they will run 
up to an enormous height in their race 
for the sunlight. 
An excellent thing, which ought to be 
seen more frequently, is an avenue of 
fruit trees. Apples and cherries are not 
grand or dignified trees, and would not 
be suitable if planted as an approach to 
a great and stately house. But for an 
ordinary, middle-sized, snug country 
house nothing can be prettier than a 
drive lined by fruit trees. They grow 
moderately quickly, their blossom is a 
delight in the spring, and their fruit in 
the autumn. In certain towns of Ger¬ 
many whole streets are planted with 
cherry trees, and the effect is delightful. 
The horse chestnut is another favorite 
avenue tree. Its shape is elegant though 
not grand; its foliage is particularly 
handsome, and, like the fruit trees, it is 
rich in exquisite blossom. The Spanish 
chestnut is less frequently planted, 
though it is a fine tree, which bears 
edible fruits and has a reasonably quick 
rate of growth. 
The nature of the sweep in front of 
the house, into which the drive leads, 
must depend, of course, on many things, 
including the shape and position of the 
house and the character of the approach. 
The round sweep with its central plot 
of grass has its points; but there can be 
little doubt that it is more satisfactory, 
where possible, to bring the house into 
architectural relation with its approach 
by means of a forecourt. In front of 
an L-shaped house a forecourt will be 
almost a necessity, for two sides of a 
rectangle will be provided by the house 
itself. In the case of a plain rectagonal 
house, the house itself will form only one 
side of the forecourt; the other three 
will have to be surrounded by walls or 
hedges. Whether these shall be low or 
high and whether the forecourt is itself 
approached by a formal gateway are 
matters which depend entirely on the 
character of the house and the lay-out 
of the surrounding grounds. The theme 
of the forecourt is one that can be al¬ 
most endlessly varied. 
The two principal types of construc¬ 
tion for drives—serviceable under pres¬ 
ent-day automobile traffic—are concrete 
and macadam. The former is the more 
durable and the latter, when it is well 
maintained, is the more attractive. Con¬ 
crete should be covered with a layer of 
stone chips bonded to the surface of the 
concrete by a coating of a tar prepara¬ 
tion. This layer of stone gives color 
and a softness of texture to an otherwise 
glaring surface, but it must be re-cov¬ 
ered at certam periods, depending upon 
the wear. Otherwise the drive will take 
on an unpleasant shiny black appearance. 
Macadam, on the other hand, will never 
lose the natural beauty inherent in the 
stone of which it is built, but it will 
need fairly constant attention to keep it 
in good condition. 
To keep down the dust on macadam 
drives, as well as on concrete drives that 
are covered liberally with stone chips, 
there are several excellent preparations, 
one of calcium chloride, which should 
be sprinkled over the surface during dry 
weather. Such a treatment, in addition 
to making driving pleasant, is a splendid 
road-preservative in that it prevents the 
loosening of the fine particles of stone 
which would gradually result in the 
complete disintegration of the drive 
surface. 
