126 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
October, 1909 
If there is a damp hollow on your land don’t fill it up make a water garden of it and 
have flowers that dry ground lacks 
the former has five leaflets to the leaf, the latter poisonous plant 
only three—and it may be trained over anything you wish by 
giving its twining tendrils something to clutch. Little Jack-in- 
the-pulpits spring up under foot and often there are lovely ferns 
hidden away under the rest, if you look carefully for them. Keep 
the character of such a place unchanged and bring in wild flowers 
rather than the usual garden favorites. And here, as on stony 
ground, make no attempt to carry out formality of design. Noth¬ 
ing is lovelier than architectural gardens, in their own distinct and 
proper place—but unsuitably placed they are an abomination. 
Even a very slight slope is a charming variation in a garden, 
while a hillside is a fascinating site for both house and garden — 
yet not infrequently, with the former at least, elaborate grading is 
resorted to, to level the place up; which is proof of our unhappy 
bondage to a conventionality that stifles all original ideas. Unless 
the slope is so steep as to be actually impassable, not a particle 
of grading is necessary. If the getting up and down is too much 
of an effort, a very little “cutting and filling” will break it into 
terraces which not only make every part accessible but also give 
a succession of levels along which walks may be carried from which 
to view the whole. Whether seen from above or below, bear in 
mind that the entire garden, and probably the house, is seen at 
once, unless screens of planting are introduced. The design may 
be formal or not according to outlying conditions, the style of the 
dwelling, the owner’s taste — and the evenness of the slope. Land 
which descends sharply at one point and slopes off gradually at 
others is not ready-made for an architectural design to be carried 
out upon it, therefore the line of least resistance takes us 
to the informal, rambling, quaint and unexpected upon such a 
site. 
On the other hand, an even, smooth slope seems to demand 
the classic treatment—but the house must conform to classic 
standards as well, else the place will end up by being ridiculous. 
This doesn’t necessarily mean a dwelling patterned after an 
Italian palace, however. The simple old white houses of New 
England are classics quite as truly as any Grecian temple — and in 
the midst of their prim, box-bordered little gardens, redolent 
of a bygone generation, are 
far saner and safer models 
for us generally than those 
that many are too prone 
to follow. 
In general, where the 
environment is that of the 
usual suburb, and the house 
is not distinctly unusual, 
some adherence to formal 
lines is better than utter 
disregard of them, for the 
reason that they afford a 
transition from the work of 
Nature to the work of man 
which harmonizes the two. 
Attempts at broad, sweep¬ 
ing lines in the planning of 
a typical suburban place 
are a great mistake under 
any but exceptional cir¬ 
cumstances. Park-like 
effects require acres where 
the suburban plot measures 
square yards, and efforts to 
secure such effects in such 
a restricted area only result 
in making a place seem 
smaller than it actually is. 
Boundaries and cor¬ 
ners may be somewhat thickly and irregularly planted with 
shrubs, but along the approaches to the house regularity should 
rule, whether it be a turf edge, a row of flowering shrubs, or a bor¬ 
der of perennials. 
Not many places have the features that have been here dwelt 
upon—features that are commonly held to be distinct disadvan¬ 
tages and which sometimes lead to the rejection of land because 
they are present — yet natural variations in even small plots are 
not uncommon. 
No matter what these may be, be sure that they are never a 
disadvantage if you are willing to study them a little, and think 
and plan. They mean an individuality for the place, if they are 
thus carefully made its motif, which can never be achieved by the 
most cunningly contrived artificial means. Individuality is what 
we are all after, whether we know it or not, and doubtful though it 
sometimes seems; but that’s another story. 
Common Elder would command fabulous prices if it had to be im¬ 
ported, instead of being merely moved in from the roadside 
