Home Surroundings 
By W. C. EGAN 
O NE has not always built himself a home when 
his house is finished. He has found the 
pearl and must furnish the setting. He has 
endeavored to have his house artistic and homelike, 
but it will stand bleak and desolate unless its environ¬ 
ments are pleasing. Lawn, shrub, tree and vine are, 
in the main, the pigments that may be blended 
into a coloring that, while enhancing the beauty 
of the house, will add the mystic charm of a home 
feeling. What to plant is a matter of personal selec¬ 
tion restricted only by want of space and climatic con¬ 
ditions. How to plant is a question to be consid¬ 
ered. My experience is that the average man building 
himself a house, does not know many of the simplest 
requirements of plant life, and they are all simple. 
The lawn is the most important feature, as on it 
depends mainly the dignity and repose so essential. 
The condition of the soil is a paramount question 
here as elsewhere. The main part of it may be 
in a suitable condition for seeding, but that part of 
it (except, perhaps, the top foot) taken out in ex¬ 
cavating for the cellar, is seldom fit for immediate 
use. Unless desired 
for filling in deep depres¬ 
sions, or for forming the 
base of a terrace, where 
a foot of good soil may 
be placed over it, it is 
better to pile it away in 
some corner where a few 
winters’ frosts may mel¬ 
low it and prepare the, 
now inert, plant food it 
contains. Composted 
with fresh manure hast¬ 
ens its cure and, of 
course, enriches it. If 
the main body of the 
soil is hard and unfit for 
immediate seeding it 
should be spaded up, or 
plowed deeply, harrowed 
and leveled before seed¬ 
ing. 
A goodplan to pursue, 
where one has a lot he 
does not intend to build 
on fora year or so, is to 
have it manured and 
plowed at once, and 
planted to corn or pota¬ 
toes or any crop easily 
hoed. This will put the 
soil in prime condition for a lawn. Cultivate 
even where the house is to stand, as in this 
instance the top eighteen inches is available for 
leveling or tree holes. Do not allow the weeds to 
mature and seed or you will have a weedy lawn at 
the start. Do not plow nearer any tree intended 
to remain than the spread of its branches as the 
feeding roots extend out that far. The space within 
this circle may be carefully dug up with a spade 
or garden fork. The edges of walks or roadways 
and any limited area near the house had better be 
sodded. In planting, keep your lawn open in the 
center, confining it to the border walks and drives, 
retaining pleasant vistas and shutting out unpleasant 
views. If you desire formal plantings, keep them 
near the house. The house is formal and its imme¬ 
diate surroundings may be so. 
The matter of landscape gardening is a too volu¬ 
minous one to be included in this article, and unless 
one feels capable and desirous of making his home 
and its surroundings reflect his individuality he 
had better engage the services of a competent land¬ 
scape gardener. A good 
carpenter may not be a 
good architect, and a 
good florist or gardener 
may not know how to lay 
out a place, therefore be 
careful in your selection. 
The first laying out is the 
foundation and if wrong, 
all is wrong and cor¬ 
recting a foundation 
error is expensive work. 
A great many people 
engage a competent per¬ 
son to lay out and plant 
their grounds. He does 
so with an eye to the 
future. He anticipates 
the size the material will 
reach in time and make 
the picture he is striving 
for. He has left open 
stretches of lawns to give 
breadth and dignity and 
effect. He is justly proud 
of his work and is willing 
that it may be pointed 
out as an example of 
his ha'ndicraft if the 
owner will only let it 
alone. Here is where 
A STANDARD SNOWBALL 
35 
