House <y Garden 
Incidentally the attention to proper paving 
about the buildings is noteworthy. A broad 
pavement carries across the whole west front, 
and there are handsome stone platforms and 
steps to the outer doors, and walks from the 
house to the several outbuildings so that one 
could get about comfortably in any weather. 
To such details Washington gave close 
attention. 
1'he kitchen-garden drops down below the 
lawn in a couple of terraces, a sunny sheltered 
spot within a goodly wall of brick. On the 
upper terrace are the small fruits, the herbs and 
simples, the salads and savories. As we entered, 
the strawberry beds were sending up into the 
warm sunshine a fine tempting aroma — to 
which the camera promptly yielded. Against 
the warm south face of the wall are the finer 
fruits, doubtless espaliered in Washington’s 
time, the wall being especially meant for that 
use as in the English walled gardens. 
H ere were nectarines, we shall say, the West 
Indian cocoa plum, apricots, French pears, 
and some of the finer grapes. The hardier 
vines are run on a trellis on the edge of the 
grassed slope to the lower terrace. And 
further along under the walls are the bee¬ 
hives, whence comes a deep humming and 
si^ns of great activity this warm June day. 
Here, by the way, my friend of the camera 
might have found retribution for that little 
matter of the strawberries, but for the gar¬ 
dener’s kindly warning. From the far end 
by the summer-house, where the master may 
have rested on a summer’s day to con his 
bucolics or direct horticultural campaigns, or 
where, in watermelon time on a midsummer 
moonlit night, he may have set a picket 
against raids upon the commissary not un¬ 
looked-for in these parts, we took a shot 
down the ranks of young corn and sprouting 
vegetables of the lower terrace. The picture 
ends against the east wall, ramping down to 
the red gable of the stables in a composition 
having quite an air of old France about it. 
On the upper terrace there are bits of 
hedge-border left. Note the overgrown un¬ 
kempt old box by the path to the gate from 
the lawn! And here and there hollyhocks 
and hardy shrubs make brave play of bloom 
among the old-fashioned annuals. This 
friendly assembling of the fruits and flowers 
THE QUARTERS MT. VERNON 
