Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/312

 THE GARDEN 290 the rest of the garden. An effective approach to surh a house from the road is essential ; our plan will perhaps afford a suggestion, it will l>c quite possible to make all ornamental details cither simpler or more costly than thcs:- shown in the plan according to personal requirements. The main path is five feet wide, so that two people can walk comfortably abreast. The gate is simple in style, standing between red brick pillows, each of which carries a grey stone ball. Should it be advisable for any reason to hide the road, this can easily be done bv building a higher wall than the one sho%%'n 'here. In this case the wall is only four feet six inches high. A great deal depends upon the aspect of this small fore- cx>urt, and also upon the amount of money and work that can be spent upon it. Should in proportion to the house. All the lines should correspond with those of the building. s a rule, a garden round a house looks best with a formal arrangement. Winding walks or irregular shrubberies should be carefully avoided. There is a want of restfulness about them. Care must b3 bestowed upon the paths. The main ones must, above all, be wide, stately, and evenly paved ; the smaller ones should be of width proportionate to these. A paved path has many advantages over gravel. It is more pleasant to walk upon, a more pleasing background to flowers, the mowing machine does not suffer, as it so often does when gravel from the paths gets carelessly swept on to the turf, and once the paving is down there is no further expense in renewing it. Gravel or shells have often A pl*n to illustrate and explain the suggestions given in this article for converting the patch of ground in front of the ordinary town or suburban house into an ornamental pot garden most of the ground get the full force of the sun during the greater part of the day, and if expense is of no consideration, our plan, especially the E side of it, may b2 copied exactly in detail. Should more colour be wanted, beds can be cut in the turf at E and filled with bright, gay flowers. If a quieter garden be needed, F will be the best side to take ideas from ; it consists only of turf and a few pots. If the wall D is in shadow, only shade- loving creepers should be selected to run up it, or if for any reason creepers are not liked, plant corydalis in the chinks, or sow antirrhiums and plant valerian and pinks in the interstices of the wall. The Forecourt and the Paths W^hichever plan you follow, see that due attention is paid to laying out the forecourt to be renewed. In or near a town it is not expensive to obtain either the disused paving stones, which are usually York slab, or old red tiles or bricks can be bought from a builder for very little. The town surveyor is usually the right person to make a want of this kind known to. Should there be little gaps or intervals in the paving these can be filled by little rock plants. Many are often deterred from gaining the old-world charm that comes with use of these materials by a dread of the excessive cost. I think, how- ever, if they make application in the quarter I have mentioned, they will find that they can easily obtain stone at a moderate price. Considerable novelty of design and additional depth of colour is obtained by standing Italian or English potteryware in various parts of the forecourt, as suggested in the sketch. Here you will see some