St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-05-30
VILLA GARDENS.
Generally Agricultural Monstrosities as
Ordinarily Constructed.

Ordinarily Constructed.
It is an undeniable but by no means
an unaccountable fact that the country
is filed by mediocre villa gardens.
Most of them are absolutely without
any character at all The reason is
easily given; nobody in particular
formed them, and the want of charac-
ter implanted by the first nobody has
been stereotyped and aggravated by all
anything to do with them. The style
of the muddles is by no means uniform.
The creator has sometimes been a Ger
man, occasionally Frenchman, and
the Regeneration is very often an Irish
man striving with all the ardor within
him to modernize the want of taste
and absence of correct knowledge which
the lapse of time petrities into positive
ugliness. The towns and villages of
the country, TEEN with these patchwork
enormities and the revolutionary arch
itecture of the last decade. The meth
DDS of procedure have not been eco
nomical at all. Far from it; nor can
the proprietors be always blamed. They
were often honest in their desire to
possess decent surroundings, and were
willing to pay for them, but did not
know where to apply. Sometimes
florist, sometimes a nurseryman, some
times a scotsman. occasionally a land
survey or, or the botanical editor of an
agricultural paper. would be applied to.
who might or might not have living
interest in supplying the demand. The
first three would be pretty certain to
recommend some one who, above all,
would be likely to purchase some ma
terial from them; the editor would be
Just as certain to get rid of the appli-
can't by naming the very first party who
occurred to. him; the surveyor would
most likely recommend himself; not
one of them would care very much
for the character of the work expected.
It would be miracle indeed if a
mountain of earth escaped movement,
and the selection and grouping of the
planting were anything more than is
seen.
Occasionally man of business per-
suades himself that he can do better
than this Britishers and other for
eigners feel the want of style almost
instinctively, and determine to under
take the matter themselves. They
come out but little better, and rarely
get beyond a subdivision of the labor.
They get a local teamster to do the
grading, which often robs the grounds
of all character; they get some jobbing
gardener to stake out the roads, which
often lead nowhere, and end in nothing,
and perhaps they also get him to sow
grass seed, or lay sod. They may or
may not send him along with their
groom to dig some trees in the woods
and plant them, and rely for the rest
upon the visits of the tree agent, who
is almost certain to care nothing for
the proprieties, provided he sells some
thing. Some handy lrishman in the
vicinity viii now be hired to NOW the
grass, and grow the peas and potatoes.
| If pat is gardener, as he is sure to
be now, he Will try to please the ladies
by forming flower bed or two; these
filed by florists in the vicinity for q
| while, but 'EPat' will soon hint that
a greenhouse would be nicer. The ladies
are certain to think SO too, and it will
be built precisely where it ought not to
bender the. shadow of a big apple
tree very likely; but after pat has
run it year or two, and the florist has
repeated the names of a score or two
geraniums and other popular plants to
him, until he knows them, the evolu-
ton of the villa garden, and the villa
gardener will be complete. 1t may OF
may not advance any more, but it has
assumed the stereotyped form common
| all over the country.
Now, if the owners of these properties
| can once be made to understand that
as much skill and knowledge is required
to properly arrange and plant Their
grounds as to build their houses, it will
not be very long before the demand fol-
Characteristic work will be supplied.
The country is becoming rich enough,
its people are civilized enough, its
climate is, for the most part, genial
enough, its soils productive enough, and
its villa gardening ought to be equal
to any in the world, but it is not, and
the fault almost entirely lies in the
absence of sound advice, and diverse
vet accurate knowledge to begin with
| Cor. Country Gentleman.
Wants Fresh Dictionary.
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