Evening star., 1902-04-19
A MODEL DWELLING
Uncle Sam to Build One at
Arlington
AS AN OBJECT LESSON
HINTS ON BEAUTIFYING HOUSES
AND LAWNS.
The Planting and Care Of Grass-Ef-
fective Use of
Vines.
AS AN OBJECT LESSON
Written for The Evening Star.

model rural homestead. serving as an
| object lesson in landscape gardening for
| people of moderate means is a unique en-
terpriSe just conceived by Uncle Sam. Six
acres of the government reservation at Ar
| lington, across the Potomac. have been re-
served for this novel purpose Upon 1t will
| Immediately De erected a ten-room frame
| cottage to cost $1,000.
The primary object of this ingenious ex-
| pertinent will be to teach. a glance. ideal
methods of grading planting, cutting and
watering lawns; of locating and adornng
flower beds, paths and drives: of beautify
ing the porch; of screening out objection
able views: of locating trees: of covering
outbuildings with vines; Of doing all man
| ner of things to make the exterior OF the
| home beautiful.
| Through Arlington penetrates one of the
most beautiful drives of America-one fire.
| quented by the President and the elite OF
the capital. The work of laying out this
model honest cad site thereupon has been
! intruSted to Professor l.. c. Corbett. horti-
! culturist of the Department of Agricul-
| ture-a master in the fine art of landscape
gardening. Taking his new enterprise as
| text, this savant yesterday laid down,
| in a few words, what he considers the fine
points to be observed by all city people and
country folk who are ambitious to beauti-
| fly their lawns. their back yards and the
exteriors of their buildings with the flow
| ers. shrubs and trees which God has given.
Cut this out and paste it in your scra p
| book:
Care of the Lawn.
| I'VE will begin by laying out the lawn"
said Prof. Corbett. ITO be effective 1t
| should always rise from the street to the
house-should rise at least eighteen Inches
in each 100 feet of depth. A lawn should
| always be full In the center, never hollow,
| and ShOrIld off ba Of
the public walk in front, not ending there
| in an abrupt bank.
IF the soil be of clay it is an easy matter
| to get a full blue grass lawn: but If the
soil be sandy white clover, Italian rye grass
| or red top must suffice.
| Most people either cut their grass too
close or let it go to seed between mowings.
| A lawn mower should be set high enough
| to leave one ard a half two inches of
| each blade of grass uncut; otherwise there
| will not be left sufficient leaf area for
| proper nouriShment. Early in the summer
lawns must be moved often, with less fire.
| quency toward and during autumn. The
| rule for this depends of course upon the
| season. whether 1t be wet or dry. In the
| fall, as soon as the ground freezes, every
| lawn should be spread with decomposed
manure, left in place until March.
| IF allowed to go to seed once grass will
| expend practically all of its energy. Such
neglect, therefore, will be fatal to pretty
| lawn. Red top and blue grass will go to
seed In the latter part of June or in July if
/ not Kept moved White clover will continue
to go to seed all through summer.
| Few people know when to water their
| lawns. The hose should never under any
circumstances be applied during full sun
shine. Evaporation is then rapid. and each
| drop of water acts as a little lens or burn
| ing glass, focusing the suns rays and
| actually scOrching the grass blades. Com
| mence to water your lawn toward sunset or
| during the night Make this a rule, and
your grass will look refreshed.
| rou;pr N,,@ Iu,1le
'On small city or town lawn the walk
| extending from the street to the front door
should ordinarily be perfectly straight
Only in estates where there is at least an
| acre in front of the house are curved walks
permissible. In the latter case the curve
should be deep enough to allow the planting
| of shrubs, tall grasses or flowers in the
| bay, inside of bend. to obscure distant OBJ
| jects and afford novelty of landscape a
| each turn. And in these clumps of bushes.
| or what not, placed. variety should be
| striven for. We see too much uniformity
of species in these clumps so placed in our
4 parks and pretentiouS lawns.
| Walks and drives should always be two
| or three inches below the surface of the
| surrounding lawn, SO that when the eye
passes over the grass it will see nothing
| but the eXpanse of green sward. The crown
ing center of path or drive must never
rise to the level of the lawn.
Flower Beds.
flower bed should never be located in
| the center of an expense of front lawn nor
directly IN front Of the house. Flowers
| should be planted in the angles of the house
| between the porch and main structure, bor
dering walks, in the back yard or between
| sidewalks and The house but never, I re-
| peat to interrupt the eXpanse of green
| sward between house and the street.
| Irregularity rather than formality should
| be striven for in border planting of any
kind.
Now let us begin at the front of the
| house. If wild flowers are desired, you can
get early effects from such species as tri-
| liums. jacks ks-in-the-pulpit, phloxes or hepat-
| icas-the last named are little. low-grow
ing white or blue flowers common now in
| the woods. These can be mixed with
| daisies, for later effects. and also with
dwarf sunflowers and golden rod to give the
blaze of yellow so grand in the autumn.
| If yeu prefer the common bedding flowers,
| you can plant in the previous fall the early
| blooming pansies. tulips and hyacinths. fol-
| lowed by the coleus, geraniums, scarlet
sage, cannaS, elephants ears castor
beans. Plant t--ese in the front angles of the
| house and at the sides Of the porch steps.
| Arrange the taIlest in the rear and bank
those of lower growth in front.
Beautifying the Porch.
"The porch should be covered with vines
| carried up in narrow columns to form
arched openings conforming to the archi-
lecture. Inc greater mass Oh vines should
| be near the caves and snould hang down,
| giving the graceful effect of drapery The
best vines for porch decoration are Boston
| ivy, five-fingered ivy, actinidia and akebia
especially the last two, which are absolute
ly free from insect enemies.
THE most artistic arrangement of porch
boxes planted with flowers is to place them
on a level with and outside of the hand
| rails. extending the series entirely around.
They should be filled with low-growing,
hardy plants, such geraniums lobelia
vinca and nasturtiums, trained to fall over
and trail.
Background Screens.
For every house of this category should
be planted an irregular background screen,
hiding the vegetable garden, outhouses or
other Objectionable views at the rear or
wherever they may be situated. II the
house be new and immediate effects are
desired certain high grasses are best But
with these should be planted such shrubs
as berberry sweet shrub. dogwood, haw-
| thorn, deutzia. silver thorn, strawberry
bush, rose of sharon, bush honeysuckle or
| mock orange. These will mature and later
give permanent effects. Among the tall
grasses are the arundo donax, or giant reed
tn NJ