The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-27
BEAUTIFY1NG BACKWARDS
HARvARDs BOTANIC GARDENER EXPLAINS PRINCIPLES BY WHICH AMATEURS MAY MAKE THEIR GARDENS BLOOM EVERY MN HIS OWN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

| Cambridge. Mass. April 23, 1so4.--In the spring the average househoider's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of gar dening. True he may not be able to do very much at 1t. The means at hand are perhaps exceedingly limited. The
 back yard which the whole family fore
 sees beautifed beyond the widest dreams Is perhaps only ten by fifteen
 feet Its supply of soil may be poor
 and scanty. Probably neither the man nor his wife was properly trained in youth by study of books on How to Tell the Wild Flowers from the Miner als" and similar treatises which are nowadays so popular. Both may even be ignorant of the subject matter of Bridget Wfggs monumental work on "Queer Bugs Have Saw in My Cab-
 bage Patch" and. cutie likely. neither
 of them has ever experienced the de- light of taking the Kneipp cure across
 the neighbors' lawns on a dewy May morning. Yet. whether behind the
 times, up with them or decade or two in advance of them. even the most com ventional American man and wife find themselves longing in the early spring
 to become landscape architects on q
 small scale.
 And there's no reason why they shouldn't become such-so. at least, MT. Robert Cameron. the head gardener of the Harvard Botanic Gardens. says. Mir. ducting the practical work in this not
 able department of the University on
 a fine old estate owned by Harvard.
 and has been raising more plants and shrubs than most people ever saw. He
 believes, thoroughly In the back yard beautified behind the House Beautiful. few of the very rich in this coun- try are nble to gcslandscapc arch- itects to make their estates worthy of being written up with gorgeous illus trations in the magazines. MT. Came ron finds. however, that therc are a few simple principles which, If follow
 ed consistently, will enable anybody
 who is willing, to take a little pains in the adornment of his place to got fla
 vorable results; and this spring, he holds, Is the right time to begin Let
 the suburbanite business man. he
 thinks. remember the maxim which he
 sticks over his office boys desk Sand
 Do 1t Now s~ t.t -s&
 1"The smallest lot of land attactiAd to q house.' saye sNtr. f:ameroas Tn 4y.- If given thought and considerations she
 made into landscape pictdfe' The great trouble with most, owners of | small lots of ground ifs sthat they do
 not understand how to plant in order to get the most pleasiHg effects. The area Is usually covered all over with trees. and shrubs, candsLhence. the work is meaningless.
 Tn making up his landscape picture the amateur artist must have s canvas | to work upon. The canvas in fhts, case | is the green lawn. The lawn Is the first requisite. and 1t should ordinarily pre-
 sent a little unbroken stretch in the center of the lot. The beds and bor- ders should be thoroughly prepared be- | fore planting begins. If the soil IS poor or lacking humns. e liberal quantity
 Of we'll routed barnyard manure should
 he worked into it.
 "The plantations of trees and shrubs should be confined to the outer edges and margins of the lot; and. as a gen. eral rule, all shrubbery should be in irregular masses. The eye is not pleas l cd with the sight of two clumps of bushes of exactly~the same size. Above | all openings should be left wherever there Is an especially pleasing vista.
 Many people make the mistake of en-
 tirely shutting their gardens In. Vines and dwarf shrubbcry ought to be plan ted near the house and the piazza so as to bring them into close union with the green lawn.
 "Only the hardest ornamental trees and shrubs should be used by anna teurs-those requiring no protection in
 winter and blossoming abundantiy dur | ing the season. Shrubs suitable for the amateurs garden may be planted eith-
 CT in the spring or the fall.
 "A good list of shrubs for small
 grounds graceful in growth, handsome in foliage and moderate in size,' Is the
 following: For the background of tall
 shrubs. mock oranges. Philadelphus
 grandihora and Pyrus coronaria, ilacs
 of hardy sort. tall DeutZias, shrubby Hebiscuscs, Viburnums. cornels or dog woods, sriowballs, Tartarian honey
 suekles, privets, and tall barberries. "~or the center of the beds. which
 have been prepared within the grounds use medium sized shrubs such as Jap
 anese quinces. Weigelicas. Spiraeas.
 Rerberis Thunhergii. Forsythias, Hyd-
 rangeas, Symphorocarpos, or snow
 berry, Rhodotypos Kerrioides. Rosa rugosa.
 Tn front of the borders, making a transition from the smooth lawns to the tall shrubs. plant some of the very low shrubs. among which the safest are Deutzia gracilis. Kerria Japonicas Ribes aureum, Spiracea Anthony Wa terer, Spiraea Thunbergii and S. Reev- esiana.
 For very cool shady spots. as un- der a clump of trees, the best varieties arc rhododendrons. szaleas and kal- mias. Good shrubby climbers for the piazza and house are the Wisteria sin ensis. Dutchman's pipe, Aristilochia si- pho Akebia quinata, Clematis panicu- lsta, Farquhar rose. sweetheart white climbing rose and criAlson rambler rose.
 Any of the foregoing varieties, which are very useful in the northern and central portions of the United States, may be obtained from good nur- serymen."
 So much for the shrubbery from which the amateur landscape architect will do well to select tho leafy adorn- Tnents of his backyard. But It's a week enthusiast who will not also demand flowers A long series of beautiful blooms to keep his garden brilliant from the first days of spring to late