Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1908-12-03
FLOWERS ey FooTRuLE.

1t is gratifying to find wholesome
feeling springing up against the geo.
metrical and mathematical garden, the
vegetable signboard and the shrub
berry menagere. There should be
society for the prevention of cruelty to
nature. One of Its first efforts would
be to suppress the gardeners who are
more interested in Euclid than they
are in acwers
AS an evidence Of more healthful
tone on the subject I quote one or two
recent writers. Says Katherine Louise
Smith in the Pittsburg Dispatch
"Of course no one now trims trees
and evergreens in the form of animals
and In other grotesque shapes. This is
the worst possible taste, for to try to
adorn nature Is absurd. Even the
formal garden Is gradually disappear
Ing, and persons who have made liv-
ing by cutting trees into fanciful
shapes are deprived of an occupation
which, after all, was nothing but a
sort of butchery. Evergreens are now
left to grow naturally from the ground
instead Of being trimmed, and the re-
suit is graceful and inviting and as ma
ture intended"
Concerning straight borders, which
| are n kindred offense, Wilhelm Miller,
editor of the Garden Magazine, strikes
this sensible note In the New York
Herald:
1T is all well enough to have a
straight border If you have straight
walk that ought to be lined with flow
ers, but the best kind of border for
the greatest number Is one with irreg-
ular outlines. You want bold capes
and deep bays In your border In order
to make your place seem larger than
it really is and In order to give a Sc
ries of dainty little pictures instead of
one long monotonous sweep.
"No day laborer can ever lay out
such border for you. He can never
comprehend the viewpoint of anybody
who wants anything different from
straight lines, circles, hearts, crescents
and lozenges. But any person of taste
can lay out border as well as land
scape gardener. Just march out with
some stakes and long line and mark
1t out the way 1t ought to be. You
will change the lines somewhat after
viewing the curves from the sidewalk,
front porch and dining room window.
''The next thing is to plan your
masses, and this is where almost every
beginner makes a fundamental mis-
take by thinking first Of a variety in
stead Of bold single effects. If you Or
der one each of fifty different kinds OF
plants, expecting to work up stock OF
! the best things, you will get no effect
at all the first year, and lot of plants
will die, because you cannot learn how
to grow fifty kinds of plants In one
year. Besides, 1t isn't artistic to put
three kinds OF columbines here and
about twenty feet farther on three
more columbines, and so on. That is
called 'dotting and repeating and it
invariably produces weak. spotty and
distracting effect"
Mr.. Miller goes on to speak for mass
effects, all of which strikes the lay
| man as not only good art, but good
sense, and the two always coincide.
The rule is to have clean effects and to
follow nature. He who works with
the law will find the law working
with him. Avoid the
"Faultily faultless, icily regular,
splendidly null"
Flowers do not grow by footrule.
Keep Euclid out of your lawns and
parks.
some one has said that the lawn Is
1.-The canvas upon which the gardener
plants his flower bed pictures and land
scape effects" That is good way to
put 1t. And because of lack of work
or Of taste how few of the resultant
paintings are worth hanging In ma
lures gallery
A thousand beautiful effects may be
| made with climbing roses. Bowers OF
loneliness, quaint and delightful cor
ners, shaded and fragrant summer
houses, stately pergolas, cozy conceal
| ed walks, porches screened with bloom
AL OF these and many more enchant-
ing things may be given US by the
climbing roses.