Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1918-03-12
Che Days Best 'Choughts
The Art of Life
end Building
NO. G. THE POETRY OF NATURAL SURROUNDINGS
BY Walter Prichard Eaton.
Copyngi,,
Eprrsp BY NOBLE FOSTER HOCCSON
PRESIDENT hoCCsoS BRoT,IrRs BUILDERS

The complete country house cannot
be considered apart from its setting.
Yet nothing strikes me so iorcibly as
20 about The region OF New Eng.
land where | live-a region full OF ex
tensve and even "palatial' estates
AS the average owners lack OF I'M
agination in the employment Of native
trees, shrubs and plants to set the
landscape about his dwelling.
We all know thai Japanese gar
den is a reproduction in miniature Of
a Japanese landscape, as It were A
Japanese garden in New England.
then, would he such selection and
arrangement of native fora and topo.
graphyical features as would create.
to the scale Of the estate, what is low
lest and most significant in the New
England prospect.
Is there such garden? must con.
Tess | have rarely seen il even ut.
tempted, and almost never brought
to perfect fulfillment | have seen
French Renaissance chateau crown.
ing Berkshire pasture knoll, ap
preached by drive flanked with LON.
hardy poplars and marble statues.
have seen Georgian house fanked by
Colorado blue spruces, with formal
garden full of topiary monstrosites and
exotic plants. have seen this. that
and the other style of house sur
rounded by clipped lawns and reach.
ed by park.like drives, But only once
or twice have seen a sweep of drive
between genuine American roadside
gardens, which are among the lowell
est.
Too seldom have | seen il rec0g
nized that the birch and pine OF our
native woods, with their under carpet
" brown needles and trailing ever
yreen, OF Indian pipes and ladys slip
DER, OF ferns and Mitchela vine, can
not be surpassed for beauty or foI
Seemliness. Too seldom have founC
man who could leave his brook un
molested, realizing that messy rock
and the curves and dips of nature ar
FAR more beautiful than rectangles O
level cement
Just compare for moment, il
your memory. some delightful, wind
ing back.country road you have jos
yed through in a buggy, or plodde
through on foot, with any maCadan
lied and poplar-lined drive to an
big house you know possibly on
own. DO you recall the golden roa
and asters beside the country roa,
the clematis on the old stone WALL
the meadow rue in the hollows. tn
toad flax and bunch berries, the viii
roses and the gentian. each in il
season?
DO you recall the rees-the eli
on the bend the naples, the great pin
beneath whose limb you looked OF
over the wall over the fields, to til
i, FAR blue hills? And do You roca
. he crimson sumach in the Autumn
= and he bitter-sweet when Whit,
X came, IL tiny flame above the snow
OF course you do--you recall Il wit
t affection too. Tho memory H. one
d the precious backgrounds OF your Al
;. erican consciousness.
?. Now think OF that drive betwe,
Il The Lombardy poplars with pow
s. mower cutting the lawn up to Il
T. carefully trimmed edge. and eve
ID vista Il vision OF formality. of the u
"a tive scene altered, tanned, dress
'r no" till It's charm IL gone and y
begin to think, not "lrow lovely" b,
"How expensive" Our roadside 81
: dens are sometimes dusty tang
and the farmers brush scythe Is tn
worst enemy. But the elements
the finest landscape planting o
there.