Evening star., 1934-08-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES q. TRACEWELL.

I On the average place, outlines as well
| as beaut4fies.
Outside Of this II is no better. not
one whit, than o typical old-tirne
flower bed. except that Il does not
break up the lawn mass.
The open expanse Of grass Is the
keynote Of up-to-date landscaping.
especially In the small and smaller
yard It means that one may secure
an appearance Of more openness. even
in q very small yard. than Is possible
| in q large one II the latter Is broken
Up with squares and trisngles and
circles of bloom.
II Is interesting to realize that the
vogue for flower beds. as distinguished
from strict borders. whether formal or
informal, came into being in the days
when properties were, as q general
thing, much larger than those of to-
| day.
Bedding plants. as introduced by
the French horticulturists, no doubt
had their place in such yards. whose
beds did not cut up the expanse of
lawn so much because there was so
much more Of it.
.
When O gardener is flirting around
with q hose, hrst directing the stream
of water one place. then another. as
, his vagrant fancy desires, often for no
good reason at all. he Is refusing to
direct the water solely where 1t Is
needed, and above all he Is refusing to
put enough Of 1t at any one point.
The dazzling display Of water at
the command Of his thumb takes his
mind Of the plants in need. where 1t
ought to be, and puts it solely upon
the splash and glitter of water in
motion, where it ought not to be.
II he removes the nozzle and places
the end on the ground, he Is forced
to consider just where he shall lay 1t
and why.
This means that he must be think
ing about his plants. the much-to-be-
desired object Of thought under such
circumstances.
When he has placed the hose in po-
sition, there is nothing for him to do
for q few moments but wait for the
water to seep into the earth and spread
out all around.
He has time for contemplation,
which he never has when he is playing
with the hose, first squirting it at the
rose leaves, which water ought to touch
but seldom, then shooting it over
the earth, but not In sufficient guam
tity to do any good. Perhaps q robin
hops near. The gardener thinks the
bird might enjoy q shower, hence
turns the nozzle to fine spray, which
the robin. queerly enough, does not
seem to enjoy at all. The bird hops
away as rapidly as possible out of fire,
leaving the gardener to play with the
water some more, after turning 1t back
to the medium spray, which he per-
sonally prefers. Every gardener has q
certain setting for his nozzle, one
which he likes above all others, and
which no doubt he uses most Of the
time.
It may be believed that there Is but
one perfect setting" for any hose, and
that is minus nozzle, with the full
width of the round open, so that all
the water there Is in the hose can fiow
out at once and at the same point.
It Is this sameness which does the
trick, by introducing a large quantity
of water Just where 1t may be needed.
While the hose is lying on the
ground, the water seeping out. the
gardener has time to look around and
determine the next point of attack.
Through this method he can get
really large amount Of water onto his
border or lawn, especially the bad
spots, and be In position at the same
time to study the effects Of watering.
The chief gain, however, is that the
watering Is thorough, which it seldom
is by the popular method.