"
[Illustration: After the first frost annual plantings cease to be
attractive.]
[Illustration: Shrubbery versus annuals.
The contrast in these two pictures is between two small street plantings
standing in sight of each other, one of annuals with a decorative effect
and lasting three months, the other with shrubberies and lasting nine
months.]
It is hoped these sayings, quoted or otherwise, may seem the more in
place here because they contemplate the aspects likely to characterize
the American garden whenever that garden fully arrives. We like
largeness. There are many other qualities to desire, and to desire even
more; but if we give them also the liking we truly owe them it is right
for us to like largeness. Certainly it is better to like largeness even
for itself, rather than smallness for itself. Especially is it right
that we should like our gardens to look as large as we can make them
appear. Our countless lawns, naked clear up into their rigid corners
and to their dividing lines, are naked in revolt against the earlier
fashion of spotting them over with shrubs, the easiest as well as the
worst way of making a place look small. But a naked lawn does not make
the premises look as large, nor does it look as large itself, as it will
if planted in the manner we venture to commend to our Northampton
prize-seekers.
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