Next, I should put out a hitching-post. When your school commissioner calls it will be appreciated. If that functionary does not publicly compliment your school for even such small improvements, I wish you would report such indifference to me, giving his full address, and I will request him to explain this forgetfulness.
Fig. 294. Showing how the borders may be planted.
Good results in landscape-gardening depend on observing certain principles, the same as with our wardrobe. Many a clever girl will accomplish more in dress with twenty-five dollars than others can do with twice that amount. Among the first and most important efforts is to make a frame or setting for the house by planting around the borders of the place. Sometimes the location will make this inconvenient if not impossible, when, for instance, the building is placed near the street or crowded between other buildings. Even in such cases, however, it is well to keep the idea clearly in mind and to approach it as nearly as circumstances will permit. An illustration of a normal location to which this principle can be applied is shown in [Fig. 294]. The trees and the higher shrubs are planted first and on the extreme borders of the lot, with shorter shrubs, roses, and the like in front of them. This frame can be given a finish by planting flowers or very low things next the grass. If the area be ample, let the edges be irregular ([Fig. 294]); but if very limited, straight lines become necessary.
The open space within the boundaries should be a mat of green carpeting, for nothing can be more beautiful than sward. Fight all influences to bedeck it with beds of flowers in forms of stars and moons and other celestial and terrestrial designs. The demands for such capers may be great, but hold out against them boldly. Certain small shrubs, ferns, and flowers may be planted along the walls of the building, particularly in the angles; but I beg of you to leave the green plat unscalloped and unspoiled, only as is necessary for drives and walks. When the buildings are unsightly, cover with vines and plant bushes against them. [Fig. 295] illustrates how [Fig. 292] may be improved with very little effort.
Now I will speak of the actual planting. In the light of unnumbered thousands of Arbor Day trees put out to struggle a few weeks for life and then die, this may seem the most important feature of my article. To the unsuccessful planter, let me suggest that he select shrubs and trees which take care of themselves under adverse conditions. We have a number of such. If they were imported from Japan and sold at fancy prices, they would be greatly appreciated. The common sumac is one of them. For a shrub I know of nothing of its class so sure to bear the ordeal of transplanting or to make more vigorous growth under adverse conditions. It can be pruned to suit, and nothing can rival its blaze of color in late autumn; yet as a farmer, I know the experience of fighting against its existence in fence corners, about stone piles, and on steep hillsides. I do this even though I am fond of the shrub and admire it. It encroaches on my vineyard and injures the crop. Grapes will help pay taxes and sumac will not. In my cherry orchard it is a weed. In my back yard and on the borders of my lawn it is an ornamental shrub. The same can be observed of people. When in their proper sphere they are helpful factors in a community; when out of it they are nuisances.
Fig. 295. How the grounds in [Fig. 292] may be improved.
If you ask me to mention a tree most likely to live when planted by unskilled hands, I should name the willow. I mean the most common kind to be found in the northern States—the kind that stands beside the roadside watering-trough. The impression is common that willows will thrive only in wet places. It is true that a willow is very comfortable in places where many other trees will suffer from wet feet; yet it will give good results elsewhere. It is reasonable to suppose that poor soil goes with a poor school building, and a refined tree would probably find life hard in such a place. I should certainly plant a willow in such cases. It will thrive where a goat can, and where a sheep cannot. For city places, the Carolina poplar is to be recommended. If the soil is good enough, plant maples, elms, or other trees.
A judicious planting of Virginia creeper helps the appearance of buildings both good and bad. I should surely plant it about the main building and the outbuildings and fences, if the patrons of the school did not object. The probabilities are that when the vines have begun to cover some of the deformities of the place, some finicky resident of the district will cut them out on the plea that they promote decay of the weather-beaten clap-boards; but do not be discouraged by such a possibility. Vines, too, usually interfere with the painting of a building. Although they may be taken down and put back after the painters are through, the first effect is not regained unless the process of putting back has been done with unusual care.