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Introduction - In no country in the world are there so many well-to-do people as in the United States, or so many who own comfortable and even beautiful homes, and on every hand we hear the call for information as to the most beautiful decorative trees, shrubs, and plants and their proper use and arrangement to produce the most pleasing effects.

01. Landscape Gardening - The term "landscape gardening" properly is applied in the more extended meaning of the words to that larger work of making and decorating extensive estates, parks, etc., where distant views (landscapes) may be obtained within their limits and by the work of the gardener or landscape artist.

02. New Homes - In establishing and decorating new homes the following important points must be considered: Location, healthful-ness, convenience, elevation and slope of land, good water, kind of soil, strongly marked features, as rock and water, etc.

03. Land Preparation - In the preceding chapters the requirements of the house and other conditions have been discussed in. a general way, and it now becomes necessary for us to take up in detail the preparation of the soil for the growth of the various kinds of trees, shrubs, and plants used for the outside ornamentation of the home.

04. Tubes - The lawn may be considered the canvas upon which the home-picture is to be made, and trees and shrubs, together with the buildings, make up the most important materials to be used in the work, and no comfortable or beautiful home can be made without them. No country can boast of so many beautiful trees and shrubs as the United States, and, with the addition of the choicest species and varieties from many countries now offered by our nurserymen, we have the greatest wealth of material for the most elaborate work of home decoration.

05. Shrubs + Hedges - Shrubs may serve tinder some conditions, e.g., on small places, the purpose of screens when planted near the buildings, or near the street when the land slopes upward toward the house, but in very few places can they be used for shelter. They are especially adapted to add finishing touches and cause a blending between the trees and lawn or for massing in ornamental groups on small grounds.

06. Walks And Drives - Good, dry, and smooth walks and drives are a necessity for comfortable getting about on either the home or public grounds, but they can in themselves add nothing to the naturalness or beauty of any place. One of the first points for consideration, after the house and outbuildings have been located and built, is how to get to and from them, or, in other words, where shall the necessary walks and drives be located.

07. Renovating - The established home is often far more difficult to treat than where the land is clear and new material only is to be used. It often is also the case that there are objectionable features that must be removed before anything like real beauty can be evolved; as, for example: 1st. Trees, shrubs, and vines may be so closely planted and so entangled that none of them can ever be made beautiful objects. This is shown to some extent in Fig. 55. 2d. There may be unnatural embankments, slopes, terraces, or basins. 3d. Bank walls, unsightly fences, and improperly located build-ings. 4th. Unnaturally located and unnecessary walks and drives.

08. Country Roads - It is often said that the condition of the roads in any community is an " index of the intelligence of its people "; and while this may not be wholly true, the roads are an index of their thrift and prosperity, for without good roads frequent and easy communication cannot be had, farm crops and manufactured products cannot be taken to market at the same cost on poor as on good roads, because of increased time required for transportation, and the greater wear and tear of horses and carriages. Then there is little pleasure of comfort in riding over muddy, rough, and unkept roads.

09. Parks + Squares - The limits of this work will allow of very little discussion of the above lines of ornamental landscape-work, but it is a subject that is attracting so much attention and so much progress is being made in this kind of work that some of the principles involved will be briefly touched upon.

10. Tree Description - In this chapter is given a brief description of the most valuable and beautiful trees, shrubs, and plants, and an effort will be made to point out in as few words as possible any peculiarities they possess or special treatment they may require for their most successful growth.

11. Evergreen Trees - Evergreen trees are indispensable in some features of ornamental gardening. They are especially valuable for screens and wind-breaks, for a background against which to group trees with beautifully colored leaves or branches, and for winter decoration. The too abundant use of evergreens results in a sombre effect and often to an unhealthy condition if planted too close to the buildings.

12. Ornamental Shrubs - Flowering shrubs and those with brilliantly colored foliage are to ornamental gardening what the finishing touches are to the picture or the varnishing is to furniture. They help to fill out the well-rounded forms of groups of trees and, possessing more variety of colors of flowers and foliage than the large trees, they add beautiful bits of color to often otherwise tame garden-work. Being small in size, they are especially useful in planting places of small extent, are comparatively inexpensive, and reach maturity in a very short time.

13. Hardy Herbaceous - Long lists of hardy herbaceous plants are given in the catalogues of many nurserymen, and a large proportion of the species and varieties advertised are valuable under proper conditions of soil, exposure, and care, but the majority will not give satisfaction under ordinary treatment given by the amateur, and in the following list I shall only describe a few of the most desirable and easily grown.

14. Aquatic Plants - Wherever bodies of water occur, whether large or small, natural lakes, streams, artificial ponds, or fountain-basins, their decoration with more or less of the water-loving plants —aquatics—can be made to greatly increase the naturally beautiful effects of such features of landscape, Fig. 146. Much interest has been awakened in the past few years in these plants, and many growers of, and dealers in, aquatic plants are found in different sections of the country. There has been a great increase in the growth of these plants for ornamentation, especially in parks and public grounds as well as on many private places.

15. Insects Injurious - One of the greatest difficulties one has to contend with in the care of ornamental trees, shrubs, etc., is the injury caused by insects and fungous pests, and in this chapter a brief outline of the most destructive pests will be given, with the best and most easily applied remedies.

16. Fruit Garden - In Chapter II some of the advantages of the fruit- and vegetable-garden to the owner of a home were briefly mentioned, and as the aim of this book is to give practical information along all lines of outdoor home ornamentation and comfort, a chapter on fruits will not be out of place, for the fruit-garden may be made to serve also as an important feature of the home ornamentation. What can be more beautiful than fruit trees when in bloom, or again when laden with highly colored fruit ?—and they may be trained to as perfect and beautiful forms as many of the trees used only for ornament.

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