Next in importance to planning the setting of the house and its
appearance from the street should be the planning of the views from
windows of the house itself. The development of the private garden at
the back is one help which was previously alluded to, but there are
generally ugly things which can be seen from the windows of the house
that need screening out. These ugly objects may be on the neighboring
property, or they may be the drying-yard for the clothes, or the
garage. Whatever they are, a screen of trees can be used to shut them
from the view.
But the most important part of this problem is to make the best of any
view that may be possible from the house. A far-away river, a hill, or
a meadow might be brought to sight by trimming some trees or brush.
Distant landscapes are most satisfying to the eyes, for they rest them.
_Construction of the Lawn_
From what has been said, the importance of the lawn in front of
the house can be appreciated. It is the rug spread out before the
jewel-box. Over it one can view the beauty of the home, and so it needs
the best attention. The very first thing to consider in building the
lawn is to arrange for good drainage and a deep top layer of good soil,
say 18" to 24". Pockets where water may collect and settle must be
drained with tiles placed in the ground. The surface water should be
carefully distributed away from the house.
An ordinary site will have stones and weeds scattered over it. In the
beginning these stones should be carted away and the weeds cut down
with a scythe, and a plough run over the surface to a foot in depth,
unless the subsoil is not sandy and holds water, in which case a deeper
ploughing is better. Then stones and weeds should be taken out of this
earth, not once, but as many times as the earth delivers up stones and
weeds. When this is done, the grading may be started, and this should
be with long, easy grades. Where trees and shrubs edge the lawn, a
slight hollow in the grade will improve it.
This graded soil is not ready for grass until it has been covered
with 25 to 50 loads per acre of thoroughly decayed, composted stable
manure, or, if not this, bone-dust, wood-ashes, superphosphates of
lime, nitrate of ammonia, etc. This dressing should be raked into the
top-soil with the harrow and hand rake, and whatever weeds and stones
come up with this operation should be removed.
Grass seed should then be selected which will give the most rugged
growth for the particular conditions of the site. Often this can best
be accomplished by using a mixture of seed. The different kinds of
grass have qualities suited to certain types of soil. For example,
Kentucky blue-grass, while coarse and not so attractive as some
others, grows vigorously and holds its own in sandy soil. Rhode Island
bent-grass makes good sod in moist climates, and redtop is apt to die
off in a drought.
This seed must be sown liberally to make allowances for loss in
germination, and evenly to prevent patchy growth. About six bushels
per acre is considered enough. All of this must be raked under with a
fine-toothed iron rake and pressed down with a heavy roller. As soon as
the blades are tall enough to be caught in the mower, this new grass
should be cut, for this helps to make it grow thicker and keep down the
weeds. But work on the lawn does not end here. Constant care is the
price of a good one.
_Construction of Roads and Paths_
Attention has already been called to the use of materials for paths and
roads which harmonize with the materials of the house. In a previous
chapter, details were given on the construction of concrete paths and
roads. Therefore other types will be considered here, such as brick,
gravel, and stone.
The driveway to the garage ought to be about 10 feet wide and flare
out to a 15-foot width at the house, where the car is driven up to the
entrance, so that an incoming car can pass by any which is standing in
front of the door. This roadway should widen out into a Y shape in
front of the garage, as shown in the drawings, to permit of backing out
and turning around. A round turning area in front of the garage may
be substituted for this Y-shaped arrangement. Any curves made in the
driveway should have a radius from centre of the curve to outside edge
of the road of 30 feet 6 inches, although a Ford car can run on a road
having a radius of only 14 feet.
If the driveway is to be of gravel and the subsoil is wet or clayey,
drainage must be arranged for along the edges. Trenches 3 feet to 4
feet deep should be dug on either side and 3-inch diameter agricultural
tile laid at the bottom with open joints covered with collars, then a
layer of sod, and then 6 inches of field stone or gravel, and finally
top-soil. Wherever there are pockets that would collect surface water,
outlets should be constructed and covered with iron grating. All the
subsoil tile should connect with one main tile and drain off at some
low point.
For ordinary light traffic the road itself may be built with a
foundation of stones to a depth of 2 feet. This should be covered with
a layer of coarse gravel 2½ inches thick, a top layer of finer gravel
4 inches thick, and rolled with a heavy roller after water or some
bituminous binder has been sprinkled over it. A crown of ½ inch to the
foot should be made, and any grades ought to be kept about 5 feet in
100 feet, and at the most 10 feet in 100 feet.
In the construction of gravel walks the grade should be kept to within
12 feet in 100 feet and be crowned ¼ inch per foot.
The success of the brick walk depends upon the foundation used. A poor
one will permit the bricks to settle unevenly, crack, and break away at
the edges. The bricks themselves may be laid in any number of different
and interesting patterns, such as the basket weave or the herring-bone.
A row of bricks on edge along the outside of the walk makes an
excellent finish.
[Illustration: TYPES OF STONE PATHS]
[Illustration: TYPES OF BRICK WALKS]
The foundations of the brick walk may be built of sand, cinders, or
concrete. The first two give a walk somewhat irregular, and grass can
be made to grow in the joints. To begin the laying of a brick walk,
the earth should be excavated to a depth of 4 inches, and either a
bed of sand 2 inches thick, or a concrete of one part cement to eight
parts sand 3 inches thick should be spread. When the bricks have been
arranged on this bed, sand should be worked into the joints between
them by leaving a layer on the walk for a few days and brushing it into
the crevices.
Where concrete is used for the base, a more rigid walk will result,
and in such types it is customary to use mortar to fill the joints. A
thin 1:3 grout can be brushed into these joints and the little that is
smeared over the surface can be washed off with scrubbing-brush, water,
and 5-per-cent muriatic acid. A better method is to pour grout into the
joints, wiping the brick clean before the mortar sets.
There are a number of different types of stone walks that can be used,
depending upon the character of the stone in the neighborhood. Flat
flagstone walks are usually rather uninteresting, and many prefer the
picturesque effect which is produced by stepping stones. These ought
to be placed about 22 inches apart to make walking easy on them. A
very interesting and much-used walk is made by setting flat stones of
different shapes together, like the pieces of a cut-out puzzle, but
leaving a small space between each stone in which grass or moss can be
grown.