FoodNet

Three short courses in home making

1917

Page 21

Presented as published in 1917. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Closely allied to the housekeeper's work within the home is the care of the exterior of the house and its surroundings. It is absolutely necessary that the grounds be kept neat and clean. In addition to this they should be made attractive by the careful selection of a few shrubs rightly placed. While the gardens at the rear of the house may be planned solely for the pleasure and use of the family, in planning the lawn at the sides and front of the house the neighbors and passers-by must be considered. The grounds should be a picture of which the home is the center, the shrubs being grouped to frame the picture. In order to do this, the center of the yard should be left open with an occasional tree or shrub, so placed and pruned that it will not hide the house. Shrubs and vines should be planted close to the house to break the severe line between the house and lawn, and so utilized as to hide the sheds. The arrangement and varieties of shrubs and vines should harmonize both at the front and sides of the house. One, two, or three kinds should be chosen as a has:.-,. If a shrub is planted at one corner of the house, the same variety should be planted at the other end. Similarly, the same sort of vine should be planted on both sides of the front porch. Care should be taken that vines do not cut off the supply of light and air from the interior of the house. The following list of shrubs and vines for planting close to the house may be suggestive: Shrubs: Barberry, deutzia, forsythia, hydrangea, Japanese quince, dwarf euony- mus, lilac, privet, spirea, snowball, caps; jasmine, sweet shrub. Vines: Boston ivy, clematis, English ivy, honeysuckle, wistaria, climbing roses, climbing euonymus. The center of the lawn should be left free of unnecessary walks, drives, piles of stones, or pieces of statuary. A few flowers should be planted among the shrubs to give color at different seasons. The exterior of the house itself must be considered, if the picture framed by the shrubs and vines is to bo a pleasing one. The house should be painted in a soft brown or dark green to blend with the landscape of oaks and pines. The paint will help to preserve the BONS in 8ABB OF THE EIOMS. 33 house, but its color must be Cai elull y chosen 111 older to give h pl< ing effect. The back yard should be used for v< >le gardens with (lower borders. For tins purpose a deep, rich oil is accessary and every square fool of space should ho utilized. Every family should Learn to make use of an increased number of vegetables and fruits and bo ik them in a variety of ways. No crops should be allowed to go to waste. Intensive L2-months gardening should be practiced. A familj of live people could he entirely provided with vegetables from a garden less than 7o by 5<) feet. With the exception of sweet peas, all flowers needed for picking purposes should he grown in the flower borders in tin- back yard. Sweet peas should be planted in rows in the vegetable section. The attractivenec well as the usefulness, of the. flower borders de-