Show laying out flower beds why do people plant flowers in beds everyone does doea it and there Is hardly one in a hundred that knows why they plant them in beds instead of singly and scattered or some other way they do it because everybody else does it planting flowers Is a good deal like growing whiskers in some ways right night after the civil war every man grow a full beard because so BO many of the returning heroes had beards through g 11 necessity that they made whiskers fashionable why we plant flowers in beds because the other fellow did and still does but fortunately there are mighty good underlying reasons for so doing whether we understand them or not in the first place the herbaceous or soft stemmed plants usually look bet ter in masses lines or other groups A large 0 or continuous mass of color makes a strong impression upon the observer where a few scattered blooms blooma would be ignored A single soldier is unnoticed but the marching of a regiment thrills the very soul so it la is with flowers and this cumulative effect is the biggest reason tor for massing them together perhaps the only other immediate alternative ter native would be to scatter them about over the lawn as they occur in nature a group of blue here a single pink there etc tula this Is all very well for the yard that Is kept in a wild state but it will never do tor for the finished city or suburban lot it makes a fair smooth lawn impossible and the combination of natural flower arrangements range ments and polished gardening accessories cess ories spoils the effect of eichbone ei each chone one As far as possible the b beds eds should be kept at the outer edges of the lawn to avoid cutting it up and making it look small the old fashioned formal beds round square star shaped diamond or crescent are not in good taste now and the lines of the beds should bo be irregular alt although hogh clearly defined this applies to every walk bor borders derp to a lesser degree although wo we personally like a straight lined bed near a straight lined walk if it is necessary to place small beds out in the lawn the round or oval bed Is probably the best beat in form and it should contain low flowers so as not to hido bide the landscape back of it Beds should be dug deep thoroughly fertilized and pulverized and the edges cut clean and smooth with an edging tool the earth should be gently crowned from the edges to the con cen ter to provide drainage do not plant the flowers so close to the grass as aa to interfere with clipping the grass at the edge of the tha lawn about the baa |