The background trees should be tall and mixed in character, so that their skyline is not stiff and wall-like. The trees which run along the edge of the lot ought also to be varied in type. Low shrubs should fill in the spaces between their trunks, but as they come forward on the property they should be more scattered, lower and thinner, so that the neighboring property can be seen, and finally they should end, allowing a blended connection between the lawns on either side. There are some who advocate that the site should be completely walled in with shrubs or fences and separated entirely from the neighboring plots, but this is not quite in harmony with our traditions, and ought not to be carried to this individual exclusiveness, although the rear of the lot may be so screened in. The green lawn should not be broken with flower-beds, for, taken at its largest, it is bound to be little, and nothing should be introduced to break it up. The windings of the front path may be such that clumps of low shrubbery and a few columnar trees, like cedars or Lombardy poplars, can be placed along its edge and produce a motif for the middle ground, like a moving silhouette against the elevation of the house as one passes by. The building up of the foreground should be with some low planting over which one can look. The use of fence or wall is legitimate if it does not cut off the view. Gates are a little out of harmony with our American traditions, for they mean that they should be attended by a gatekeeper, a human tool that is quite extinct in the average home, and especially in the small one. 3.—INTERESTING APPROACHES Generally speaking, due to the smallness of the average plot upon which the little house is erected, the building of a prominent pathway to the front door directly in a straight line from the street, cutting the lawn and the property in two equal halves, is not pleasing. The lawn will be small enough as it is without chopping it into two pieces. If a straight approach is desirable, it should be made of materials that will not visibly produce this effect of division. Stone slabs of greenish color or neutral tones set with open joints, or even stepping stones, solve the problem. But the straight approach has not the mystery and picturesque quality of one which curves around the outside of the lawn, and is framed in with planting, so that the view of the house is constantly changing as one proceeds. The roadway to the garage might also be the way to the house. Nothing looks uglier than the straight cut from street to garage. Planning the location of this service building so that it cannot be seen from the street is an excellent step in the right direction.