place be kept. It is nearly always unsatisfactory, for both owner and
designer, if a plan of the place is made without a personal inspection
of the area. Lines that look well on a map may not adjust themselves
readily to the varying contours of the place itself, and the location of
the features inside the grounds will depend also in a very large measure
on the objects that lie outside it. For example, all interesting and
bold views should be brought into the place, and all unsightly objects
in the immediate vicinity should be planted out.

[Illustration: Fig. 2. Diagram of a back yard.]

A plan of a back yard of a narrow city lot is given in Fig. 2, showing
the heavy border planting of trees and shrubs, with the skirting border
of flowers. In the front are two large trees, that are desired for
shade. It will readily be seen from this plan how extensive the area for
flowers becomes when they are placed along such a devious border. More
color effect can be got from such an arrangement of the flowers than
could be secured if the whole area were planted to flower-beds.

[Illustration: Fig. 3. Plan of a rough area.]

A contour map plan of a very rough piece of ground is shown in Fig. 3.
The sides of the place are high, and it becomes necessary to carry a
walk through the middle area; and on either side of the front, it skirts
the banks. Such a plan is usually unsightly on paper, but may
nevertheless fit special cases very well. The plan is inserted here for
the purpose of illustrating the fact that a plan that will work on the
ground does not necessarily work on a map.

In charting a place, it is important to locate the points from which the