When the prospective garden owner is able to purchase rather than merely to rent the property the question of the garden site may well receive more earnest consideration. Individual tastes differ greatly on the question of what is or is not a valuable site.

One person may desire seclusion, and on that account may prefer his small domain circumscribed by natural limits to the view; another may value the panoramic prospect to be obtained from an eminence, finding the pleasures of his garden enhanced by the landscape beyond or through a decorative statues and fountains, such as in an Asian garden collection.

Other considerations may have weight, but in all cases the proximity of an eyesore in the immediate surroundings is to be avoided. Ugly buildings, waste land scattered with rubbish, small property inhabited by undesirable people, a cemetery, factory, or gas works should disqualify an otherwise desirable site, unless it were feasible to screen those objects by artificial means.

The next thing is to examine the land with a view to discovering its intrinsic fitness for its purpose as a garden. A house perched upon a hilltop, or in the center of a treeless field, has a bleak, forbidding aspect, which it may take many years to redeem.

It is therefore a great gain if the plot includes some well-grown trees, which may be utilized for shelter, and which will at once confer a certain distinction on the site. The presence of old hedgerows and bushes should also be welcomed, as it is often possible to utilize them in the garden scheme.

The contour of the ground is an important point. Sites, particularly if of limited extent, which embrace considerable slopes are disappointing, and present difficulties to the gardener which he had best avoid. On the other hand, variety of contour is a gain, offering suggestions for picturesque treatment and giving character to the garden picture.

A uniform slope, if slight and in a southerly direction, is preferable to a dead level, as it ensures natural drainage; but when a tennis lawn is a sine qua non it is desirable that some portion of the ground should be level, or have only a moderate slope; otherwise much expense will be entailed in excavating and banking up, and the artificial contours thus created will become unduly obtrusive.

Happy the gardener who is content to forego this feature, which rarely harmonizes with the other elements of the garden plan, and more often than not usurps space that otherwise could be utilized with advantage to the garden picture.

In further considering the desirability of a given site it is well to try to fix provisionally the position for the house, which in most cases will be suggested by the lay of the ground and by its aspect; and, having done so, to endeavor to form a mental picture of the main elements of the garden, giving due weight to the natural features of the ground and its surroundings as factors in the arrangement.

By doing so it is possible to judge just how far it is likely to meet one's ideal. In a comparatively small plot the process will be a simple one. In a large plot the matter may involve more difficulty, as alternative positions for the house will suggest themselves and call for consideration. No decision should be made until the possibilities of the site have been thoroughly tested from every stand point.