Strictly speaking architecture and ornamental gardening are two very different things, and yet, when it comes to making a home, especially in Florida, the two are likely to be intimately connected. I believe that it will not be out of place here to devote a brief chapter to the subject.

Robinson, the noted English gardener, says, "The architect is a good gardener when he makes a beautiful house." And I might add that he is a better one when he makes a house which will harmonize with what are to be its surroundings. The dwelling and all other buildings that are at all conspicuous should be fitted for their surroundings as well as for the purposes for which they are constructed.

The peculiarities of our climate and environment call for peculiar treatment when it comes to the construction of buildings. In thousands of cases people come here from the north and put up just such structures as are built in that region. A great many of these are designed by northern architects who have never been in a tropical or semi-tropical country and who know nothing whatever of the needs of such a region as Florida. In other cases architects come here and bring their ideas with them and turn out work such as they did in the north with but little modification.

California has its own architecture, the Mission style, which is used here to a considerable extent; in New England they have the Colonial style, which is, just now, all the rage generally, even in Florida; the Italian order is also somewhat used here. None of these is just fitted for our climate and needs; why shouldn't we have a Floridian style of architecture?

In this region we have occasional West Indian hurricanes, which usually occur in the fall and they are almost always accompanied by a very heavy fall of rain. One who has never gone through any of these storms can not have the faintest idea either of the fury of the wind or the power and penetrating ability of the water. A house as ordinarily constructed at the north would be completely saturated from roof to basement during one of these storms. Plaster and wall paper are either ruined or seriously injured, and the contents of rooms sure to be badly damaged. I built the first part of my house with a third pitch roof of the best cypress shingles carefully laid, and it faced to the north and south. During a severe hurricane the wind hauled to the northwest and I am sure that every drop of rain that struck the north side of it was driven by the force of the wind up through the shingles and into the building. Good close workmanship is absolutely necessary, tar paper under shingles and exposed walls is excellent, and a finish of wood alone for rooms, or some material that will not be injured by water.

The greater part of Florida is very flat, especially near the coast. If one's house is placed down near the level of the ground it is impossible to get a view out over the surrounding country. By elevating it a few feet a much better outlook is obtained; if it is raised seven or eight feet so much the better, and the space beneath can be utilized for workshop, photographic dark room, bathroom or other purposes. Insects are far less troublesome in a house so built; there is not one mosquito at an elevation of ten feet where there are a dozen at ground level. It is probable that a house thus built is more conducive to health than one placed close to the ground and there is far less danger of the dreaded Wood fungi which attack and destroy timber at or near the soil.

There are probably two or more kinds of these fungi which attack the timber houses of Florida. They work in posts set in the earth or timbers just above it, slowly creeping into the upper structure, sometimes destroying the entire house. No wood should ever be placed on or near the ground in the construction of any building in Florida. Concrete is, no doubt, the coming material, especially for the warmer part of the state. In the southeastern part of it a soft, porous limestone rock is abundant, and this when laid up in a wall without being dressed is very attractive and durable. Such a wall properly laid will stand against any hurricane that visits this region. The upper part of the building may be either of rock, concrete or wood.

In the temperate zone we live inside our houses the greater part of the year; in Florida we live mostly outside of them. At the north we go outside and use the porches for a brief time during the warm season; here we only go inside to eat and sleep, and for shelter during northers or severe storms. It goes without saying then that a dwelling in this region should consist largely of verandas. If one can run a porch entirely around his house so much the better; it will make a delightful place to walk and look out over his garden. With such an arrangement one can always have a chance to promenade unless the weather is very boisterous. I love to walk around my veranda and enjoy my plants, especially by moonlight or during showers. I can rejoice with them when they are being deluged with rain.

Many persons in Florida screen in all or part of a porch and make a sun parlor of it. Such a room is a delightful place in good weather, but it ought to be furnished with heavy roller curtains which can be tightly closed in time of hard storms. Such screened rooms make fine places to sleep in and are all the more desirable if they are located so that one can look out over attractive grounds.

If possible arrange for lovely views when building a dwelling. Everything of beauty on the place or in the immediate neighborhood should be visible from the windows or porches if that is possible. As a general thing the house should be simple in style and an excess of scroll work or furbelows of every description should be avoided. It is true that there are elaborate buildings which are finished most ornately and are at the same time very beautiful; the great cathedral at Milan, which Mark Twain has called "A poem in stone" is an example, but there is not one man in a million who can design such a structure, and there are thousands who can create a tasteful simple building who would fail with an elaborate one.

I have introduced an illustration of my own house which I designed and built. Some of the best architects in the country have pronounced it an atrocity and I present it to my readers in order that they may know what an atrocity is and be able to distinguish one at sight. It shows some of the ideas I have mentioned; the living part elevated well above the ground, the wide, encircling veranda or gallery as it is often called in South Florida and the West Indies, and the rather sharp roof which has never leaked seriously in the worst hurricane. Some of the ideas embodied in it have been taken from dwellings in Jamaica, Hawaii, Haiti, Cuba and the Philippines; others are my own, and it is not like anything in the heavens above, the earth beneath, or the waters under the earth.

Nature is very kind in this land of warmth and sunshine, where every one plants trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants in their grounds and around their dwellings. In a few brief years the growing vegetation covers up and hides the deformities and mistakes of the builder; trees screen it out and kindly vines most mercifully spread themselves over the architectural enormities that man has perpetrated, so that at length his shortcomings and blunders are made a part of a thing of beauty and elegance.