Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-05-10
farmer's Department.
Ornamental Grounds for Farmers.

1t is not so surprising, in this age of utility
and economy, that comparatively attention has
hitherto been paid to identifying the sur.
ronndings of country residences with shady
lawns and avenues, or tastcfully arranged gar
dens of fruit when we consider that speed
the plow" is practically, and perhaps necesSari-
", the leading motto of very large portion
of the denizenS of ruradom. Yet it is appa-
rcnt-if yeu exclude the ameteurS and subur-
ban residents about our large cites-that en-
ccpting the standard apple orchard, and per-
chance an occasional grove of fiourishing ma
pies and oaks reserved for the building site,
through the forethought of the tasteful owner,
the farmers of this country have too much
neglected the refining and pleasing accessories
to the homestead.
The introduction of so many excellent va
rictics of fruits, and the rapid increase of nur-
series in many of the States, as we'll as the
prodgality of our American forests, of orna-
mental shade trees and shrubs, must eventual
ly, it would seem, force this branch of rural
art upon the attention of every lover of the
country Indeed, growing interest has been
awakened in this RESPECT within few past
fears, that certainly promises much for the
future-at least with that portion of the land
let the trees grow.
1t should be the aim of the thrifty, before
handed farmer to render country life plea
SAINT and attractive by some associations be-
yond the merely useful Encourage the
beautiful, the useful encourages ITSELF" is
good maxim, and it is to be hoped many may
lie induced to act upon this advice, and make
a beginning the present year, if not more than
the adoption into their dooryards of few
handsome specimens of whitewood, white ash,
rock elm, rock maple, or other native trees,
from the nearest woodland. The work need
not be done all at once +; but a few seasons
perseverance thereafter, as leisure or fancy
may suggest, will accomplish it.
We trust as the ability of the rural popula-
ton improves, and their attention becomes
more generally directed to the establishment
of their homes, they will proportionately graft
fly those tastes which are not wanting, but on
ly dormant from constant attention to the
more practical details of huSbandry. A lbe-
raj display of accomplishment in this charming
department of rural affairs not only surely ex-
ertS genial, humanizng influence upon the
inmates and upon neighbors, but often is an
index that gives the first favorable impression
to the eye of the passerby, who pauses to ad-
mire tidy farmhouse, encircled and skrted
with ample pleasure grounds, or half embow
cred with interlacing trees and vines
\ sufficient area might be enclosed about
every farmers dwelling for the exhibition of a
degree of practical taste in landscape garden
ing, and for those who cannot afford to rear
a foresbupon their best lands purely for shade,
there are plenty of good substitutes in the rar-
er fruits not usually grown in the orchard )
many of them ornamental and quite appro-
pirate as lawn trees. We would prefer plant
ing near our premises at first a good proper
ton of trees that combine beauty of form and
foliage with fruits for the family to get taste
of, or some of the improved varieties of nuts
fol the children to gather and crack during
the long winter evenings, instead of setting
out forest trees exclusively, or on large scale.
Cherries, aprcots, pears, ounces and grapes,
as we'll as some of the finer kinds of shellbarkS,
Madeira nuts, almonds and chestnuts, are in
keeping with the dooryard or park, and are
planted less frequently than they deserve to be-
Meantime, room c0uld be found for sprink-
ling of our native oak elm, maple, pine, hem
lock, &c, from the woods, interspcrsed with
All occasional group or arbor of the many ee-
CANT species of both decduous and evergreen
trees and shrubs cultivated in the nurseries,
The horse-chestnut, for a dense, deep shade
the mountain ash, conspicuous from its profl-
sion of bright scarlet berries-the larch, for
spire-like form, and its vivid, silky foliage, and
the weeping willow, without peer, for pens
dant graeefulncsS, and desirable from its long
season of verdure, though not indigenous to
cur climate-are all of them striking for con-
trast, and should not be overlooked in locali-
ties where they can be readily procured.
Many, doubtless, are discouraged or deter
red from planting, either for the grove or or
chard. through an impatience to enjoy the
fruits of their labor for, unlike the majority
Of farm improvements, lapse of time is re-
qured to bring them to well grown maturity !;
yet i'll many cases trees of large size can be Sc
lected, and it should be borne in mind that
tree once we'll established is continually pro-
gressng and that there is beauty and
source of satisfaction in every stage of its af-
ter developemcnt to the real lover of nature.
GraM Rapids, Nich, 1855. L. w. L.