Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1867-05-03
agricultural department.
Taste i'm Farnnfn e.

There Is one thing In which farmers.
take the country through, have been
sadly deficient, and that is, in regard
for, and a cultivation of the beautiful,
as well as the useful. There are some,
land these are generally farmers from
the city, whose ideas all run i'm this
direction; who have entered upon life
in the country, and upon the care of
their farms, as If they were flower gar
dens, to be worked not for the sake of
producing anything that shall be USE
full, SO much as to crafty the eye. Or
If they undertake to produce anything,
it Is something that shall either please
the fancy or crafty q luxurious appe-
tite or make them conspicuous among
the neighboring farmers. They do not
regard their occupation as one of prac-
tical utility. Farming is with them an
ornamental branch, very much like
worsted work or embroidery among
the ladies of the household This ia
one extreme. Such farmers have done
great amount of good, but they have
overstrained an incidental Part of the
matter. # sa
On the other hand, those who have
depended on farming for a living, have
too often overlooked this part of the
subject. Some have perfect contempt
for flowers, and shrubbery, and shade
trees, and all that would be regarded as
belonging to the ornamental. They
have no plans for identifying their
homesteads. Their houses, and yards,
and gardens are all laid out for mere
utility. Not dollar is spent on any
thing that will not give one dollar or
more in return. 1t is all labor and
profit with them. This is the other
extreme.
We do not see how any man who en-
tertains such views, and works his
farm on such principles. can open his
eyes without feeling rebuked. He can
not look out upon the world, unless he
is devoid of reflection, without being
constantly reminded that he is setting
at naught the great lessons which the
Being who made the earth, and who
rolls around the seasons, and produces
the crops by His rain, and sunshine,
and the exercise of His almighty DOW
er, is continually teaching. 1t il the
teaching of Scripture, 'tHe hath made
everything beautiful in his time" and
it Is the teaching of every days obser-
walton and experience. There il not q
crop produced by the earth i'm which
there is not as much laid out on beauty
as on utility, and even more. The
crops of grain, in their growth, and
even when they wave i'm golden color
for the harvest, are almost enough to
stir the soul of a statue with admira-
ton. The orchards, before they ever
produce an apple or peach, or any
other fruit, are gorgeously decked out
with beauty. |
The God of Nature has given us an
example which we ought not to dsre-
gard. 1t is not mere fancy, it is q
al r., h,
pearance of things. The farmer WHO
leaves his house or his grounds i'm
slovenly condition, who pays no atten-
ton to identifying his farm, is doing
violence to one important element of
his nature. 1t Is very easy to do some
thing toward the cultivation of taste
i'm farming. A vine around the door
way; bed of well-selected and we'll
tended flowers "A few shade trees aud
an arbor for vines well-arranyed
and well kept garden; n little care i'm
cutting down the weeds by the road
side; little attention to. the appear
ance of the outbuildings and fences
a plan in the laying out of ones fields,
DC, would add largely to the enjoy.
ment of farm life, and they would aid
largely to its profits too. A farm that
Is properly taken care of, and which
exhibits taste rs well as close culture,
will have u higher pecuniary value
than one which is used merely for ma
king the most money out of it for the
season.
Taste i'm farming is nothing To be
ashamed OF, as many seem to regard it, |
The man who exhibits it and who cul- |
tlyates it is wiser man. a better man. |
than the one who despises it. He is |
cultivating part of his own nature. |
which the other man suffers to run to |
waste and to be covered with briars and |
thorns. He is engaged i'm q work of |
benevolence also. He is doing good to |
Others. He contributes to the enioy- |
ment of every one who sees and adj |
mires the evidences of his taste in the
improvement and identifying of his
grounds. III "a thing of beauty is n
joy forever" (which has now become a |
proverb,) the farmer who makes his |
own place attractive to the eyes of 9TH
ers becomes "a public and a lasting BEN
efactor. He blesses not merely his |
own family and his neighbors, but ev-
cry traveller who passes his homestead:
while he who makes it his only object |
to dig out of the earth what he can
turn to immediate profit i'm money, is |
living altogether for himself-N. Y.
Observer.