Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-08-28
The Farmers Home.

Our agricultural societies might do
Il good thing in offering premiums
for the best farmers homes. If by
so doing, and even at the expense OF
sending committees out to view and
report upon them, and make the
awards, they would stimulate I'M
provcment in that direction, the
country would be well repaid. Iowa
should abound in homes around
which all the natural beauties of the
landscape are improved by the labor
expended upon them; and in which
good order reigns; and where plenty,
refinement and contentment vie with
each other. Iowa offers such a home
to every family within her borders.
Her glory should consist in the num-
Der of such homes, and her strength
in the vigor, intelligence and virtue
of the occupants. Shall we be con-
tent, then, to have the choicest spots
in our whole land disfgurcd and
made hideous by the carelessness and
thoughtlessness Of men?
We need Il spur in this direction;
spur in the head rather than in the
heel. There is little culture among
us as people in reference to making
the landscape beautiful. Much OF
the culture we have is frightful in its
results. On pieces ofland just alike,
different men with the same amount
of labor will reach widely varying
results. Some will make their places
attractive and pleasant, while others
will mar every beauty that Nature
bestowed. A little thought in plac-
ing the house in the best position in
constructing it, even though it be a
small and cheap one-a little thought
in planting trees, or in sparing those
already there-a little thought in ar
ranging the farm buildings, bringing
to view what is cheerful and pleasant,
and concealing that which has often
sive associations-such thoughtful
ness and taste will give an air of re-
tinement and feeling Of comfort.
without an hour Of additional Labor.
But farmers too otter dcspise the
labor that tends to beauty their
homes. They have no time for fancy
work. Do they forget that no labor
makes a better return in dollars and
cents? Do they not know that one
hundred dollars expended i'll pain
and trees on prairie home often
adds Il thousand dollars to saleable
value; The farm that has tasteful,
homelike house, surrounded by shade
and fruit trees that have cost but lit
tie except the planting, will sell for
fifty per cent, more than the same
farm bare of trees, with an equally
expensive but badly constructed
dwelling with every mark of neglect
around it. 1t is not a question of
additional expense, but simply of APP
plying the labor and expense deter
mined upon, and upon this hinges
not only the value of our own, to a
great extent the value of property
that adjoins us. y spirit of improve
meut is worth Il great deal to any
and enhances the val
he of all it's real estate, even if the
have been made with
limited means and are inexpensive.
The careless, slovcnly farmer, dimin-
ishes the value of his own property,
and of every farm in the neighbour
hood.
Iowa needs more homes-homes
for the family-homes for the people;
not mere shelters from the storms of
winter. Homes constitute the units
of society. The family affords pract-
ical employment for all the faculties
and powers of our nature, and should
be surrounded by all that civilized
man needs for his enjoyment, and
these homes alike in ac-
cordance of their con forts, the NUT
ual esteem, kind feelings and less Of
chickering's, jealousy and heartburn
ing, will there be in the community,
and the better win it be for every
member thereof
Some have al idea that making
pleasant home great expenditures of
money and much skill in landscape
gardening. These are, no doubt,
necessary to the highest success.
But who is there that can handle a
spade, who cannot make himself
shade? What woman cannot plant
a vine, shrub or flower? If the
man neglects to take from the forest
or the nursery the trees to make
nice bit of shady grove near the
dwelling, let the woman remember
that she can set cuttings and seeds,
and that on due time these will make
forests of great beauty and valve.
Let them be set as naturally as pos
sibly, not stiffiy in obstinate
rows, and laced and starched and
trimmed to an ideal pattern, but
give them the form that nature gives,
and it will be all the more beautiful,
as it is all the easily accomplished.
Let them all be from the wealth of
the native forests,if' need be, for there
are found the hardest and the best.
But always stick in a tree; it grows
while you are asleep, and, living af
ter we are gone it shows that you
have not lived in vain.-Farmer's
Journal.