The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1878-03-28
TOPICS FOR FARMERS.
Ornamenting the Homestead.-Hecte

Ornamenting the Homestead.-Hector
Bertram writes: have often wondered
at the lack of interest displayed by
farmers in the matter of adorning and
beautifying the home and farm. Men of
no other occupation have the resources
that they possess. Every wooded slope,
every swamp, every piece of timber land
furnishes ample material for the decora-
ton of the lawn, the garden, and the
roadside. The sugar and black maple,
the white ash and the linden, are easily
attainable by nearly all rural readers for
| roadside planting, and those who think
they cannot afford to purchase spruce
| fir, or rarer specimens for the lawn, or as
| protection to outbuildings from the
| rigorous blasts of our northern latitude,
can easily and cheaply procure an excel
lent substitute among the smaller speci-
| mems of hemlock, balsam, or even pine.
Nothing, to my mind, impresses more
desolate aspect than the farmhouse
upon the hillside, destitute of any arti-
| fetal protection save the skeleton trunks
and branches of few stunted and ill
favored apple or cherry trees. A heavy
belt of evergreens on the north and west
side of all the buildings swhere practical
BILE, clump or single tree here and
there upon the lawn, arranged and
grouped in accordance with nature, not
set after any prescribed rule, would re-
lieve the monotomy of the view amaz-
ingly, and afford an immense amount of
protection from the searching winds of
winter.
| And the roadsides? They too should
be the object of our attention. True, the
law prescribes a remedy for the lack OF
shade trees within the bounds of the
highway in this State, in that twenty-five
cents shall be deducted from the road
tax of every landholder for every tree
he shall plant and protect until growing
nicely. l, however, would not wait fol
!, this, or be influenced on this account, in
| matter which is of as much interest anc
satisfaction to myself as to other people
Ten chances to one, the highway requires
all the tax and perhaps an appropria
ton from the Commissioner besides, il
order to make it passable. For small
hedges about the lawn, consider plant
ing seed the surest and easiest mode
} digging trenches where the hedge is de
/ sired, and filling them with soil from tn,
: woods. Iwould plant in the fall, as sool
/ as the seeds mature. Some people CLAIM
: the proper time for setting balsams to b.
} in June; yet that has not been my ex
perience. Whenever I planted thi
1 species at that time, l have always los
more than saved. Some people will
4 claim they have no time for such "fol
e de-rol ;" that the more important feature
Y of the farm demand their exclusive al
!, tention. Farmers make great mistak
i here. 1t will be money in their pocket
i when they sell their farms should sue
e an event ever occur-and if not, then
I will amply repay them by the genuine
d heartfelt enjoyment they will hereafte
n derive from the change. And as fo
+ time, let them rise little earlier in th
# mornings, spend less time at the blacl
g smith shop and in talking to passers-by
n and they will find ample time both
n transplant evergreen and deciduot
trees, and to assist the good wife
y beautifying the garden and house.
d have found it profitable and more sal
lr to select small trees for planting tina
n large ones. They branch lower dow
W and in taking them up there are not
It many roots to be removed. The idt
that one will have large trees sooner /
It selecting large ones, is erroneous. II
r small ones grow much faster, and NAL
d better-shaped trees. Balsams and her
1t locks grow thin tops in the forest, b.
lie transplanted to open ground, becon
Sc thick and compact.
= Manuring by the Ancient Romans.