The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-17
Farm Homes.

farmers vile, writing to the Southern
CultiUGtor says: Some one has intimated
that he who has eyes for seeing, is very
wealthy mamie owns the landscape |
Whoever is blessed with eyes, then, owes it
to God and his fellowman, that he should
contribute his mite of beauty and cheerful
ness to the world around him.
In no way can he do this with more tell
ing effect, than in creating a lovely home,
in building a comfortable and attractive
house, and making the most and best of our
surroundings.
No matter how small his possessions may
be, or how plain and cheap his mate
rails, it is always possible for every farmer
to make the landscape a little more pleas
ing, from the fact of his having hand in
it.
If this seems small achievement. and
one without profit" let the reader call to
mind those farm houses seen too often,
whose rickety fences, unl1empt door yards
and scattered tools, are an ugly blot upon
natures fair page, and l am sure he will
feel the great moral as well as financial
meaning that lies in even the humblest ex-
pressions of -boauby, thrift and ordor--rl
meaning that announces pretty clearly in
farming regions, the difference between the
man and the sluggard-between the gen
uine and worthy ''lofd of the soil" and the
black-souled pauper, who makes no honora-
BILE return to the acres that feed him..
1t is a great thing to build the house that
is to be ones home. There are few pleas
ures so unalloyed as that of selecting the
ground, laying the foundation, and watch
ing day by day the growth of wall and
roof that go to form ones own secure
kingdom through the years to come. And
it is pleasure that cannot be entered upon
too seriously. If there are to De but three
rooms, they will constitute the home. and
the opportunity exists to make them either
charmingly cozy and cheerful, or depress-
| ingly ugly. Therefore, even a small house
plan should be well considered. A house
plan is easily torn down and remodeled; it
or to remove paper partition there; a PEN
Gil line changes the staircase or enlarges the
dining room a few moments of inexpen-
sive reflection lets the morning sunlight
into cherries kitchen, builds clothes.
press and remodels the pantry or, if some
thing better is thought of, the whole estab-
lishment can be easily tossed aside, and not
even the shadow of the house movers bill
presents itself. But. having put plan into
solid timber and mortar, and then coming
to find how greatly the house might be i'm
proved-ah, woe the day! 1t is no idle
thing to NEEDLE with the staircases and
partitions, and the gloomily lighted
| kitchen.
The building site is, of course, the first
thing to be considered. Ones first resolu-
tions regarding it should be to avoid all
anxiety to jump into the road. A house
| crowding upon the highway loses all dig.
| nifty and home-like ropose, and gains moth
ing but dust. Such choice of location may
possibly be an hereditary trait, coming
down from that long ago time, when
houses grew up along the faintly-marked
trails Of emigration, and closely chung
there, as if in mortal fear of savages and
wild animals lurking in the background
But in these peaceful days, it is better to sit
back in leisurely and composed way, as if
not afraid of ones own fields and woodlands,
but at home and happy with them. Let
no site be chosen because of its proximity
to the road, or because it Is handy to
water" Select the finest spot on the farm
"a place combining, if possible. elevation,
eastern and southern frontage, natural
trees, pleasant outlook, and make all else
conform to it.
If there is a stream of water or lake in
the vicinity, try to have glimpse of it for
the living room windows. A landscape
without bit Of water in it, is almost as
pitiful as the face of blind man, as any
one will testify who has once lived by bah
bling brooks, or near the shores of lake or
ocean.
There are opportunities for improving all
building sites, though the farmer, priding
himself upon his good, hard common
sense" may sheer at the term Landscape
gardening" but properly pruned trees,
well-kept stretch of turf, and strawberries
planted in the right place, are just as much
to his credit, as a1good barn or stanch
fences. Landscape gardening need not
necessarily mean littering ones grounds
with rubbishy rockeries and puny ever
grees, or cutting them up with devious
paths and drives. To bring the best into
notice. and to soften and put out Of sight
that which is not attractive. is all that is re-