The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-29

J Now that the telephone and free de-
livery of mail bring farmers closely
| into touch with the outside world, 1t
is high time to commence the beaut-
flying of farm homes, says the Farmers
Review. The pioneer days are past.
The time when there was no time for
anything but work has gone by. We
have entered upon an epoch of prosper
| ity education and good taste and
| should live up to it. We see in every
village and small town every possible
| endeavor made to attract favorable at
| tention The homes are neat and the
surroundings beautified by shrubs and
| flowers The lawns are neatly kept and
we'll Watered so that their vivid green
| ness retoices the eye. The people, too,
| dress neatly and have the air of happi-
ness and content. Well will it be when
as much can be said of our country
| homes.
To be sure a few of them will COM
pare favorably with those of the towns
but a majority are still in the crude
! form fashioned by our fathers. The
hog pen is plainly in evidence and the
| barn often far more prominent and at
| tractive than the home. There is every
where untidiness and slovenliness and
mo time to get around to" the cleaning
up and tidying of the premises. But
dllcf all IllODEg Is HOt every lIlllS III
this world nor the addition of d few
more cattle, horses or hogs the main
aim of living. We can get along well
enough without saving every cent for
the buying of another forty or
eighty" and to scratch and scrape,
contrive and suffer for such purposes
should be beneath the dignity of mod
| ern farmer. He cannot grovel after
| filthy lucre and more land without
starving his heart and his head and de-
| priVing his wife and family of some OF
| the joys of life. Let him get his head
| up and admire the beautiful sights of
| nature rather than look at the dirt all
| of the time. If he will but do so the
| farm home will speedily take on a new
| look and become so attractive to the
| eye and so dear to the heart that it will
not be for sale at any price to the first
man who looks over the fence and
| makes bid for its possession.
Visit the farms of Eastern states, of
Canada, of Great Britain, and note
their tidiness and attractiveness. The
| business of the place is not chiefly in
| evidence. One first comes to the con-
| clusion that such places are homes and
then notices that farming and stock
| raising furnish the means for their
| maintenance. There is a gateway op-
ening on an avenue of trees that leads
to substantial, tidy house. The lawns
are we'll kept and flowers and shrubs
adorn the scene. The hogs do not meet
the visitor either in person or by proxy
in odors and one admires the surround
ings before noting the things that are
here kept in the background and should
| be thus relegated on every one of our
| farms. How few farms have evergreen
| hedges and clumps; well made roads
and tidily kept fences; well grown wind
breaks and well kept lawns. Every
inch of space has been either built upou
| or devoted to the free range of the farm
animals. Every spot has been rendered
ugly and dirty by such use and the en-
| tire place looks barren, slovenly and
| unattractive. Yet this is the family
homestead and may have been several
generations in the family. What pride
is there in the old homestead when il
rs so abused? What attractiveness
has II to the children who are bette,
educated than the pioneer Youngsters
who had never seen beautifled city
| homes? What incentive is there r.
keep and love the old home when hand
ed down from sire to son? Little in
deed and less nowadays, when cities
are brought close and education leads
| to refinement.
Let us wake and commence work tbis
spring. Let us make a plan of the
place upon paper before work opens and
see what can be done to improve the
surroundings. Let us hide the insight
| ly spots and bring out the good points
This is to be done by tree planting and
adding lawns to the SURROUNDINGS OF
the home: 1t will pay to lop a goodly
slice OF the hog lot and the cattle ward
or take up land farther back for such
purposes. 1t will pay to set out ever
greens and hardy shrubs and replace
the old, tumble-down picket fence and
wire fence and rail fence and substitute
modern wall or fence that is slightly
and lasting. And flower beds and pret.
~ walks should be given room in front
seeded, rolled and kept like lawn 70,
the pleasing effect it will have upon the
eye or the passerby and the iwelle,
WITHIN the gates. Such work will take
time and some money but well started
ruby accomplished and yearly improv-
ing VIII make the place before many