Year: 1878

From The Practical Farmer.


In our editorial ramblings we have
paid good deal of attention to the
door-yards of farmers. 1t is gratifying
to notice that there is a marked i'm
provement in the home surroundings on
many farms. 1t is also noticeable that
the improvement is much greater in some
neighborhoods than in others, and that
efforts at adornment at any farm are sure
to be followed by attempts at imitation
in the neighborhood. This is encourage
ing to those who desire to see more taste
displayed in the surroundings of our
country home, and who believe that the
influence Of tasteful grounds, neatly kept,
and adorned with flowers and shrub
berry, is refining and elevating. The
pleasure which comes from neat and
tastefully arranged grounds not only
refines and adds to the love of home,
but this adornment has a cash value
Every dollar expended in ornamenting
the farm adds many dollars to its value.
Another thing in its favor is that it is
inexpensive. In order to have an at
tractive home it is not necessary that the
farmer should employ landscape gar
dener, or expend large sum for novel
ties. 1t is necessary, however, that the
door-yard should be well set in grass
and that it should not be made lumber
yard. At this season. of the year there
should be thorough yard-cleaning, and
this should not, as is generally the case,
be left for the women to do. 1t is a
common fault of farmers to make the
the grounds around the house too con-
tracted. Too often a little patch i'm
mediately in front of the house is in
closed with paling or board fence, and
vegetable garden is inclosed at one
side, coming out to the road. If ever
green's or shade trees are planted at all,
they are huddled so close together and
to the house as to render them nui
sance and impediment rather than an or
nament. More commonly, however,
the spirit of utilitarianism prompts the
planting of fruit trees only in the door
yard, and the dropping fruit attracts
flies and causes the housewife great an
noyanCe. Now, land is not so valuable
as to render this necessary, and we would
recommend larger grounds-from one
fourth of an acre to one acre, accord
ing to the surroundings. Remove all
fences as far as possible, for they are
only a necessary evil, and add nothing
to the beauty of landscape. Plant no
tree nearer the house than twenty five
feet, and plant forest trees and ever
greens in clumps of three to six.


For shade there is nothing that excels
our native elms, and few Of these
should be planted south and west to af-
"a 1 -: r. i,t - { ses,1anass
greens are spruce and the Austrian and
Scotch pines, as they retain their color
during the winter; but for hedges the
cedar and arbor vitae are best, as they
will endure any amount of pruning. Do
not crowd the yard with shrubbery or
cut up the turf with many small flower
beds, but devote a square rod here and
there laid out in some pleasing shape, to
roses and ANIMALS. Your own or your
neighbor'S farm will usually furnish all
the young forest trees needed, and ever
greens can be had at reasonable prices.
An outlay of few dollars and single
days labor of man under the direc-
ton of the "good wife, would work
revolution in many doOryards.