STYLE IN FARMING. 61 



come into general favor. But these are less permanent, and therefore 

 less serious, fashions than those which have to do with the selection of trees 

 and the laying out of grounds. Fashion which pleases to-day may disgust 

 to-morrow. The worst part of the freeze is the thaw. 



Let us discuss a few fundamental principles of artistic but inexpensive 

 adornment. We must get our pleasantest prospects from our commonest 

 places, from the windows of the sitting-room and the dining room. A little 

 thoughtfulness in the placing of our residence will often add a constant 

 blessing. I visited a friend on the pleasant slopes of the Green Mountains. 

 There was not a pleasant prospect from any of the windows of the residence, 

 yet from the barn-yard a noble mountain whose indistinct summit was 

 wreathed with fitful garlands of cloud stood boldly before the observer. That 

 farm would have been worth ten per cent more if that mountain had been 

 framed in a window. Appropriate to yourself trees of nature's planting, 

 build your residence near them. They are to-day what your own planting 

 will be twenty or fifty years hence. We are to apt to think that a sandy 

 knoll and a "good well o' water" are the only requisites to a desirable site 

 for a residence. Our residences are often too near the highway. A remove 

 of four or five rods is none too much for convenience and pleasure. We 

 must have lawn. All attempts at ornament are well nigh folly without one. 

 Might as well try to paint a picture without a canvas, or to build a house of 

 paint and shingles, as to construct an attractive residence without a lawn. 

 The requisites for a good lawn are the requisites for good corn, a fertile and 

 thoroughly subdued soil. You cannot make a lawn by tickling the ground 

 with a stick. Prepare the ground thoroughly, even if it requires two years 

 to accomplish it, sow the seed very thick, mow the grass as often as it reaches 

 three or four inches in height, top-dress it in the fall, and enjoy it as long 

 as you live. Do not grade every thing to a dead level or to a continuous 

 slope. Simply correct the little irregularities of the surface. Do not build 

 terraces. Grading is expensive. The natural undulations of a verdant sur- 

 face are more expressive than trees or flowers. The undulating sweep of the 

 prairies is grand beyond expression. A flat surface is rarely beautiful. By 

 a singular optical illusion it usually appears to be concave. If our grounds 

 appear to the best advantage they must look larger than they really are. We 

 must aim to inciease an appearance of extent. A verdant and unbroken lawn 

 must again be our first requisite. The objects which appear to be farthest 

 away are those which possess the least number of colors. Distant hills are 

 enveloped in a continuous haze of blue. The remotest objects in a picture 

 possess the fewest colors. A tree upon a continuous lawn appears to be a 

 little farther off than one at the same distance which stands among flower 

 beds, and drooping trees whose trunks are hidden commonly appear to be 

 a little more distant than those with exposed trunks. These illusions 

 are of course more apparent to a stranger who has not learned the actual 

 distance to the objects. We should plant our trees in such a manner as to 

 form long views towards certain objects from our windows or porch. The 

 narrower the views the longer they will look. I stand on the railroad and 

 see the rails converge and converge until they meet away in the distance 

 which appears like miles when it may be less than one. These slender views 

 are vistas, "linked sweetness long drawn out." If there is a good landscape 

 in your neighborhood, make it a part of your premises. Bring in the clump' 

 of trees on your neighbor's hill. Bring in the spire from the village church. 

 Bring in the ravine and the thicket by the roadside. Here is a case of legit- 



