150 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



about six feet and white the rest of their length. Watering 

 troughs may be made an even greater attraction and con- 

 venience if neatly built and kept clean. The pails provided by 

 the S. P. C. A. serve a double purpose in these days. A motor- 

 ist remarked as he filled his engine last summer, — ''It prevents 

 cruelty to automobiles as well as to animals." 



We now come to the consideration of the individual wayside 

 home. Perhaps no nation has been more negligent of her duty 

 in this respect than our own beloved America. Nowhere does 

 our overwhelming commercial spirit manifest itself more ob- 

 strusively than in our great lack here. Now that we are no 

 longer following closely upon the axe, we do well to consider 

 means by which we may take almost immediate rank with the 

 nations of the old world which now lead us by centuries of 

 artistic landscape gardening. 



Each individual home owner should realize that he owes a 

 duty to the community in which he lives and to every chance 

 traveler who may pass his abode. If he does his whole duty, 

 his home will be beautiful without, as well as within. The 

 more pretentious the house, the greater seems the necessity for 

 artistic improvement, and if the house be modest, the more 

 beautiful the outside, the more attractive it will appear. While 

 we concede a man's first duty to his family, it is certainly true 

 that where one sees the interior of a wayside home, thousands 

 gaze upon the exterior, and the individual, the family, the 

 community is most frequently judged by that. These things 

 being true, we invite consideration of a few of the basic princi- 

 ples of landscape gardening. 



The front, sides and rear of the dwelling must be considered. 

 Graceful curves for walks and drives are always the rule. If 

 the limitations of a city lot compel a straight walk, it is well to 

 let it run past rather than direct to the house. Next, deter- 

 mine what views are to be screened and what are to be pre- 

 served, or what ar? to be revealed by pruning. 



The open lawn should prevail and the planting should be con- 

 fined to the boundaries. Let your view-point alternate from 

 the house to the street. The orchard should take position at 

 the extreme rear of the lot where the fruit will be sufficiently 

 removed from the germ-laden dust of the highway, while at 

 the same time it acts as a background for the buildings, and 



