466 



REAUlNG-CoURSli I'UK FARMERS. 



to." Sometimes one can correct minor faults by judicious repairing or 

 inexpensive modification. Often a too slender chimney can be broadene:l 

 above the roof line. Jig-saw skirting can be sawed off or neatly boarded 

 over. Spindly porch posts can be boxe 1 in and made square. Weak 

 or unsightly foundations can be covered or screened by grading or by 

 planting. Always, the building can be left in a neat and completed con- 

 dition. It is not uncommon to see scafifolding remaining for years, par- 

 ticularly on silos, and lumber and other material lying loose and exposed. 

 Even if one cannot afford to complete a structure at once, there is a 

 knack of making things look ship-shape. The farmer as well as the 

 mechanic should have a jjride of workmanship. But I am less interested 



Fig. 287. — Artistic stables. Agricultural College of Tennessee. 



m the buildings as buildings than I am in the development of good taste. 

 If our buildings express ourselves, it is essential that we give careful 

 attention to ourselves as well as to the buildings; and if buildings are 

 teachers, it is important what kind of appeal they make to children and 

 to strangers. 



2. The arrangcinciit of the hnild'uigs. 



Not (~)nly the buildings themselves, but the disposition and arrange- 

 ment of them have relation to their efficiency and tastefulness. Tt is 

 unquestionably true that there has been a tendency to scatter the build- 

 ings, particularly the barns, far beyond the point of efficiency and con- 



