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Reading- Course for Farmers. 



also makes a more general appeal. Persons who have never thought of 

 " architecture " as having any particular significance, may be impressed 

 at once by the yards. Few persons can build a house or a barn, but every 

 farmer can make and care for a yard. 



I. The meaning of the place 



In the study of the last Bulletin we came to agree, I hope, that the 

 primary consideration in the construction of a building is to make it 

 serve its purpose as directly as possible ; and that the second step is to 

 consider the general mass-efifect rather than the details. The same order 

 should be observed in the lay-out of the grounds. Many persons, to judge 



Fig. 294. — A schoolhonse in the ivest {built by Gcn.W. J. Palmer, Colorado Springs). 

 When this picture was shown to a scJiool girl, she exclaimed, "I'd like to go to school 

 there.'' When asked why, she replied, "Because I don't see how any one could 

 help it." 



by the results, conceive of a yard only as a place to set out plants. — tl;cy 

 must have roses or hydrangeas, particularly if the nursery agent displays 

 the glories of these subjects. This is like thinking of a house as a con- 

 struction for the display of fancy chimneys and glowing paint. What 

 kind of trees and bushes to plant represents the final stage in the making 

 of a good yard. 



What is the yard for? — this is the first and most important question. 

 It aflfords a setting for the buildings ; it connects the buildings ; it pro- 

 vides access to the highway, the well, the barn. Everything about the 

 yard should be convenient : the grades should be " easy," particularly in 



