134 BOAED OP AGRICULTDEE. [Jan., 



change many glaring defects, and perhaps for this reason I may 

 have observed others more closely. And these are the principal 

 faults that I have found to influence the health of the occupant. 

 First, viewing it from the exterior, we notice the entire absence of 

 shade, or its superabundance. No home is quite complete without 

 the aid of trees and shrubbery, which serve to cool the fervid 

 heats of summer, and screen as well from the wintry blasts, 

 besides lending a cheerful cosiness to the place, which makes it 

 truly a home. But how often are all of these purposes changed 

 by a want of thought regarding their positions. They are 

 frequently placed so as to completely shade the house, rendering 

 its air damp and unwholesome from the mould and decay silently 

 going on, which as silently but as surely extends to the minds and 

 bodies of the inmates; for in a decaying house there will be decay- 

 ing bodies, and in such how can there be any thing, so to speak, 

 but mouldy and decaying minds? Put trees near the house, but 

 not so near but that the sun will shine upon it sometime during 

 the day, giving it the benefit of its chemistry. Let its light in 

 through the windows, and not obstruct it by shrubs. They are 

 for ornamenting your grounds, and not for burying the dwelling 

 in seclusion and gloom. Besides their appearance is greatly 

 enhanced by standing by themselves, or artistically grouped in 

 positions away from the house, and not immediately under the 

 eaves. If it is desired that a bare wall should be covered, or a 

 doorway porch made shady and attractive, vines can be used to far 

 better advantage. The sun can penetrate their light foliage 

 enough to dry it, and their numerous rootlets, by which they cling 

 to their support, will absorb moisture rather than harbor it, giving 

 the full object desired by shade — a cool, dry atmosphere. 



"We may also notice that a desire for convenience — having 

 things handy as it is termed — has in many instances been made 

 an excuse for laziness, or shows gross ignorance on the part of the 

 owner — and one is fully as reprehensible as the other — in the 

 grouping and arrangement of the out-buildings. The barn with 

 its cattle-yard, the pig-pen and poultry-house, the privy and the 

 well — all seem to be striving to show the most sociability for the 

 kitchen door, filling the air with ill odors, and the soil with filth 

 and fever germs, to be carried into the well with every permeat- 

 ing rain. In this day of general reading it is scarcely necessary 

 for me to call attention to the fact that typhoid fever in the 



