FAEMEKS' INSTITUTES. 175 



up a picture of some grand old place upon which the income of a fortune has 

 been expended, or a beautiful park like those in our large cities, supported by 

 a general tax whicli private means can ill afford to expend, while on the other 

 hand farmers are men of muscle, who follow the plovv and handle the spade 

 from early morn till dark to raise the grain and vegetables for the word to live 

 upon ; whose ideal of beauty is supposed to culminate in a clover blossom or a 

 straiofht row of corn. I trust that these ideals mav bo modified in time so that 

 the close relationship of the two will not only be considered compatible, but 

 will be a fact of existence. 



The landscape gardening that I wish to talk about is not a grand or expen- 

 sive affair involving the necessity of a professional man to conduct or a large 

 bank account to support it. Far from this, it is a matter of very little outlay, 

 it is a miserably cheap affair. But water is cheap and so is su)ishine. What 

 among the most costly things you have would you exchange for these? 



Hence the landscape gardening of which we shall talk has to do with such 

 yearly, monthly, yes, daily modifications of our country premises as shall trans- 

 form them into beautiful and attractive homes, render them more valuable as 

 property, and while we do this we shall hint at the general princiiDles of land- 

 scape art upon which these details are founded. 



Wiij Shall we Beautify? 



The first question that arises, the answer to which is our incentive to the 

 adornment of our homes, is. Why shall we beautify? and I answer, first, for the 

 beauty itself ; and, secondly, for the influence that beauty has in completing a 

 rounded manhood and womanhood. Accompanying the development of a tasty 

 house, beautiful grounds, attractive shrubbery, or delicate flower borders, is 

 another growth on the inside of the person devising these embellishments that is 

 more lastinsr and valuable than the outside modifications that seem so beauti- 

 fully transformed. This is the growth of refinement; something that we can- 

 not measure by dollars and cents, any more than we can measure faith or love. 

 But it has far more to do with the progress of civilization than the opening of 

 the richest silver lead or tlie discovery of the largest diamond field. These go 

 up and down with the supply, but the more refinement we have the greater 

 premium there is upon its accpiirement. We all see the necessity for more of 

 it among our farming people ; from their isolation there comes a tendency to 

 neglect the schooling of the heart in the channels of refinement, and there is 

 nothing that can so perfectly take the place of society and knowledge of its best 

 molds, as close companionship with nature's beautiful life forms and the pro- 

 fuse employment of them in the adornment of a home. 



There may be just as good a heart in the man who in answer to a favor says :: 

 "That's a good 'un, old fellow; if you want a lift call around," as in the^ 

 breast of another who answers, "Thank you kindly. I trust I can return the- 

 favor sometime." But Avliile wo admire the generous impulse of the one, we 

 are doubly pleased with the impulse and its delicate expression in the other. 

 We cannot come in contact with refined people without unconsciously f ollowing^ 

 in their wake and smoothing down the rousrli corners of our own habits. So it, 

 is in the development of beautiful grounds and attractive surroundings, every 

 new creation has its effect for good upon the one that devised and moulded it. 

 This in itself is a great reason for the adornment of our homes. Need I give 

 others? I will suggest them. Thirdly, then, I shall name satisfaction, of pos- 

 session. This I admit is of much less consequence than the other. Still wo 



