176 STATE BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



are so constituted that the satisfaction of having things is a stimulus to get 

 them. Of course the value of the acquisition has much to do witli the weight 

 of this incentive. For instance, the man who has a beautiful wife, aside from 

 all the pleasures she may bring to his home, takes a great deal of comfort in 

 the thought that she is his own. (This instance is for my bachelor auditors.) 

 The woman who grows a beautiful house plant and by her skill succeeds in 

 making it a model of symmetry and floral wealth has no little pleasure in the 

 fact of possession. 



The value of this pleasure does not usually depend upon what the acquisition 

 will bring in the market, but rather upon our interest and effort in the getting 

 of it. 



Again, the greatest good comes to ns through the development of all our fac- 

 ulties, and if the germs are given us, why not give them opportunity to grow 

 and thus fit us for a wider field of work and appreciation of what is created? 

 In the work of landscaping the farmer brings into use a new set of faculties, and 

 he is given the opportunity to make himself a broader man. 



A few years ago while land prospecting with a friend in Kent county, after 

 passing across the fields for some distance we came into a tangled woodland 

 undergrowth. We pushed our way through this for some distance, and to make 

 a bad matter worse we were obliged to cross a long stretch of mire and sphagnum 

 which tested our powers of endurance to the utmost. Just before we emerged 

 from our difficulties we ascended in more open woodland, quite an elevation, 

 and at its summit we came upon the most beautiful landscape I had ever 

 seen. In the distance hill overtopped hill until the wavy outline of blue alone 

 indicated the character of the country. Near to us in a quiet valley lay the 

 Grand river, pursuing a winding course and reflecting to us the sun's rays in such 

 a manner as to convey the impression of a river of silver. Here and there in 

 the valley and on the hillside were farm houses scattered at irregular intervals, 

 and the alternations of woodland and cleared fields gave a beautiful variety to 

 the distant view. But best of all, at the foot of the hill upon which we stood, 

 snuggled in a quiet retreat, almost surrounded by natural groves of oaks, silver 

 maples and aspens, lay a calm little sheet of water. It was the embodiment of 

 quiet, modest beauty. I had but just taken in the outline of these beautiful 

 views when the rough salutation of a Teuton brought me to a realization of the 

 ground upon which I was standing. I was unconsciously treading out a few 

 heads of clover in ray endeavor to grasp the grandeur of the scene before me. 

 He unceremoniously acquainted me with the fact, and to mollify him I spoke of 

 the favored position he occupied in commanding such a view. " Yaas, it was 

 purty nice, but I can show you sometings dat is petter as all dat, right py my 

 house." Glad that he was turned from the clover-seed matter, I followed, to 

 find, first, that his house, which was very snugly built and indicated a thrifty 

 farmer, was so placed as to have the barn between it and all this loveliness I 

 had admired, and imagine my disgust when I found "his ting vat vas so nice" 

 was nothing more than a pen full of fat pigs, — evidently the pride of the farm 

 and joy of the household. The front porch, where my new friend sat and 

 smoked, looked out upon this yard of swine, and his ultimatum of the beautiful 

 lay in their fat sides. What this man lacked I would have every farmer culti- 

 vate, and it is for the development of the faculty of appreciatnig the finer beau- 

 ties of the world that I submit this answer to the question, "Why shall we 

 beautify?" 



Simply as a matter of benevolence we should beautify our premises. I would 



