FORTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT. 99 



care in picking, packing and handling is the reason. When Michigan 

 apples keep better the Michigan growers have made a long step toward 

 making the Wolverine apple absolute leader. The most successful fruit 

 grower is the one who is heedful of details, and one important detail is 

 care in handling. 



WHERE TO PLANT THE HOME GROUNDS. 



BY E. M. HARVEY, BATTLE CREEK. 



This brief talk on where to plant on the home grounds is directed to 

 the man or woman before me who has a home and enough ground about 

 it to grow a wild cucumber vine. 



In the time alloted I shall outline the principle points to. bear in mind 

 in planting the home grounds. 



The house is ahvays the main element in planting the home grounds 

 and the greatest effort should be made in making it .distinctive, attrac- 

 tive, and above all homelike. This is best done by giving it a setting in 

 foliage, or in landscape terms ''framing it." A group of one, two, or 

 three trees set on either side of the house, and a little in advance of it, 

 will give the desired effect of distinctiveness, and hominess. 



This same scheme of framing should next be continued in enhancing 

 the already beautiful views from the house and home grounds. To ac- 

 complish this, groups of trees or shrubs sliould be set on either side of 

 the line of sight in order to direct the vision towards the best in the view. 

 Not only does this center the interest on the best in the view, but its 

 beauty is enhanced by a frame of living green. 



Our attention should now be turned to removing from view that which 

 is objectionable. If your neighbor insist on dumping his ashes near your 

 house, or if his chicken coop intrudes itself on your view, screen it off by 

 a planting. No matter whether the objectionable object be great or 

 small, we have in nature a screen of trees, shrubs, or vines to meet all 

 emergencies and a few trees or a clump of shrubs will remove from the 

 landscape both your neighbor's ash pile and his chicken coop. 



There are a few principles in planting which may best be expressed in 

 the form of don'ts. 



First of all don't make the home grounds a forest. To many trees are 

 as bad as none at all. A few trees correctly placed will give the neces- 

 sary shade and beauty without excluding the breeze, air, and sunshine. 

 Then, too, don't make the mistake of putting trees or shrubs in the 

 center of the home grounds unless there is some very good reason for do- 

 ing so. Such a practice lessens the apparent extent of the ground and 

 gives the whole a broken and disjointed effect. 



In closing let me say that when the rural resident of Michigan takes 

 enough interest in his home grounds to place upon them a few well 

 chosen spots, the trade name ''John Farmer and SON" will be the proof, 

 rather than the exception to the rule in a new era of farm life. 



