BEAUTY IS WEALTH 217 



sons had sold for $100 each. There is a tree of this species on the Hunne- 

 well estate near Wellesley, Mass. Money can not buy it. 



In the Arnold Arboretum in Boston is a tree lilac thirty years old 

 from seed, which $200 could not touch. These trees — glorious in foliage 

 and bloom — are now offered at from 10 cents to $1 each. Money grows 

 if you put it into trees and flowers. One man invested $50 in peonies and 

 in ten years was selling $1,000 worth per year. Another invested $100 in 

 iris and in five years was selling hundreds of dollars' worth per year. 



The farmer ought to be rich; by divine right he is king. His king- 

 dom reaches from the center of the earth up to the stars. He is under 

 obligation to the Giver of all Good, to his country, and to the age to make 

 the most of it. 



We have visited many of the grounds of the rich in the East, where, 

 on a few acres, they have laid out hundreds of dollars. Their estates 

 seem like sections of paradise. Why can't the farmer fix up, too? His 

 land is richer than theirs. I have known them to pay $10 per cord for 

 manure in Boston, and then haul it out several miles to their grounds. 



The farmers can buy of the western nurseries cheaper than they can 

 sell in the East. Now take a front yard and fix it up. It will cost some- 

 thing, but it is worth something and will be growing in value all the time. 



Mark this — you are not to judge a beautiful tree by the amount of 

 wood it contains, nor are you to judge of the value of a Jersey cow by 

 the beef she would make, or either by the 800 pounds of butter she would 

 produce every year. She is an excellent lecturer on condensation. Her 

 influence and her progeny count. Then every good thing has a senti- 

 mental value you can not always reduce to dollars and cents. 



In Minneapolis a revengeful fellow cut down two beautiful trees in 

 a neighbor's yard. He was arrested and brought into court. Mr. Nut- 

 ting, a landscape artist, was brought in as a witness. He estimated the 

 trees at $35 apiece but said he, "Those trees have a sentimental value 

 worth as much more." So the fellow was fined $70 per tree and had to 

 pay it. Perhaps he found that if revenge is sweet it is also costly. 



Suppose you have an acre or two in your front yard. You lay it out 

 in the amphitheatre style. The tallest trees on the outside, then groups 

 of shrubbery towards the front. You have a green lawn with a couple 

 of silver spruce and tree lilacs. You must not obstruct the view. It 

 is better to lay out the grounds so you can take them in from the porch 

 and the neighbors can see them from the road. Your flowers are near 

 the house so your wife, when she is tired can sit there and visit with 

 the purest, sweetest, best dressed company on the earth. Though silent, 

 they are eloquent. Mute songs are they; silent hymns of praise to the 

 Author of beauty. How soothing their companionship. There are the 

 columbines in their spring-time freshness. There a bed of oriental pop- 

 pies, flaming in splendor — a sea of fire. Then come those full-orbed 

 peonies, filling the air with fragrance, vieing with the rose in beauty. 

 Then the phloxes, whose radiance will cheer you down to the hard 

 frosts of autumn. 



