BEAUTIFYING THE KAR.M. 20".» 



paint the blinds green for it is too striking and you violate the first 

 general rule in selection of color when you do so. 



While it always seems necessary to have a fence about the house, it is 

 nevertheless bad. All fences are bad but there are degi'ees of badness. 

 If a fence can be dispensed with, so much the better, for in doing so you 

 usually create a large yard and the rural home ground should be large. 

 The best fences are, of course, those that are ijiost natural; namely, 

 hedges. A good privet hedge will keep out the chickens and, by the way, 

 this is one of the most hardy and beautiful of hedges. Arbor vitae 

 winter kills and osage orange makes a too open growth. Plant this hedge 

 in front and on the sides, where there are no shrubbery groups. Where 

 the hedge runs into the shrubs, have it drift in, so to speak; that is, 

 vary its shape and size as it approaches the group. If the house is within 

 75 feet of the road, use no hedge but otherwise it is permissible. 



A parlor would seem at a loss without a rug or a carpet and just so 

 would the landscape be without a green sward. The lawn is the founda- 

 tion of landscape effects on the farm and without it, it is incomplete. 

 Never break up a lawn with flower beds. Trees and shrubs should be to 

 the side, leaving an open center. Blue-grass makes the finest of lawns 

 in this region, but it is sometimes difficult to secure a good stand. 

 Clover is next best and it is advisable to plant clover first and then grad- 

 ually work in blue grass. Red Top is good for quick effects as well as 

 some of the commercial mixtures of lawn seed. The two greatest enemies 

 of the lawn are dandelions and crab-grass. Dandelions can be eradicated 

 by the use of a digger but crab-grass offers a greater problem. Crab- 

 grass sets seed so freely and the mower will not get all of the heads as 

 they may be flat upon the ground. It pays to rake up the crab grass be- 

 fore mowing, thereby getting some of these heads. A crab-grass lawn it 

 mowed often is not bad but it is late in coming out in syring and dries 

 up early in the fall. I believe it can be crowded out with clover. The 

 best results in lawns are secured with fall sowing. As a general rule 

 never let the lawn-grass go to seed. 



Using the parlor example again, trees are no more indispensable to 

 the landscape than furniture is to the parlor. Trees have four uses upon 

 the farm: namely, for wind-breaks, for screens, for shade and for pure 

 ornamental purposes. It is advisable to plant a windbreak north of the 

 barns and feed lots. A wind-break northwest of the house would also 

 be advisable if it does not interfere with the grounds proper. These 

 wind-breaks should be of evergreens; preferably Bull, Austrian and Jack 

 pines or Norway and Black Hill spruces. Cedars should not be used owing 

 to their relation to the orchard. If there is any disagreeable view from 

 the house the same can be screened off by the use of trees. The barn- 

 yard should certainly be screened oft' from the houses. Certainly the 

 trees' shade is one of the most striking advantages. Then plant trees so 

 as to shade the house but do not plant too close to the house or to each 

 other. Do not plant too many trees, as is generally the case, resulting 



