INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETl'. 277 



You will also not forget, in leaving it all for your homes, the deep 

 restfulness to the eye, of the woods and fields, all clothed in green. A 

 kind, benificent Providence, thoughtful for our comfort and welfare, has 

 given us His best in nature, almost wholly clothed in green, of which 

 color the eye never tires. 



So, then, the trees draped in their lovely foliage, the grass with its 

 soft carpet-lilve spread, the flowers in such infinite variety of form and 

 color, and framed in their setting of green, are offered to us in all their 

 beauty and fragrance, with which to ornament the surrounding of the 

 one place on earth, which should be to us the dearest and most attractive, 

 the home. 



Happily our preferences and our tastes differ so widely in using these 

 good things that we are in no danger of complete uniformity, which is 

 not desirable. To my view, the form and extent of the yard or the lawn, 

 should be considered in the plans for their improvement and ornamenta- 

 tion. Too many trees, shrubs, and vines often detract from their other- 

 wise handsome appearance. 



A niece of mine in Yuba Cit.y, Cal., contrary to the usual custom, 

 devotes the most of her time to the care and improvement of her yard 

 and lawn, and lets her daughters attend to the indoor work. The front 

 yard is filled with beds of plants, and flowers, but the back yard with a 

 nice little strawberry bed in a corner, Avith a few small orange trees, a 

 few roses, and vines, with the nicely trimmed grass makes it even prettier 

 than the front with all its wealth of bloom. Too many trees and too 

 dense shade also will not permit the grass to do its best for us. Annual 

 winter sowing of grass seed in the shaded places where the grass is thin 

 will assist in preserving a stiff soil, so desirable in a yard or lawn. In a 

 lawn or yard neatly arranged and nicely kept a seat here and there will 

 add to its attraction. A room nicely furnished and richly ornamented 

 would be seriously impaired in its appearance, without seats. Of course, 

 we can not all satisfy our desires for the best things in this line. We may 

 not have the wherewith to produce the In'illiant effects seen in Lincoln 

 Park, Chicago, or the exquisitely beautiful lawns as in Passadena, Cal., 

 but we can each, in our way and in accordance with our ability, so beau- 

 tify our home surroundings as to make it the place of all others to which 

 we want to go. 



A few years ago an intimate friend and 1 often passed in our trips 

 to Sugar Creek, an humble cottage in the country, evidently the home of 

 people quite poor in this world's goods, but always, in spring, summer, 

 fall, and even in winter, our eyes would be greeted with bright plants 

 and flowers in yard and in winter in the windows, bringing pleasure 

 and joy to travelers and doubtless supreme satisfaction to the dwellers 

 therein. 



