Tdoriciiltiire. 



DECORATIVE HORTICULTURE FOR FARMERS. 



WM. TOOLE, BARABOO, WISCONSIN. 



If the average farmer does not make full use of the means at hand 

 to beautify home surrounding's, it is not often so much through 

 lack of taste as because of want of opportunit5^ 



Perhaps, the labors of a life-time have been made up of struggles 

 to secure a home with means of subsistence and to raise and 

 educate a family, leaving but little time to notice that the green fields, 

 the waving grain and wooded hillsides are all more beautiful than 

 the immediate surroundings of his home. 



Not forgetting that most farmers can spare but little time or 

 money for home embellishment, it behooves us then to first consider 

 such plans as give the most enduring returns for the labor expended. 



The foundation for all work of this kind is grass. We will call it 

 a lawn, of course, even though we maj^ choose to trim it with a 

 scythe rather than a lawn mower, or sometimes, if we have been 

 generous in our allotment, use a mowing machine. With several 

 cuttings in a season, the farm animals will make good use of the 

 growth obtained, in this way making our ground earn its rent, leav- 

 ing the beauty of the setting for our jewels of shrubs and flowering 

 plants a clear gain. 



We will hope that there is sufficient space between the house and 

 road for our contemplated lawn, that it need not be all to one side, 

 and we pray that much time need not be taken up in removing out 

 of sight wagons, plows and other farm machinery, as well as rub- 

 bish, woodpiles and other unsightlj- objects, which easily accumu- 

 late out of place through hurrj^ of summer's work or indifference of 

 winter's forgetfulness. 



While the spirit of improvement is on us it is a good plan, during 

 some of our drives, to note the general appearance of farmers' homes, 

 and carefully remember what should be commended and what 

 should be avoided. Returning we will drive past our own place, and 

 after leisurely viewing it, we may be surprised to find that we had 

 not been familiar with our own appearance before the rest of the 

 world. We ma}^ be surprised, too, with the possibilities for improve- 

 ment. 



A good preparation for our lawn is a sutnmer fallow with 

 plenty of manure and cultivation. An uniformly rich and mellow 

 surface is necessary to start with, and it would be better to sacrifice 

 an uneven patch of grass than tr\' to nurse it into good condition. 

 The best mixture of lawn grass seed is blue grass, and, if 5'-ou feel 

 that you must have a variet}^, add a little white clover seed; nothing- 

 else. Too much variety makes an uneven bunch}- growth, which 

 will be still more noticeable on j^our farm lawn than where the grass 

 is frequentlj' clipped. The seed may be sown early in September 



