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HOW TO MAKE A COUNTRY PLACE 



The Siren in the Apple Blossom. 



The amateur farmer greets an apple orchard with open arms, 

 looking upon it as the sure means of paying the hired man, possibly 

 carrying part of the interest on the bank mortgage, and giving a severe 

 drubbing to the wolf that stands ever at the door of man's domicile. 

 His dream of a home embowered in apple blossoms gives him patience 

 and courage to put up with the old house a while longer, 

 and tends to dissipate the occasional depression caused by muddy roads, 

 delayed trains, the unreason of farm help, and the myriad difficulties 

 that daily dog the steps of him who, if undeveloped, cannot throttle 

 disappointment or rise above vexatious surroundings. So the apple- 



THE SITE OP HILLCREST HOUSE 

 AS IT LOOKED BEFORE WE DUG THE CELLAR 



blossom-dream lures him on until he awakens to realize that apple 

 blossoms last but one week of the fifty-two, that insects and fungi 

 blight and disfigure, that a lawn is impossible, as grass grows 

 unevenly and sparsely under the wide-spreading branches of apple 

 trees whose trunks often angle most ungracefully, and that gener- 

 ally both view and breeze are shut out by their intertwined branches. 

 In a word, if house and grounds are to be made attractive to the 

 owner, the axe must be his best friend. Apple trees out of place 

 are an aggravation, but it takes more courage to obviate the difficulty 

 than was shown by "The Little Minister," who, spite of the fact 



