68 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



This being the case, whatever tends without checking due energy 

 of character, but to develop along with it the virtues that shall 

 keep it within due bounds may be looked upon as a boon, not 

 only to the individual but to the nation. 



The difference between a son of Ishmael and the man who has 

 the strongest attachment for the home, is the beginning one 

 of outward circumstances. The one is bound to a given place 

 by ties no stronger than the cords which hold his tent to the 

 earth, the other is held by sentiments which make a given bit of 

 soil, too insignificant for general notice, the most attractive spot 

 on earth. 



One of the problems with which we are constantly met is : 

 How shall we keep the boys on the farm? One of the surest 

 methods is to "give the boy a chance." Observe cooperation. 

 Make the home attractive, not alone by kindly sympathy and 

 interest but by providing for the physical, mental and social 

 welfare of the young people. More people are driven from the 

 farm by its isolation, loneliness and lack of tasteful surroundings, 

 than by any other cause. Satisfactory results cannot be 

 expected if the boys and girls are regarded in the light of 

 domestic animals, costing so much to feed and clothe them and 

 saving a certain amount in the labor account. In general, 

 farmers above all other classes have the best opportunities for 

 making the home attractive at small cost, and because of their 

 isolation should, above all other classes, exert most eft'ort in this 

 direction, — yet, as is well known, no class with the same intelli- 

 gence and enterprise in other directions is so universally careless 

 and negligent in this respect. 



As Maine grows in popularity as a resort for people from the 

 cities during the summer months, the importance of a more 

 systematic effort to ornament rural homes becomes apparent. 

 During the past ten years much ornamental planting has been 

 done in the vicinity of the larger towns and cities with the effect, 

 which always follows, of greatly enhancing the value of the 

 property thus treated. 



Not only from a financial point of view, and to attract summer 

 visitors, is the ornamentation of rural homes important, but the 

 comfort and pleasure of one's family should be sufficient incen- 

 tive for such work. 



