RENOVATING AND IMPROVING OLD HOMES. 109 



or fruit trees, they are despatched. Love of order prevails 

 everywhere, about the barn, by the roadside, as well as about 

 the horne-buil dings, and beauty and thrift go hand in hand. 

 We are largely creatures of habits of thought or of labor, 

 and anything done thoroughly, systematically, beautifully 

 in one direction helps us more or less in all other lines of 

 work. 



Farm-roads. 



Good farm -roads are a necessity for quick and easy trans- 

 portation of the products of the farm. The principles of 

 construction of such are the same as for other roads,* and 

 where there is an abundance of stones they may be utilized 

 for foundation and unsightly objects removed from the sur- 

 face of the land or roadside. 



Road-making is very expensive business, and few farmers 

 find profit enough in their work to warrant the expense of 

 long lines of roadway. Only such roads as are absolutely 

 needed should be made, and the expense of construction 

 will be felt less if only a short length is constructed at 

 one time. Whenever stones are being picked up from 

 the land, a convenient way of getting rid of them is to 

 excavate a piece of roadway and cover them up with a 

 dressing of gravel. This is far better than dumping them 

 along the roadsides or in some other equally conspicuons 

 place, where brush and weeds will grow up through and 

 about them in such a manner that they cannot be eradicated 

 except by finally removing the stones and tearing them out 

 root and branch. 



* See chapter on Roads and Roadside Improvement. 



