STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35 



A great deal more might be said upon this subject but time and 

 space forbid. It will only be necessary to add that while the 

 farmer cannot be and is not expected to be a landscape gardener, 

 he ma}" yet do much to make his home much more than what it now 

 too frequently is, simply an abode to eat, sleep and die in, and hav- 

 ing in fact none of those essentials most desirable in a true home. 

 It is the little things of life too often overlooked, such as the plant- 

 ing of a shade tree, the planting of a plum, a pear or a cherry tree, 

 a small space devoted to small fruits or the cultivation of a few 

 choice flowers, which play an important part in the moulding of 

 character and add a grace and charm that nothing else can give. 



This paper is written not alone for the farmer but for all the vil- 

 lage residents who have the means and taste to improve their homes- 

 and more particularly their immediate surroundings. In all such 

 improvements such as the removal of old fences and the grading 

 and adornment of the grounds, sentiment should not hold supreme 

 sway but be so subordinated to the utilit}" idea that a sufficient space 

 of ground be reserved, where possible, to the planting of fruit trees- 

 and to the cultivation of a few plants of the most desirable of the 

 small fruits. 



DISCUSSION. 



Sec. Gilbert. There is nothing that gives pleasanter thoughts of 

 the industry and good taste of a community than road-sides well 

 cleared up and door-yards well kept and ornamented by thrifty 

 people. The contrast is very marked when reaching another district, 

 where with difficulty one finds his way through the highway. Utility 

 and beauty may be combined by planting fruit trees about the home 

 and along the highway. Nothing is more beautiful than a well formed 

 fruit tree growing in a well-kept lawn, or along the highway. Give 

 us men of utility combined with beaut3\ 



Mr. Atherton. It was the custom in my boyhood to clear the 

 land of stones and dump them with other rubbish into the highway. 

 In later years I have done what I could to clear away the same stones- 

 from the highway, and now the land where the stones were is produc- 

 tive, and cheering to my view. The street commissioner came up my 

 way and dug the stones out of the highway and threw them along the 

 roadside. The highway officials are guilty of defacing a good many 

 road-sides in this way. I had to scold them a good deal before they 

 would quit this kind of work. 



