THE HOME AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 379 



God bless our country homes ; they are the hope of the nation, 

 and whether our children are to remain in them, or go out to 

 some other sphere of duty, we should, as far as possible, make 

 every thing else on the farm subordinate to the home, so that 

 they will always look back to it with longing, if duty calls them 

 away, or if they remain, have no feeling that farm life is de- 

 grading, but be contented and happy in their calling. 



The past decade has witnessed a marked improvement in the 

 surroundings of country homes, which is due partly to growing 

 wealth and intelligence, partly to the influence of the agricul- 

 tural papers, and the beautiful catalogues with which our seeds- 

 men have flooded the country, but perhaps most of all to the 

 example of those who were pioneers in the work. No good ex- 

 ample is more contagious than this, and in any neighborhood 

 where one family begins the good work of rendering the home 

 attractive, others are sure to attempt it. 



To say all that might be said on this subject would call for 

 the writing of a book, and in a brief chapter I can only hope to 

 call attention to some points which the intelligent reader must 

 develop for himself. 



Location of the House. Most of those who read this 

 chapter will not build their own houses, but must take such as 

 they find and do the best they can with them. Still, as most 

 persons build at some period of their lives, it seems legitimate 

 to treat of this subject. In locating the farm-house a number 

 of points should be considered. 



One of -the first of these is health. The house should be so 

 located as to secure thorough drainage. I have known farm- 

 houses built on flat land, where the soil was a tenacious clay, 

 with the floors not more than a foot above the level of the land, 

 involving the digging of a long drain, and perhaps making it 

 difficult to drain the cellar at all. I have known families to live 

 all winter with three or four feet of water in the cellar under 

 the sitting-room because of this defect. If possible, a slight ele- 

 vation should be chosen for the house, but if you must build on 

 flat land, dig a cellar but three feet deep, and then at a 

 suitable distance from the house, plow and scrape till you have 



