PART III 



FLORICULTURE. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING FOR THE COUNTRY HOME. 



Vegetation about the home is beneficial in many ways. It 

 adds to the healthfulness of the home by cooling and purifying the 

 air. Besides cutting off the direct and reflected rays of the sun, 

 foliage exercises a marked effect on the temperature by evaporating 

 large quantities of water from its surface, and the reduction of the 

 temperature in this way is greatest on dry, hot days when it is 

 most needed. Leaves also absorb impure and hurtful gases and set 

 free the oxygen needed by animals for respiration. Circulation of 

 the air, due to unequal temperature, is likewise promoted by vege- 

 tation properly pruned and arranged; while the air of basements 

 and cellars is rendered less humid by the removal of surplus water 

 from the surrounding soil through the medium of roots and foliage. 

 Vegetation adds materially to the comforts of life and also gives 

 pleasure. It softens the hard door yard lines and adds attractive 

 forms and colors to the monotony of bare walls and buildings. Its 

 bright green foliage is eagerly watched for in the spring and the 

 changing colors are a constant source of pleasure in autumn. The 

 most attractive homes are those where beautiful lawns are most 

 abundant. Vegetation also adds greatly to the value of property. 

 The farmers of the future will have beautiful lawns planted with 

 vegetation as a matter of business. In such homes the family cir- 

 cle will remain unbroken. It is the unattractive home the farm- 

 ers' children leave. A happy home circle should be more to the 

 farmer than all the money in the world. At the same time he has 

 the added satisfaction of increased wealth and standing in the com- 

 munity brought about by proper landscape gardening. (Cornell 

 Ex. St. B. 161, 205.) 



Planting the Home Grounds. The trouble with home grounds 

 is not so much that there is too little planting of trees and shrubs, 

 but that this planting is meaningless. Every yard should be a 

 picture. That is, the area should be set off from every other area, 

 and it should have such a character that the observer catches its 

 entire effect and purpose without stopping to analyze its parts. The 

 yard should be one thing, one area, with every feature contributing 

 its part to one strong and homogeneous effect. 



The nursery type of planting represents the common front 

 yard. The bushes and trees are scattered promiscuously over the 

 area. Such a yard has no purpose, no central idea. Its only merit, 

 is in the fact that trees and shrubs have been planted ; and this, to 



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