FARM MANAGEMENT 117 



The necessity of making rooms comfortable and at the same time 

 attractive and interesting, is an important study in the home. 



To most persons the most attractive room in the house is the 

 one with easy chairs ; a table with good light, and which, if not well 

 polished, may be tastily covered with a spread that harmonizes with 

 the colors of the walls and rug; books, papers and magazines which 

 indicates frequent use ; a few pictures that are uplifting in the lives 

 of the home folks; a corner in which to rest on soft cushions; and 

 family life held together and sweetened by these refining influences. 

 Such a cosy spot encourages the woman of the household to don a 

 becoming gown, and to keep herself looking attractive and a real 

 ornament in the home. 



Pictures are not for the purpose of contributing to bodily com- 

 fort, nor for real utility. They are modes of expressing the thoughts 

 and tastes of the dwellers in the home. They should be chosen be- 

 cause they mean something which one would wish to express, and 

 because they are really beautiful. Their influence on character and 

 on the beauty of the home counts more than all other decorative 

 furnishings. 



When pictures are chosen with this in view, little else is needed 

 by way of decoration. Few can afford original masterpieces, yet we 

 do not desire pictures which are less than masterpieces. Reproduc- 

 tions of excellent pictures, to be had in color and in black and white, 

 may be purchased at reasonable prices. These may be chosen with ' 

 a view to the place they are to occupy, not only on the walls but in 

 the home life. Children like pictures of animals, of flowers, of 

 birds, of scenes in which sunshine and action figure, while pictures 

 of ruins and those which portray sorrow and suffering do not leave 

 a good impression. Good photographs and prints of attractive farm 

 scenes are always useful and appropriate in rural homes. They edu- 

 cate the taste to the beauty in one's own community. 



To a great extent pictures take the place of bric-a-brac the 

 various fads in home decoration for which hands have worked for 

 hours, and money has been saved for weeks. It is safe to say that 

 the picture of a beautiful Madonna or other excellent subject, which 

 may have cost little, has done more in a home to elevate the char- 

 acter and the taste of the individuals than all the worked cardboard, 

 the embroidered lambrequins, and the many fantastic objects which 

 are often collected and treasured. (Consulted above and used in 

 parts. Y. B. 1909; F. B. 270; Mich. Col. B. 250; F. B. 317; Of. 

 Ex. Sta. F. Inst. Lee. 8 ; F. B. 126 ; Cornell Reading Course No. 2 ; 

 F. B. 342; Cornell Reading Course 28, 29; Kans. Ag. Col. B. 143.) 



THE BARN.* 



Next in importance among the farm buildings, after the home 

 of the family, is the barn. It should be so located that ready access 

 from it to all the fields of the farm can be had, and yet near enough 

 the residence that no extra steps will be needed in going to and 

 from. Three prime requisites should never be lost sight of in 

 building a barn: (1) The comfort and health of the live stock; 



For illustrations, aee pages 69, 159. 



