4 Farmers' Bulletin 1087. 



while marked deficiency or excess of physical comforts is debili- 

 tating. Beauty in every form has an influence for good. Forms of 

 beauty differ greatly in their effect on persons. Children especially 

 are wonderfully affected for good or ill by their surroundings. The 

 greatest influences are probably seldom realized at the time they are 

 exerted. 



It is important that the home should be carefully arranged so as 

 to give the most helpful influences. This is well recognized in cities 



FIG. 1. A structure that will afford protection from undue exposure to the elements. 



and towns so far as it relates to the arrangement and decoration of 

 the interior of houses, to some extent to the house itself, and to a less 

 degree to its surroundings. The purpose of this bulletin is to sug- 

 gest the importance of improving the surroundings of farm homes 

 and to show how unattractive conditions (fig. 2) may be made at- 

 tractive (fig. 3) without undue labor or expenditure. 



The poor taste and judgment shown in developing the outward 

 appearance of our homes have left much to be desired. In the colo- 

 nial days and the early days of the Republic the prevailing style 

 of architecture and planting in both city and country was simple, 

 direct, and attractive. (Fig. 4.) This may have been the result of 



