ESTHETICS IN AGRICULTURE. 27 



the grindstone, and a confusion of unenumerated relics. Keep 

 the tools in their place, sell the old junk, house vehicles and 

 machines, rake up the chips, burn the rubbish, and pile the 

 lumber where it will not be prominent. Even a few disorderly 

 boards and boxes will injure the appearance of one's whole place. 

 Order is Beauty's first law, and neatness is her handmaiden. 

 They are too often driven away from our New England homes by 

 neglect. So many vehicles, machines, tools, chicken coops, etc., 

 are needed on ever}"- farm that it is easy to get careless 

 and leave things where the}' were used last, and a little effort may 

 sometimes be required to maintain scrupulous neatness, but it 

 will pa}'. The transformation that a general "picking up," or 

 the exercise of more care, will work, is wonderful. When the 

 lumber piles, stone heaps, cart bodies, odd wheels, drags, stove 

 wood of varying lengths, decaying boards, old boxes and barrels, 

 have disappeared from conspicuous positions about the house, 

 until the yard is as neat as a parlor, the habit of caring for and 

 increasing home beauty will have become confirmed ; it will also 

 grow and seek something more to do. 



The absence of litter is an indispensable prerequisite to any- 

 thing aesthetic, but the lawn needs a little attention. A few 

 minutes will be found each week to mow it ; spots hitherto given 

 to weeds will be got into grass, and places where the grass was 

 thin will receive a little fertilizer. Thus with onl}- slight expense 

 and a little care, a lawn can be secured that will be an object of 

 general admiration, and might be a millionaire's envy. Even the 

 most ordinary farmer has all that is needed to secure as thick and 

 smooth a lawn as any one. Why should we look to Newport, or 

 the banks of the Hudson, or our own suburban villas for the per- 

 fect lawn ? Why should the professional grass-grower with plenty 

 of land, allow any one to surpass him in the richness or evenness 

 of the verdure about his home? With the cheapness of small 

 lawn mowers there is no excuse for a weedy, poverty stricken, 

 hummocky yard. Nothing is more pleasing to the eye than a 

 thick, velvety lawn. Wh}' should not every farm house be sur- 

 rounded by one of the most exquisite ? Even among village resi- 

 dents few have such restricted quarters as not to enjoy at least a 

 few square feet of neat grass about their homes. One writer 

 truly says, " There is nothing in the beauty of flowers that equals 

 green turf, on which we never tire of gazing and on which weary 

 eyes may look and find rest." 



