182 THE FOREST TREE OCULTURIST. 
cient number to make every farmer’s home in the country 
as cheerful and beautiful as the most refined taste could 
desire. ; 
It is certainly not because there is any scarcity of mate- 
rial that makes many of our farmers’ homes look so deso- 
late and uninviting; but it is because there is a want of 
energy and a proper cultivated taste. 
The farmer above all others should plant trees, shrubs, 
and flowers about his home, for he can obtain them from 
the woods and fields without money or price. Let him 
once begin with a proper spirit, and the labor of arranging, 
planting, etc., will become a pleasant recreation instead of 
an irksome toil. I do not believe that American farmers, 
as a class, possess less taste for the beautiful than those of 
some other countries, for I know many, very many, most 
beautiful homes among the poorer class of farmers, as well 
as the rich. But there are too many who never plant a tree 
or shrub for ornament, and the taste for the beautiful in 
nature is not so general as it should be, to make our coun- 
try foremost in all that will elevate and bless mankind. 
