THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



worth the mention, and may even make the sale of 

 bulbs a matter of income. Of perennials, make a 

 great deal of phloxes and larkspurs. In addition 

 to the old-fashioned lilacs and mock oranges, you 

 can at least collect some of the native shrubs, 

 which will beautify your street side and your fence 

 line. Any one may glorify his cheap homestead 

 with Tartarian honeysuckles, barberry bushes, and 

 high-bush cranberry. These constitute a triplet of 

 beauty through the larger part of the year. 



I have noticed that the poorer classes of country 

 residents are fond of the dahlia. They like sym- 

 metry, and the lesson is a good one to teach order 

 and carefulness about the household and the lot. 

 These can be grown near the kitchen door, and 

 will render innocuous a place which would be other- 

 wise a sink-hole for slops. If now you can go far- 

 ther and spend a little time upon bedding plants, 

 above all buy a dozen geraniums in the spring, 

 when they can be got for a very small sum, plant 

 them in almost any garden soil, and surround 

 them with asters, petunias, or pansies. Instead of 

 leaving your pig-pen to be a nuisance, slant up be- 

 hind it a trellis for sweet peas. I am especially 

 anxious that around your barn shall grow grape- 

 [ 2^^o ] 



