1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



35 



BUBAIj EMBEIiUSHMSNTB. 



Aa A. Means of Making ocr Homes and Newhbor- 

 BOODB Moke Attractive. 



A taste for the beautiful should always be 

 associated with a taste for the useful. It 

 often happens with farmers that a piece of 

 work may be left so as to be attractive to all 

 who see it, and yet cost no more than it would 

 standing as a deformity in the landscape. 

 But, if it costs something, the beautiful should 

 be one aim of the farmer in many of his op- 

 erations. He values it in his oxen and cows, 

 and especially in his horses. He takes pride 

 in the lawn-like appearance of his mowing 

 grounds, in the exact lines of his corn-fields 

 and stone walls, and the furrows turned up to 

 the sun and air. 



Some farmers see all these with a glow of 

 satisfaction, and yet live in the midst of dis- 

 order and decay. In his symmetrical animals 

 he discerns a money return for the beautiful, 

 but when that glittering bauble is not prom- 

 ised, the beautiful vanishes and there is no 

 use in it ! The taste has not been educated to 

 cherish what is considered beautiful only in a 

 few things. It sees beauty and order, only in 

 those matters which minister to pecuniary 

 gain. In the fine symmetry and action of a 

 horse, it seems to realize future bonds, or 

 shares in banks or railroad stocks. But the 

 most beautiful rose that ever bloomed, or 

 graceful woodbine which creeps over rocks and 

 mounts trees to brine its scarlet berries to the 

 sun, never kindled in him the emotions that 

 were awakened by the prospect of an advan- 

 tageous sale of the beautiful horse ! 



God gave the flowers and all plants a great 

 variety of form and color. They might just 

 as well, for aught we can see, been just alike 

 in shape, so far as mere subsistence goes. 

 But He saw fit to make his works beautiful as 

 well as beneficient. 



What can be done by farmers to make their 

 homes and neighborhoods more attractive ? 



It is cheap and easy so to embellish our 

 homes as to give them an air of taste and thrift 

 and render them attractive. If the house has 

 no paint, it may have a grape vine or climbing 

 rose over the porch or a window. If some 

 panes of glass are patched, the defect may be 

 screened by a blooming heliotrope, fuschia or 

 verbena, in an earthen pot eet upon the win- 

 dow aVA or hung before the offending defect. 



If there is no gravel walk to the door, there 

 may be a rose bush or flowering shrub by the 

 side of the cart path to the house, so that the 

 dusty or muddy way be unnoticed in the con- 

 templation of the beautiful flower or shrub. 



Indeed, it is not the possession of money 

 or much leisure that will render a farmer's 

 home attractive, but that general appearance 

 of order, good taste and economy which must 

 pervade everything. His fences must be 

 whole and not reeling ; his door-yards clean ; 

 sink spouts or other offensive objects screened 

 by groups of white pines, and here and there 

 a graceful elm or a majestic maple, standing 

 like guardian angels, with outstretched wings, 

 to protect from summer heats or winter blants. 



Any person who can manage a farm has all 

 the requisite skiH to beautify it as far as our 

 proposition goes. He will not confess that he 

 does not know how to transplant a shrub, a 

 vine or a tree. Hundreds will say they have 

 not the time ! Is this so ? In our judgment 

 every person has the time — farmer, mechanic, 

 judge or minister. Few farmers say they have 

 not time to attend an auction, where the cast- 

 off trumpery of several generations is to be 

 sold ; or to bring home a wagon load of rub- 

 bish to increase that already about the doors, 

 or torment the women by adding it to the 

 stock already deposited in the garret ! 



The pleasure of making oilr homes attrac- 

 tive should be a gradual one. That pleasure 

 is too valuable to be gratified lavishly. A lit- 

 tle should be done, and well done, each year, 

 and whatever is commenced be carefully at- 

 tended to. The autumn of the year affords 

 an excellent time to make a beginning. Sup- 

 pose such had been the practice of all the far- 

 mers of the town in which you live for fifiy 

 years past, would not the town now present 

 more rural attractions than any other in New 

 England? 



The first step to take is, utterly to abandon 

 the old maxim, that 



"Money makei the mare go," 

 and learn the higher and noi-ler truth, that 

 The beautiful makes the «o«/grow. 



But if a<(iuisition of money is tlie prime ob- 

 ject, that accumulation will be increased as the 

 real beauty of the fa^ is increased ; for pro- 

 fitable crops come from high culture, anu high 

 culture makes the earth blossom and become 

 beautiful. 



