IN THE PQULTRY YARD. 21 
vegetable garden. By great labor and much care the rocks had 
been removed, and even the small stones picked out to a great 
extent. A plentiful supply of good stable manure had been added, 
and a very rich and fertile soil was the result. = = 
Between the vegetable garden and the house was a strip of grass 
land, used generally for laundry purposes, the back of the house 
facing this way. At the front of the house was the carriage drive, 
which was carried round a large oval grass plot, at one time laid 
out as acroquet ground. Beyond the drive was the lawn proper, 
and along the edge of this were numerous flower beds, while beyond 
that stretched an unbroken field of green grass with a few orna- 
mental trees scattered here and there. The house was distant: 
about one hundred feet from the road, the approach being under 
two rows of soft maple trees, which now gave promise of soon 
forming a dense leafy arch overhead. 
The lawn was bounded on the south and west by an irregular 
row of evergreens, which gave an air of seclusion to the grounds, 
the land south of the evergreens being either used as a pasture 
field or cultlvated, as circumstances might direct. This was the 
lowest part of the grounds and the richest. 
Returning to the eastern boundary: At the point where the 
line, descending from the hill, turned towards the east, were placed 
the barns and stables, and between these and the lawn was the 
orchard. ‘The toe of the boot formed a nice little paddock of 
about three acres, which had always been used as pasture for the 
horse, cow, calf, etc. ; 
A little above the barns, and within a few yards of the eastern 
boundary, there gushed from the hillside a sparkling spring of as 
_pure water as I ever beheld. The water from this spring formed a: 
good sized stream, and flowed straight down through the grounds, 
-passing directly into the land of our neighbor on the south. It 
furnished all the water necessary for cattle, and various other 
purposes—washing, sprinkling, etc., and was never-failing. By 
means of a hydraulic ram a supply was forced to a tank at the top 
of the house, so that the supply there was constant and abundant. 
-For drinking purposes we used the water from a well, which was 
