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There could hardly have been found a more un¬ 
promising condition of house and grounds out of 
which to make a beautiful home than that with 
whicli we began ten years ago. The place had been 
rented for several years and the ground was worked 
down very poor. Fences were down, gates off their 
hinges, a bush thicket grew almost to the door, and 
the out-buildings were very poor and insufficient. 
The house was not old, but appeared so; was 
roughly weather-boarded, and coated with a yellow 
wash. We were upwards of half a dozen in family, 
of which the larger half were children. We had not 
money to spare for improvements, but were obliged 
to depend wholly on our own labor and ingenuity for 
every advancement in this respect. But this place 
was destined to be our home, and we meant it 
should before long have a homelike look. There 
were some natural advantages in the situation of the 
house; it stood a nice distance from the road, near 
enough to be enlivened with the continual travel, but 
far enough from it to escape all dust and noise, and 
elevated enough to be always dry. A lawn had been 
laid out from the house to the road, but it was sur¬ 
rounded with a rough, stumpy thorn hedge, and 
nothing was growing on it but grass, and but little of 
that. A fine old tree stood at the bottom of the lawn, 
and under its shade was a spring from which all the 
water must be carried for household use. Another 
stately old tree, the oldest inhabitant of the neighbor¬ 
hood, stood nearer the house, but it and the lawn 
were both shut away from the house by a high white¬ 
washed paling fence. Another smaller tree stood in 
the yard, but directly before the front door. A large 
garden was laid out at the south side of the house, 
and this was also shut oft' by a high fence. The 
road-way to the back buildings runs by the north 
side of the house (the house faces to the east). The 
first year after it came into our possession we built 
a neat porch along the front, which was straight and 
bare, and had the tree cut down and the stump cut 
entirely away, which stood in front of the door, and 
another tree planted opposite the large one which 
stood near the house. Around this second tree a 
drive was afterwards made. After this improve¬ 
ments came slowly, but gradually and a little at a 
time we have evolved order out of chaos. The 
hedge around the lawn gave way to a neat board 
fence at one side, and at the bottom and at the 
other side a trellis of grape-vines separates it from 
a field adjoining. A well was made and a good 
pump put in, within a few steps of the kitchen door, 
and the spring at the bottom of the lawn was filled with 
rubbish and stones in the bottom, and earth filled in 
on top. For some years we cultivated our flowers in 
borders around the front yard. Along the porch we 
always planted vines and run them to the top with 
cords. Outside of these vines we planted our 
dahlias. On each side of the porch steps a climbing 
monthly rose was planted, and trellises made of two 
light posts with wire fastened across were put up to 
run them on. At the corner posts woodbines were 
planted. A grape-vine was planted at the southern 
corner of the house and trained over the whole south 
side, being fastened in place with iron staples. The 
lawn was ploughed up and cultivated for some years, and 
then sowed with grass. Half a dozen evergreens of 
different kinds were planted about on it. A rustic 
seat was made of cedar limbs and set under the 
large tree near the house, and the paling fence 
surrounding the house was all removed, except a few 
feet at the back of the house, where it joined the 
garden, which was left to shut out the chickens. 
This made the house to open directly to the lawn in 
front and to the garden on the south side. Then 
we moved all our flowers to the south side of the 
house, and to the garden, except those that were 
planted by the porch. We have always made choice 
of Madeira vines for our climbers ; they are such neat 
vines and rapid growers, and late in the season the 
whole air is sweet with their bloom. The roots are 
taken up before danger of freezing and can be kept 
as easily as potatoes. We have Cypress vines, 
Morning-glories, and other climbers in the garden, 
but the Madeira vine keeps its place in front. A 
Wistaria is growing over a trellis near the border 
fence of the lawn, a few' feet from the house. On 
the south side of the house the whole ground is given 
over to flower-beds, flowering shrubs, beds of bulbs, 
which later in the season are brilliant with double 
Portulacas, Phlox, Lady-slippers, Geraniums, etc. 
Further off are round beds having a centre of Bicinus, 
or a ring of Cypress or Ipomeas, or made wholly of 
Cannas or Dahlias ; Lilies, Peonias, and other peren¬ 
nials have their appropriate places where they need 
not be disturbed. Our flower-beds have gradually 
encroached upon the garden, while the garden-truck 
has been from year to year consigned to the fields, 
planted in long rows, and cultivated with horse, in¬ 
stead of man or (woman) labor. I have mentioned 
our filling up the spring; but the ground all around it 
was wet and collected water, and after awhile we 
dug out a small pond in the corner of the fence, mak¬ 
ing a neat sloping bank, and planted water-lilies in 
it, and a willow-tree on the edge. The pond is 
always full of water and the lilies bloom beautifully 
all summer. 
So far I have spoken only of out-door improve¬ 
ments, and these were for the most part planned and 
executed by the women of the family. Perhaps 
a few hints of some of the indoor improvements 
may not be out of place. Most of these wore 
of woman's planning also, and it seems to me 
that the planning of houses, the arrangement of 
rooms and closets, is work that belongs especially to 
women, and that they, as a general thing, are more 
capable of doing it than men. They know better 
what they want, and how to economize space and ar¬ 
range stairways and cupboards, pantries and shelves, 
so as to be most convenient and save the most steps. 
The house as originally built had three rooms on 
the ground-floor, parlor, sitting-room and kitchen, all 
in a row and all opening on the front porch. When 
we were ready to build, we tore away the kitchen 
and moved it back of the house and rebuilt it as a 
wood-house. We extended two rooms back from 
the sitting-room, one to be used as a dining-room 
and the other as a kitchen. Then we built a wide 
porch along the whole north side. The pump stands 
on it, within a few feet of the kitchen door. In the 
old plan a narrow, crooked stairway went up from 
the sitting-room, and this was the only one in the 
house. We tore this entirely out, making a window 
where it had been below, and a closet in the room 
above. A wide, straight stair was built between the 
old and new rooms, and a window made at the top, 
which was furnished at the top with a white muslin 
shade. A narrow stairway was also built to 
go up from the kitchen. We papered all the other 
rooms and stairways, but left the dining-room and 
kitchen walls to be painted. All the wood-work in 
the house with these exceptions was painted white, 
and the wall-papers selected were all light, with the 
borders the color that we wished to be the prevailing 
color in the room. Thus, the parlor border is crim¬ 
son ; the sitting-room green; the best bedroom 
crimson ; another bedroom green; and another one 
pink. We are all dark, so we cannot indulge in 
blue rooms. The wood-work of the dining-room 
was a handsomely grained wood, so it was simply oiled 
with two coats of linseed-oil and varnished. The 
walls and ceiling were painted with umber. The 
kitchen was painted, doors, floor, and wood-work 
with ochre, and the walls and ceiling with umber. 
A large closet was made in the kitchen under the 
stairway; a meal-chest was built inside, with differ¬ 
ent compartments for flour, meal, etc. Along one 
side of the kitchen, near the ceiling, a narrow strip of 
wood was nailed, which was set with hooks for the 
hats, coats, and other belongings of the men-folks 
which were in every-day use. When remodelling 
the sitting-room we built a bookcase on each side 
of the chimney. They reach to the ceiling, a cup¬ 
board being made in the lower part of each, with a 
separate door from the bookcase, which lias glass 
doors. Over our front door there was a transom- 
light made of three small panes of glass. I had the 
glass taken out and the dividing sash cut away, and 
procured a glass the size to fill the whole. This I 
drew a pretty design on, and painted the whole 
glass outside of the pattern with scarlet lake; the de¬ 
sign was left clear. 
I have tried to tell you how unpromising the situ¬ 
ation was to begin with, and how improvements 
were made. Now almost every visitor says, What 
a beautiful home you have ! Amaranth. 
MY EXPERIENCE IN PLANT-CULTURE. 
I always recognized the necessity of showering 
my plants, and nothing pleased me more than their 
refreshed appearance after having been treated to 
their weekly bath; so, every Saturday morning I 
used to remove them to the lawn, when the weather 
would permit, or to the kitchen when too cold, place 
them in a large tub, fill the tin watering-can with tepid 
water, and swing that heavy weight over the plants 
till they were thoroughly showered; then carry them 
back to their quarters to remain during the next 
week. Thus, fairly tired, I could not help wishing 
that dust would not collect on them, and that then- 
good health did not depend so much upon the 
amount of water sprinkled upon their surfaces, and 
would almost resolve not to make such a martyr of 
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