"no time." Then we would say make time. Man was not made to live by bread alone. Good books and good literature are within the reach of every one, and it depends upon ourselves whether we are benefited by them or not. It depends more upon what we are, than where we are, whether we receive and retain. The sponge and the stone dropped into the same element-water,the one came up full, the other as it went in. We either partake of the nature of the stone or the sponge.

The Chautauqua literary and scientific circle, a circle that now spans the world, is doing a wonderful work in the farmer's home. It has come among us like a flood of light, dispelling dark clouds of ignorance, and lightening and brightening wherever it touches. It has driven light fictitious reading from our homes, and in its place given us works on history, biography, and travels; ancient classics, and modern sciences. It is destined to be an ever broadening stream sweeping onward through future years. In order to enjoy farm life one must have rural scenery and rural surroundings, make pets of domestic animals and see beauty in common things. What is more beautiful than the orchard with its blossoms of spring-time, or fruit-laden boughs of autumn? What more beautiful than the fields of sweet clover, waving grain, rustling corn, or buckwheat with its white blossoms? What more beautiful than the green old meadow, stretching away to its background of woodland, against a blue sky?

We have pictures in this world painted by master hands, beautiful and rare, costly beyond the possibility of our possessing. And we have pictures more beautiful than hand of man ever painted, or mind of man ever conceived, painted for us by the Father's hand, and hung in such rich profusion all around us that we fail to appreciate or be thankful for them. A country childhood is the inherent right of every child. That thousands of children are defrauded of this right does not alter the truth of the statement. Nowhere is life so full and free as in the country where the great "book of nature" is spread open, with her many lessons ready to be learned. There they can study the birds and the bees, the flowers and the trees, the hills and the rocks, and learn to appreciate the beautiful, whether it is a flower or tree, a sketch of landscape, or a brilliant sunset.

Every farmer's home should be a beautiful home; not costly, not elegant, costly houses and elegant furniture are not for the average farmer, but beautiful homes, adorned from nature's store-house. These are within the reach of

every one, no matter if the home is a little wood-colored cottage. We can sow the seeds, plant the trees, train the vines, trim the grass, until we are surrounded by a lawn of soft velvety greenness, vines that clamber around our clapboard and casement, trees that stretch their strong branches in loving protection above our heads, and flowers that shed their perfume all around us.

28

AROUND THE HOUSE.

BY PROFESSOR JAS. SATTERLEE.

(Read at the Manchester Institute, Jan. 22, 1885.)

I have chosen this title to my brief paper, as it gives me a chance to include a variety of hints that may be interesting to many of my bearers; hints upon the location of a place, on the arranging of the trees and shrubbery, care of lawns and flower-borders, neatness and order, all of which go to make the surroundings of our houses attractive. It allows me to begin just at the steps, at the inner edge of that middle ground which separates the woman's kingdom proper from the broad acres which man considers it his prerogative to manage in his own peculiar way. The immediate surroundings of the house belong to the family, all are equally and vitally interested.

I will say nothing of porches or architectural adornments, or any thing that belongs entirely to the house itself. I want to begin at the steps, because a short time ago I saw at the back door of a good, substantial house some steps, the upper plank of which slanted away from the door at least three degrees, certainly enough to throw any person upon his back who should carelessly step upon it. The idea of leaving such a trap for the breaking of bones of the wife or daughters or servants, led me to want to begin my paper just at the steps of the house, just at the back steps. Often we see elegant houses that have front steps carefully built by a carpenter, neatly painted and kept in repair by the owner, while the back steps are only a succession of loose and tottering planks, covered with ice in winter, and dangerous to neck and limb at any time of year. I do not think this is more true of farmers' homes than of others. Perhaps we are all too careful to keep up an appearance of neatness which only the passer-by and the visitor is expected to see, while we allow our back yards to grow weeds and our back steps to take care of themselves. A man's own family and his hired help are as likely to appreciate neat surroundings at the rear of the house as the passer by and the visitor are to admire neatness at the front. It is as easy

to have the well-house and woodshed conveniently arranged and nicely painted as otherwise, and it is the duty of every farmer to see to it that those who do the drudgery of the house have as many conveniences provided as possible. I would like to say a word about those rickety and cramped cellar stairs that the good housewife has to use day after day and year after year, but my topic will not allow me to go inside the house.

Anything that lightens the labor and adds to the convenience of the inmates of our homes helps them to appreciate tasteful surroundings, and gives them additional time to help on the good work of making our home surroundings pleasant.

This much I have said as preliminary to the giving of some hints on the making of attractive places. It is not so difficult a matter as many suppose to apply the principles of art to the making of pleasant and beautiful surroundings to our homes. Nature supplies all the material, all we have to do is to use what she has given us according to the principles of correct taste, or in other words, according to the dictates of an enlightened common sense.

One of the first things to take into account is location. No two persons would agree on all the requirements of a place. This is fortunate, for we

would then all want the same location. No place can be made pleasant in its surroundings without good soil. I prefer a sandy loam, underlaid by a good strong clay gravel subsoil, such as we find in many parts of Michigan, especially those parts which were originally covered with oak and hickory timber. In such a soil the roads are always passable, the drives and walks are always dry, and all kinds of trees and plants flourish and reach their most perfect growth. Cellars are never damp, wells are deep and the water pure, and there is something about the surface of such land that has a charm impossible to describe. It is never a dead level like many of our wet clay soils, and the natural drainage is perfect.

I like the south side of an east and west road. Two entrances to the place are desirable, one for the front or side entrance to the house, and another for the barns, connecting somewhere in the rear of the house with the former, and in such a way that coal, wood, ice, vegetables, etc., may be unloaded without any littering of the front entrance. For a city or village place, a lot upon a corner is easily arranged to keep everything neat by having the only entrance for carriages at the side of the lot in the rear of the house.

Many places are spoiled by a high stiff-looking fence along the roadside, and around the garden. There is nothing ornamental in the fence itself, and many are doing away with them entirely about their houses. I prefer a light, plain one, however, to none at all. It gives an idea of ownership or possession which the entire absence of any fence seems to preclude. A single 4x4 scantling, on posts of the same size, two and a half feet from the ground, will do very well, or a light wire fence, painted a brown color, will answer a good purpose.

For division fences between the ornamented grounds near the house and the pastured park or orchard beyond, a good wire fence will prove very satisfactory, as it does not shut off the view at all, and gives a great addition to the apparent extent of a place.

Nothing adds so much to the beauty and attractiveness of a place as a well kept lawn. The smooth, velvety turf, with the shadows of beautiful trees here and there, and a small bed of low growing flowers, is an attraction that is unsurpassed by the finest collection of foreign plants or groups of costly vases and statuary; and it is an attraction that any one can have if he chooses to spend a little time for the purpose.

In the preparation of the ground for a lawn too much pains can not be taken. All the extra work in plowing, harrowing and grubbing, in subsoiling and fertilizing will show in after years. The seed may be sown in September, if the weather is suitable, but will usually do better if sown in early spring. The surface should be made fine with the hand rake, and fertilized with well rotted barn-yard manure. The seed should be raked in by hand and the ground lightly rolled. The best mixture for general purposes is June grass and white clover, one bushel of the former to one quart of the latter. This will answer every purpose as well or better thau the mixture of sixteen to twenty kinds recommended by some writers. In addition to the June grass and white clover a little red top and sweet vernal grass, the latter to give a pleasant odor to the new mown lawu, will be found desirable. Do not use any of the rye grass or oat grass or larger fescues or orchard grass, as they grow uneven and bunchy. Do not sow oats or any other grain with the seed, as they are worse than useless. The first cutting should be by hand with scythes. Do not be alarmed if more weeds than grass make their appearance at first. Keep them cut off with the grass and the latter will soon take entire possession of

the ground. After the first or second cutting with scythes use a lawn mower. There should be no small nooks or corners that can not be got at with the lawn mower. Unless the lawns are of many acres in extent a hand mower will be more economical to use than a horse machine. In moist growing weather the grass should be cut at least once each week and less often as the weather becomes dryer. A mixture of ashes, salt and plaster makes a good fertilizer for lawns. Ground bone is more lasting and cleaner to apply. Barn-yard manure spread over the surface in autumn and raked off in spring is very excellent in its effects but slovenly in appearance, especially so in open winter weather.

The arrangement of trees and shrubs around the house comes next in importance to a perfect lawn. The number to be used depends largely upon the extent of ground to be ornamented. But few evergreens should be used, especially near the house. It is impossible to maintain a good lawn where the ground is densely shaded by trees, and there is nothing like direct sunlight to keep the walls of the house dry and the rooms airy and sweet. Plant a graceful elm not far from the northeast corner of the house, and a group of oaks and maples at the west and southwest, the former to give expression to the house, and the latter to give a grateful shade in the summer afternoons. Give the house the full benefit of the morning sun at all times of year. It will drive away malaria far better than quinine. From fifty to one hundred feet away to the west, southwest and northwest plant other deciduous trees, and still farther away groups of evergreens, according to the size of the place. Beyond these groups a small orchard of nut-bearing trees, and then the orchard of the various fruit trees, the whole protected on the west by a belt of natural forest timber left for the purpose, or by a belt of pines and spruce planted for a wind-break. In planting trees and groups of trees and shrubs care should be taken not to obstruct the most desirable views of pleasing objects at a distance, from the best windows of the house. Any pleasing object in the distance can be retained by leaving an open vista between the trees or underneath their branches. Sometimes a small summer-house can be placed where a distant view of lake or mountain or church spire can be obtained that can not be had from the house itself. Such a summer-house should be near a group of trees and partially or wholly out of sight of the dwelling, and may be made of rustic word or formed by setting a circle of arbor vitæ trees and cutting away the branches on the interior as they grow larger, leaving an opening at one side.

I think there is no country in the world that possesses a greater variety of beautiful native trees than our own Michigan. We have the elms, many varieties of oak, and maple; we have the hickory and walnut and ash, and willows and birches, and yellow wood, and pepperidge, and hackberry, and many others that I might name, all of which can be used to add to the attractiveness of home grounds if we choose to make them of sufficient extent. There are a few trees of smaller growth like the dog woods, and red-bud, and gink, and the coffee tree, and mulberry, that can be used in smaller places to good advantage.

Among the evergreens the most hardy and the most rapid grower is the Norway spruce. Although a native of the old world, it thrives better than any other evergreen on our Michigan soil, which is wonderfully congenial to nearly all the evergreens. Our native black spruce is good, and the white or silver spruce is a beautiful and hardy tree. Nothing is superior in gracefulness to our native hemlock. The Austrian and Scotch pines are too coarse and stiff for ornamental purposes, and our Norway pine is too open and loose in its

habit. They are exceedingly hardy, however, easily transplanted, and make excellent wind-breaks for the protection of other timber. Our white pine is a beautiful, large growing tree, and the Cembrian or Swiss pine, which resembles the white pine, is smaller in its habit and very regular and symmetrical in its growth.

Among the smaller evergreens the Siberian arbor vitæ, the dwarf pine, and our native juniper are excellent for specimen plants in the lawn or for planting in a curve of the walk or drive, or for planting upon a rockery in some shaded place.

A word in regard to the pruning of ornamental trees. Each one should be allowed to retain as far as possible its own individual natural form. Many seem to think because an evergreen will bear any amount of shearing that it adds to its beauty to shear it into various fantastic forms. It may be thickened and kept within a reasonable size by cutting back the ends of the branches once in three or four years. Always cut back the end of a branch to a side shoot. It will then soon heal over and the tree retain its own natural symmetrical shape, without any of that stiff artificial look that a tree bears that is sheared over the entire surface each year. The pruning may be done at any time when the sap is dormant, if not too severely frozen. The earth should be cultivated in a circle about the trees while they are young to keep them in a thrifty, growing condition. As they grow older they are capable of taking care of themselves save the occasional shortening in, before spoken of.

If shrubbery is used in the ornamenting of a place, it should not be scattered. promiscuously about the lawn, but is better placed in groups where it will not interfere with the open spaces of the lawn. A large border near one side of the house and another near the front entrance will contain all the shrubs that are desirable. They should be carefully pruned and cared for, as a neglected shrub is worse than none at all. In a small place, they may be placed about the edges in irregular groups. A list of very beautiful shrubs, flowering in succession during all the earlier part of the season, would include among the number the Japan quince, the flowering almond, the double flowering plum, the Missouri currant, several varieties of Philadelphus, a number of spireas, white lilacs and Persian lilacs, Weigelas, and an infinite variety of

roses.

The climbers, like Virginia creeper, honeysuckle, trumpet vine, clematis, and Dutchman's pipe, are classed among the shrubs, and used in certain places will add greatly to the attractions around the house. The Virginia creeper, especially, may be used to cover exposed surfaces of brick or stone walls, and are not only highly ornamental but a protection as well.

Then, in addition to the lawn and the trees and the shrubbery, we must not forget to leave a place for the flowering plants. It is among these especially that the lady portion of our household delight to interest themselves. It is the part of the house surroundings that will draw the wives and daughters into the open air, and bring a color to the cheek that no amount of work with brilliant colored worsteds ever can. Flowers are the first things in childhood that we learn to love and among the latest things in life to interest us. They are among the things that bind us by a sacred tie to a certain spot of earth that we call home. They should not be placed too far away from the house and yet not directly in front; they will not take the place of the lawn, and should not be allowed to break its surface into ragged fragments, as is