except grass growing.  If the average tenant farmer has lived there any length of time, the area at the back lying at easy tossing distance from the back door may contain a wealth of tin cans, bottles, broken dishes, and other debris.  These, of course, must all be picked up and either carried away by the rubbish collector or otherwise disposed of.  We have read of clever people who managed to persuade members of their family and any visiting friends that such an undertaking could be made into a sort of treasure hunt and one’s grounds cleaned painlessly and without added expense.  It did not work with our family.  A cache of twenty-five fine rusty cans nestling under the lilacs elicited nothing beyond a mild query as to the likelihood of lily of the valley thriving in the spot.

So we hired the man whose family had spent ten long years accumulating the debris, to clean the half acre surrounding the house and he made a very neat workmanlike job of it.  Afterward he commented on the improved appearance, especially of the back yard.  “Yes, it looks considerable better,” he said, “but of course I couldn’t keep it that way.  I’m a poor man and my time is worth sixty cents an hour.  I can’t afford to spend any of it picking up after myself.”

His philosophy is apparently not uncommon and one may expect to find anything on the land from rusty scythe blades to broken down farm wagons and automobiles.  After these have been removed the place will look decidedly improved even though a mossy growth under the maples denotes sour soil, and burdocks and milkweed in the back indicate good soil gone wrong.  Along with ridding the grounds of rubbish comes the question of what to do with the various outbuildings.  Those that can be put to practical use should be repaired and their foundations pointed up.  Any others should be torn down as a dilapidated structure of any sort is not only unsightly but a breeding place for rats.

As this ordinary cleaning and furbishing progresses, the new owner begins to get really acquainted with his place and discover what exists in the line of shrubs, trees, and vines.  There may even be a few flowers that have survived years of neglect.  If he is wise, he will prune and preserve all these as a nucleus.  Around them he can build his general landscaping plan.

Preserve old trees wherever possible.  Even those that appear so stricken by age and neglect as to be ready for firewood often take on a new lease of life after a good tree surgeon has ministered to them.  A long neglected lawn, or even a field that has been allowed to run to tall grass, can be reclaimed quite simply.  Go over it early in the spring with a heavy roller to get rid of minor hollows and general unevenness.  Thin, worn spots, where it is obvious that no grass has grown for years, should be fortified with a load or two of good top soil, rolled and planted to grass seed.  Other spots, usually under shade trees where there is the mossy growth of sour soil, should be sprinkled liberally with lime.  Repeated treatments will soon correct this condition and grass can again be made to grow there.  As soon as the grass is of proper length begin to cut it with the lawn mower.  Also, continued applications of the weighted iron roller throughout the spring will gradually improve the general contour and make for smoothness and ease in lawn mowing.