n many easily accessible
modern conveniences possessed by the great majority of city dwellers.
The bath, modern plumbing and heating, the refrigerator, and other
kindred appliances can be had in the country home as well as the city.
Their lack is a matter of standards rather than of necessity. They will
be introduced into thousands of rural homes as soon as their need is
realized.

The possibilities for making the rural home beautiful and attractive are
unequaled in the city for any except the very rich. It is not necessary
that the farmhouse shall be crowded for space; its outlook and
surroundings can be arranged to give it an aesthetic quality wholly
impossible in the ordinary city home. That this is true is proved by
many inexpensive farmhouses that are a delight to the eye. On the other
hand, it must be admitted that a large proportion of farmhouses are
lacking in both architectural attractiveness and environmental effect.
Not infrequently the barns and sheds are so placed as to crowd the house
into the background, and the yards for stock allowed to infringe upon
the domain of the garden and the lawn. All this can be easily remedied
and will be when the aesthetic taste of the dwellers on the farm comes to
be offended by the incongruous and ugly.

No stinting in the abundance of food is known on the farm. The farmer
supplies the tables of the world, and can himself live off the fat of
the land. Grains, vegetables, meats, eggs, butter, milk, and fruits are
his stock in trade. If there is any lack in the farmer's table, it is
due to carelessness in providing or preparing the food, and not to
forced economy.

While the farming population in general live well, yet many tables are
lacking in variety, especially in fruit and vegetables. Time and
interest are so taken up with the larger affairs of crops and stock,
that the garden goes by default in many instances. There is no market
readily at hand offering fruit and vegetables for sale as in the city,
and hence the farm table loses in attractiveness to the appetite and in
hygienic excellence. It is probable that the prosperous city workman
sits down to a better table than does the farmer, in spite of the great
advantage possessed by the latter.

The population of rural communities is necessarily scattering. The
nature of farming renders it impossible for people to herd together as
is the case in many other industries. This has its good side, but also
its bad. There ar