ime, 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 fie