The vicissitudes of seventeen years had not been
without effect, and there were irregular gaps in the rows,--here a sick
tree, there a dead one. A careless estimate placed these casualties at
fifty-five or sixty, which I later found was nearly correct. This left
180 trees in fair health; and in spite of the tight sod which covered
their roots and a lamentable lack of pruning, they were well covered
with young fruit. They had been headed high in the old-fashioned way,
which made them look more like forest trees than a modern orchard. They
had done well without a husbandman; what could not others do with one?
The group of farm buildings on the north forty consisted of a one-story
cottage containing six rooms--sitting room, dining room, kitchen, and a
bedroom opening off each--with a lean-to shed in the rear, and some
woe-begone barns, sheds, and out-buildings that gave the impression of
not caring how they looked. The second group was better. It was south of
the orchard on the home forty, and quite near the road.
Why does the universal farm-house hang its gable over the public road,
without tree or shrub to cover its boldness? It would look much better,
and give greater comfort to its inmates, if it were more remote.
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