AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 307 



retreats which the towns' people escape to, and not the homes of our 

 country agriculturists. I do not mean, in speaking of beautifying 

 farm houses, that there is any necessity to say, " I will create a para- 

 dise for myself, cut down yonder hill that impedes the view, terrace 

 this descent that is now too abrupt, and make a lake in that hollow," 

 but to make a home that looks as if you intended to stay Avithin it, 

 and upon it. There is no reason why you should have the artihcial 

 lake, and there is no reason why you should not have trees about the 

 house— trees, delicate, beautiful, grand, or majestic, pliantly answer- 

 ing to the wooing of the softest wind like the acacia, or sturdily defy- 

 ing centuries of storm and tempest like tlie live oak; trees that are 

 or should be the "princes, potentates, and people" of our round of 

 beauty. There is no reason why we should level the interrupting 

 hill, and there is no reason why you should not have a bit of grass 

 around a house, the soft turf whicli beneath the flickering shadows 

 of scattered trees is thrown like a natural carpet over the swelling 

 outline of the smiling earth. Grass, not reedy and long like that of 

 the meadows in early spring, nor in wild tussocks like that of the 

 bog, but softened and improved in texture, by a little care, until it is 

 a perfect wonder of tufted freshness and verdure. No matter how 

 small the piece, the simple existence of such a sward of velvet grass, 

 the "grassie grounde" which Spencer speaks of, will prove the exist- 

 ence of a love for home. 



I have spoken jokingly of a common order of architecture followed 

 in California, and indeed I do not know whether it can be said that 

 we have any order of farm house architecture, unless it be the square 

 white block with the green blinds. I do not believe in the farmer 

 copying the filagree work of the retired merchant's cottage orne, nor 

 should he imitate as nearly as his means will allow, the parlors, fold- 

 ing doors and showy furniture of the newest house he has seen in 

 town. In both instances I think he fails in attaining his aim, which 

 should be to put up a house that shows rustic strength and solidity, 

 its true elements of interest and beauty, as giving significance to and 

 dignifying his daily life and occupation by harmonizing with them. 

 Apart from whatever pleasing effect the appearance of a home-like 

 house produces, there is a great deal of moral influence in our dwell- 

 ings. Uncouth, mean, ragged and dirty houses will, whether in town 

 or countr}^, be assuredly accompanied by coarse, groveling manners. 

 The dress, the furniture, and the mode of living, as well as the man- 

 ner, will all correspond with the appearance of the buildings, and 

 will universally be in every such case of a vulgar and debased nature. 



The effect of home-like houses is not abstract and theoretical, but 

 it is clear and positive. Massachusetts is, I think, the foremost State 

 in the Union for rural taste. The traveler, from one end of it to the 

 other, will find the farm houses surrounded with maples and elms, 

 and the houses themselves neat and substantial dwellings, full of 

 evidences of order, comfort, and taste. Everywhere is cleanliness 

 and neatness; and Massachusetts, I take it, is the best educated State 

 in the Union. California is by no means an ill-educated State, but 

 let us see when all its graceless farm houses, and villages, too, for 

 that matter, are replaced bj^ others, better and more graceful, whether 

 its standard of education w^ill not be advanced. It is an experijnent 

 worth the trying, at any rate. It is not too late to try it either, for 

 there is not a village or farm house in California, however badly 

 planned at first or ill-built afterwards, but may be redeemed in a 



