150 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



l)le t(» iinproveiueiit. Here, as in so many other things, the 



new fashions are greatly inferior to the old. 



Why not, then, imitate the old outright, it may ])e asked, 



if they are always better ? 'i'hey are not in all respects : 



and, moreover, in architec- 

 ture, as in patent medicine, 

 we should "beware of imi- 

 tations." 



Yet a frank expression of 

 the true purpose of house- 

 building will doubtless 

 Ijring- us nearer to the old 

 tlian to the new in out- 

 Avard form. It will pive 

 more b r ea d t h, and less 

 height ; more comfort, and 

 less style; more strength, 

 and less show; more that 

 seems to belong naturally 

 to the place where it stands, 

 less of an imported, foreign 

 look, — as if the house had 

 strayed awa}^ from some 

 town or village, and was 

 vainly looking for a near 

 nei"'hbor to lean ao-ainst. 



As 



■we go 



out to 



the 

 barn, let us look back at 

 .r*"^ y jTj the house a moment to see 



^" ' • ' f^^ how it is painted. 



We migh t p r o f i t a b 1 y 



spend an entire evening in 



discussing color alone: we 



1 have only time for a hasty 



- ^ glance. 



To step at once upon 

 absolutel}'- safe and solid ground, and broad ground too, we 

 may say that Nature — who never utters discordant sounds, 

 never makes a mistake in her colors, which are always ele- 

 gant, always in the height of fashion — has an infinite variety, 

 from the most brilliant hues that can be conceived to the rare, 



