66 



THE ENGLISH RURAL COTTAGE. 



*' let alone," it will spread over your whole 

 plantation. If, on the contrary, you give a 

 little attention to it — say a few minutes 

 every day, from the first day in June, that 

 the dying shoots begin to show themselves, 

 cutting off the limb six inches below where 

 it is blackened, and burning up the trim- 

 mings immediately, you will gradually get 

 rid of the whole brood. 



If there is anything in this rather prolix 



account that is worth making public, it is 

 at your service. I am, sir, your obedient 

 servant. An Old Orchardist. 



Neiv- york, July, 1847. 



[Our correspondent's article is one of the 

 most valuable that we have published, and 

 speaks for itself. For the good results that 

 follow the mode of cultivation which he 

 has detailed, we can vouch most confident- 

 ly.-ED.] 



ON THE ENGLISH RURAL COTTAGE. 



All the world has agreed, that there is no- 

 thing more perfect of its kind than the rural 

 architecture of the English. The cottages 

 of that country are as widely difl^erent in 

 effect from those of any other, as the Anglo- 

 saxon race differs from all else — civilized 

 or barbarous. 



What this difference consists in, there 

 are, perhaps, few who take the trouble to 

 analyze. Many persons suppose it to lie in 

 pointed gables and high roofs. Still these 

 were not originally English, but were bor- 

 rowed from Flanders. Yet the Flemish 

 cottages have little or none of the peculiar 

 beauty which charms us in those of England. 



Others have imagined that it is something 

 especially becoming in the features of the 

 English landscape itself. Yet this can hard- 

 ly be true, since we have seen faithful co- 

 pies of the English cottage, built in equally 

 picturesque scenery, in this country, with- 

 out producing upon the mind the same im- 

 pression as the original edifice. 



The secret charm of the English cottage 

 lies, we imagine, in its home expression and 

 its rurality. These crowd the mind of the 

 beholder at once with the most agreeable 

 associations, and superadd to the idea of a 

 habitation, and a tasteful piece of architec- 

 ture, all the endearments and enjoyments 



of home, and all delights of rural beauty 

 and repose. 



The English cottage, even of the hum- 

 blest class, is surrounded by trees, embow- 

 ered with vines and climbers, and hedged 

 about with shrubs, to a degree quite un- 

 known in any other country. The love of 

 trees and flowers is an universal passion in 

 that country, and man, woman and child, 

 among the cottagers, take an especial in- 

 terest in the green adornments of their 

 home. Slips and roots find their way from 

 the pleasure grounds of the nobleman's 

 mansion to the humble garden of the cot- 

 tage ; and there is a personal and indivi- 

 dual care bestowed upon them, even by 

 those who have scarcely any other of the 

 refinements of life, that neither the people 

 of the continent, nor of this country have, 

 as yet, any positive share of. 



The effect of all this taste is to spread a 

 beautiful drapery about the rural cottages 

 of England, that renders what would other- 

 wise be little more than rude cabins, little 

 gems of rural and picturesque beauty. In- 

 deed, strip most of the loveliest cottages of 

 England of their sylvan and floral enrich- 

 ments, and they would absolutely lose their 

 whole power of charming. What, among 

 the French, the nice sense of the becoming 



