ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES 



139 



to drink tlie milk of our herds, to feed upon 

 the fruits of our fields ; Imt in pLintino; a yoimg 

 wood, in preserving a tine grove, a noble tree, 

 •we look beyond ourselves to the band of 

 houseiiold friends, to our neighbors — aye, to 

 the passing wayfarer and strauger who will 

 share with us the pleasui-e thoy give, and it 

 becomes a grateful reflection that long after 

 we are gone, those trees will eontinue good 

 to our fellow -ereatures for more years, per- 

 haps, than we can tell. 



Quite recently, two instiinees of an opposite 

 character connected with this subject, have ac- 

 cidentally fallen under our notice. At a par- 

 ticular point in the wilds of Oregon, near the 

 banks of the Columbia lliver, there stood a 

 single tree of greai size, one of the majestic 

 pines of that region, and long known as a land- 

 mark to the hunters and emigrants passing 

 over tlK)se solitary wastes. One of the ex- 

 peditions sent ont to explore that country by 

 the government, arriving near the point, were 

 on the watch for that pine to guide their course^ 

 (they looked for it some time, biwt in vain ; at 

 length, reaching the spot where they'supposcd 

 at ought to have stood — a way-mark in 

 the wilderness — they fou«d tlie tree lying 

 on ihe eartli. It had been f lied, and left 



there to rot, by some man claiming, no doubt, 

 to be a civilized being. The man who could 

 do such an act would have been worthy to 

 make one of the horde of Attila, barbarians 

 who delighted to level to the ground every 

 object over which their own horses could not 

 leap. 



Opposed to this is an instance less striking, but 

 more pleasing, and happily much nearer to our 

 own neighborhood. Upon the banks of the 

 Susquehannah, not far from the little village 

 of Bainbridge, the traveller, as he follows the 

 road, observes a very fine tree before him, 

 and as he approaches he will find it to be a 

 luxuriant elm, standing actually in the midst 

 of the highway ; its branches completely 

 cover the broad track, sweeping over the 

 fences on either side. The tree stands in the 

 very position where a thorough-going utilitari- 

 an would quarrel with it, for the road is turned 

 a little out of its true course to sweep round 

 the trunk ; but in the opinion of most people, 

 it is not only a very beautiful object in itself, 

 but highly creditable to the neighborhood ; 

 for, not only has it been left standing in its 

 singular position, but as far as we could scse, 

 there was not a single mark of abuse upon its 

 trunk or branches. 



ARCHITECTURE OF COUNTRY HOUSES. 



iFROM THE IIOMt: JOURNAL, NKW-YORK. ] 



[ In tke abseffloc of Mr. Downing, tiie pub- 

 lisher of the Horticulturist deems it not im- 

 proper to transfer to its pages, from Messrs. 

 Willis & Moms' Home Journal, the following 

 notice of jlr. D's. new work.] 



He is a fortunate man who, on entering this 

 world, finds the place manifestly designed for 

 liini by Providence ; and thrice happy is he 

 who, in Iris own day and genenution, is recog- 

 nized as the person for whom the vacant niche 

 was waiting. 



Mr. Downing, of Newburgh, on the Hud- 

 son, is an illustration -of this idea. He is the 

 iiuthor of a work bearing the above title — an 

 octavo volume of some five hundred pages, 

 just published, in this city, by Appleton & 

 Co. He is the well known editor of the Hor- 

 iiculiurzst, the verj- best publication of its 



class in the country ; and the author of a 

 beatitiful work entitled " Designs for Cottage 

 Residences," and of a Treatise on Landscape 

 Crardening, as well as other valuable books. 



The subject of architecture in the country 

 had attracted very little attention, until about 

 the time when Mr. Downing made his appear- 

 ance. The ncio had by no means worn off of 

 the new world. The clearings had been made 

 — the first struggle with mother earth for 

 food had been successfully accomplished — the 

 log cabin era had nearly passed by — and peo- 

 ple in the settlements and villages had fairly 

 entered upon a style of architecture which 

 might well be termed the laryi style — the 

 main features of which seemed to be square- 

 ness, hugeness, and most u/i-fig-leaved naked- 

 ness of all external decoration. The back- 

 woodsjnau's first love — a clearing — was the 



