JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. V. 



DECEMBER, 1850. 



No. 6. 



November, which is one of the least inte- 

 resting months to those who come into the 

 country to admire the freshness of spring or 

 the fullness of summer and early autumn, is 

 one of the most interesting to those who live 

 in the country, or who have country places 

 which they wish to improve. 



When the leaves have all dropped from the 

 trees, when the enchantment and illusion of 

 summer are over, and " the fall" (our expres- 

 sive American word for autumn,) has stripped 

 the glory from the sylvan landscape, then the 

 rural improver puts on his spectacles, and 

 looks at his demesne with practical and philo- 

 sophical eyes. Taking things at their Morst, 

 as they appear now, he sets about finding out 

 what improvements can be made, and how 

 the surroundings which make his home, can 

 be so arranged as to offer a fairer picture to the 

 eye, or a larger share of enjoyments and benefits 

 to the family, in the year that is to come. 



The end of autumn is the best month to 

 buy a country place, and the best to improve 

 one. You see it then in the barest skeleton 

 expression of ugliness or beauty — with all 

 opportunity to learn its defects, all its weak 

 points visible, all its possible capacities and 

 suggestions for improvement laid bare to you. 

 If it satisfy you now, either in its present as- 

 pect, or in what promise you see in it of order 



Vol. v. 16 



and beauty after your moderate plans are car 

 ried out, you may buy it, with the full assur 

 ance that you will not have cause to repent 

 when you learn to like it better as seen in the 

 fresher and fairer aspect of its summer love- 

 liness. 



As a season for rural improvements, the 

 fall is preferable to the spring, partly because 

 the earth is dryer, and more easily moved and 

 worked, and partly because there is more 

 time to do well, what we undertake. In the 

 middle states, fine autumnal weather is often 

 continued till the middle of December ; and 

 as long as the ground is open and mellow, the 

 planting of hardy trees may be done with the 

 best chances of success. The surface may be 

 smoothed, drains made, walks and roads laid 

 out, and all the heavier operations on the 

 surface of the earth — so recjuisite as a ground- 

 work for lawns and pleasure grounds, kitchen 

 or flower gardens — may be carried on, more 

 cheaply and efficiently than amid the bustle 

 and hurry of spring. And when sharp frosty 

 nights fairly set in, then is the time to com- 

 mence the grander operations of transplanting. 

 Then is the time for moving large trees — 

 elms, maples, etc. ; a few of which will give 

 more effect to a new and bare site than thou- 

 sands of the young things, which are the des- 

 pair of all improvers of little faith and ardent 



