A thorough inspection of the best country life in America will convince the 

 unprejudiced that we have among us a class of thoroughbred gentlemen, who 

 reside on their acres from the enjoyment they derive from it. They are not drink- 

 ers, as of old, for want of occupation, nor gamblers to get rid of their time, but 

 intellectual, literary, or scientific. They enjoy society when they are in it because 

 their reading qualifies them for it, but they are at no loss when their places and 

 their books are alone accessible. Such a class is already among us, formed of 

 individualized men, with rational pui'suits and healthy frames, reatly to do good 

 service at home, and when abroad creditable specimens of high-minded Americans. 

 They have something better to do than the European mere gentleman, whose 

 chief boast is that he is a sportsman, for they find more useful and congenial 

 occupation in superintending their gardens, and farms, and their cattle ; their 

 planting is a never-failing resource ; fruit in and out of season you are sure to 

 find in plenty ; they are as familiar with Loudon and Downing as the shopkeeper 

 with his Ledger or Herald, with this advantage, that while thoroughly posted on 

 foreign and home politics, they understand something besides ; they are familiar 

 with the physiology of botany, and can tell you the composition of their soils. 

 Who, of our readers at least, would hesitate which class to prefer ? 



We could stop to descant more largely on Wodenethe, but other places have 

 claims to our attention ; we leave it with regret, and yet with satisfaction at the 

 thought of America's rearing more specimens like it, and educated men to usefully 

 employ the time that is given them. 



Mr. Sargent's appropriation of scenery is completed by his having a good 

 neighbor in Charles M. Wolcott, Esq., whose place, Roseneathe, adjoins, and is 

 only separated by ornamental plantations and iron fences ; these are so contrived 

 as to appear to give the surrounding grounds to both parties, which, in fact, they 

 do, for the walks lead through gates always unlocked, and each family is free to 

 the possessions of the other. Mr. Wolcott has also adorned his beautiful spot with 

 rare and fine trees, masses of evergreen shrubs, his Rhododendrons, Azaleas, and 

 Mahonias, &c. &c., being perhaps as successful as any we have seen in this country, 

 and his lawns, with their beautiful views of river and mountain scenery, are kept 

 in excellent condition. His graperies, greenhouses, and gardens are on an ex- 

 tensive scale, and the whole, including the house and grounds, is supplied with 

 water by a steam-engine of simple construction placed in a building attached to the 

 propagating house, and which at the same time heats his greenhouse, and forces 

 water to his reservoir. We know of no two adjoining places in better keeping than 

 these, and could wish that some spots we wot of in various parts of the country 

 could and would take example here, and "pattern accordingly." Repose and 

 leisyre are turned to good account ; life is added to amazingly by such elegance 

 and neatness. The " happy valley" seemed to us no longer a dream for those 

 who, unlike the artist, would be contented not to add waxen wings to their earthly 

 bodies, and seek impracticable and useless flights. In the comparatively small 

 space of, we believe, only sixteen acres, Mr. Wolcott comprises every attribute 

 of a country place, several lawns, each one a distinct feature from the other, an 

 English flower garden, a most successful vegetable garden, greenhouse, grapery, 

 a forcing-house, the most charming views, and no apparent boundary but the 

 river and mountains. 



