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THE 



JOURNAL OF RURAL ART AND RURAL TASTE. 



Vol. I. 



OCTOBER, 1846. 



No. 4. 



" Can a country house be plain and yet 

 Wasteful? I wish to erect a house of n"iode- 

 rate size on my farm in the country. I do 

 not wish a highly architectural building — 

 it would not accord with the simple charac- 

 ter of my estate, or with my mode of life. 

 Yet I desire much to live in a house that 

 shall not bo uncouth and offensive, by its 

 violation of all the principles of beauty. 

 Nay, more— I wish a tasteful, simple, and 

 pleasing dwv lling, which to much comfort 

 shall unite an agreeable architectural ex- 

 pression." 



Such is th« substance of some queries 

 addressed to us by a gentleman of intelli- 

 gence and judgment, a short time ago, and 

 such, as we judge from several letters we 

 have received respecting the subject of simple 

 rural cottages, touched upon in our last num- 

 ber, is the feeling of many country gentle- 

 men, who are about to erect country resi- 

 dences. 



We have before us a letter from Boston. 

 The writer, who is personally unknown to 

 us, says, " Nothing that has ever appeared 

 in this country, on the subject of rural build- 

 ings, has given greater satisfaction here, 

 than the leader in the September number 

 of the Horticulturist. There is something 

 20 



native and true in the remarks on the kin- 

 of buildings recommended for rural purpo 

 ses, which would lead me to hope that w« 

 may, by and by, have a style of building of 

 our own, founded on just and sound princi 

 pies, which shall be to us Avhat the origina 

 ideas involved in the classical and pointec 

 styles were to the ancients." 



What our correspondent probably means 

 is, that rural architecture, to be entirely sa- 

 tisfactory with us, must be significant ; that 

 is, it should, so far as possible, express the 

 life and habits of our rural people. Hence, 

 while it is perfectly allowable for the man 

 of wealth and leisure to indulge his taste 

 in a dwelling of any style that is a becom- 

 ing one for his location, it is scarcely suita- 

 ble for a farmer or rural cottager to do so. 

 And this simply, because no person should 

 undertake a highly ornamental cottage or 

 villa, who cannot afford to carry out the same 

 degree of completeness, in finish and decora- 

 tion, in his garden and grounds. A richly 

 decorated country house, with a badly plant- 

 ed and badly kept territory about it, is a 

 sight as painful as that of a man of learning 

 and accomplishments starving in the midst 

 of a rude and barbarous people. 



Now the life and habits of our farming 



