COLOR OF BUILDINGS IN RURAL SCENERY. 



True Soldat Laboureur. — Color, yellow, but covered with grey and russet spots and 

 dots, a little greener about the stem. Texture — skin fine; flesh coarse, white, melting; 

 water abundant; sweet, vinous and perfumed; ripens end of October. It is a very good, 

 first (class) pear. The fruit is generally larger than the above outline. The branches are 

 upright, and it is a vigorous grower. 



I have only to express my great regret that the specimens I had intended to send you 

 have been accidentally injured, so much so that they would be of no service in enabling 

 you to judge of its value. I allowed one of my trees to bear a dozen fine fruit, with which 

 burthen its growth was quite as strong as any of the others, so I have no doubt it will 

 prove an early and productive bearer. 



The Bartlett is doing remarkably well on quince stocks with me — very productive, and 

 the fruit of fine flavor. Soil, deep clayey loam. Yours respectfully, 



Fred. Law Olmsted. 



South Side, Staten Island, Nov. 24, 1851. 



We should be glad to be informed if any other of our fruit-growing readers have proved 

 this fine variety. Ed. 



THE COLOR OF BUILDINGS IN RURAL SCENERY. 



BY JAS. FENNIMORE COOPER. 



[All our readers know our doctrine regarding the fancy of our countrj^men for white 

 paint. We are glad to find the subject so well touched upon in the right spirit, by the 

 late Mr. Cooper, in the following extract from an article bj^him on our Scenery contrast- 

 ed with that of Europe, in Putnam's Home Book of the Picturesque. Ed.] 



It has been a question among the admirers of natural scenery, whether the presence or 

 absence of detached farm-houses, of trees, of hedges, walls and fences, most contribute to 

 the effect of any inland view. As these are the great points of distinction between the 

 continent of Europe and our own country, we shall pause a moment to examine the sub- 

 ject a little more in detail. When the towns and villages are sufficiently numerous to 

 catch the attention of the eye, and there are occasional fragments of forest in sight, one 

 does not so much miss the absence of that appearance of comfort and animated beauty 

 that the other style of embellishment so eminently possesses. A great deal, however, de- 

 pends, as respects these particulars, on the nature of the architecture, and the color of the 

 buildings and fences. It is only in very particular places, and under verj' dull lights, that 

 the contrast between white and green is agreeable. j1 fence that looks as if it were cover- 

 ed with clothes hung up to dry, does very little towards aiding the picturesque. And he 

 who endeavors to improve his taste in these particulars, will not fiiil to discern in time 

 that a range of country which gives up its objects, chiselled and distinct, but sober and 

 sometimes sombre, will eventually take stronger hold of his fancy, than one that is glit- 

 tering with the fruits of the paint and white-wash brushes. We are never dissatisfied 

 with the natural tints of stone, for the mind readily submits to the ordering of nature; 

 and, though one color may be preferred to another, each and all are acceptable in their 

 pro2)er places. Thus, a marble structure is expected to be white, and as such, if the 

 buildings be of suitable dimensions and proportions, escapes our criticism on account of its 

 richness and uses. The same maybe said of other hues, when not artificial; but we 

 that, most admirers of nature, as thej'come to cultivate their tastes, settle down into 



