THE MANAGEMENT OF LARGE COUNTRY PLACES. 



these parks afford excellent pastui-age, and tliongh apparently one wide, unbroken 

 surface, they are really subdivided into largo fields, by wire or other invisible fences, 

 they actually pay a very fair income to the proprietor, in the shape of good beef, mut- 

 ton and venison. 



Certainly, nothing can be a more beautiful sight in its way, than the numerous herds 

 of deer, short-horned cattle and fine sheep, which embroider and give life to the sce- 

 nery of an English country home of this kind.* There is a quiet pastoral beauty, a 

 spaciousness and dignity, and a simple feeling of nature about it which no highly 

 decorated pleasure grounds or garden scenery can approach — as the continual surround- 

 ing of a country residence. It is, in fact, the poetical idea of Arcadia, a sort of 

 ideal nature — softened, refined, and ennobled, without being made to look artificial. 



Of course, any thing like English parks, so far as regards extent, is almost out of 

 the question here ; simply because land and fortunes are wisely divided here, instead 

 of being kept in large bodies, intact, as in England. Still, as the first class country- 

 seats of the Hudson now command from $50,000 to $75,000, it is evident that there 

 is a growing taste for space and beauty in the private domains of republicans. What 

 we wish to suggest now, is, simply, that the greatest beauty and satisfaction may be 

 had here, as in England — (for the plan really suits our limited means better,) by 

 treating the bulk of the ornamental portion as open park pasture — and thus getting 

 the greatest space and beauty at the least original expenditure, and with the largest 

 annual profit. 



To some of' our readers who have never seen the thing, the idea of a park, pastur- 

 ed by" animals almost to the very door, will seem at variance with all decorum and 

 elegance. This, however, is not actually the case. The house should either stand on 

 a raised terrace of turf, which, if it is a fine mansion, ma}^ have a handsome terrace 

 wall, or if a cottage, a pretty rustic or trellis fence, to separate it from the park. Di- 

 rectly around the house, and stretching on one or more sides, in the rear, lie the more 

 highly dressed portions of the scene, which may be a flower-garden and shrubbery set 

 in a small bit of lawn kept as short as velvet — or may be pleasure-grounds, fruit and 

 kitchen-gardens, so multiplied as to equal the largest necessities of the place and fa- 

 mily. All that is to be borne in mind is, that the park may be as large as you can 

 afford to purchase — for it may be kept up at a profit — while the pleasure-grounds and 

 garden scenery, may, with this management, be compressed into the smallest space 

 actually deemed necessary to the place — thereby lessening labor, and bestowing that 

 labor, in a concentrated space, where it will tell. 



The practical details of keeping the stock upon such a place, are familiar to almost 

 every farmer. Of course, in a country place, only comely animals would be kept, and 

 a preference would be given to breeds of fine stock that " take on flesh" readily, and 

 command the best price in the market. In cases where an interest is taken in breed- 

 ing cattle, provision must be made, in the shape of hay and shelter for the whole year 



All attempts to render our native deer really tame m home grounds have, so far as we know, failed amon 

 though ^v'itll patience the thmgf may doubtless be done. It would be well worth while to nnport the finer breed: 

 English deer, which are thorougUy domesticated m their habit?, and the most beautiful animals for a park, 



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