CATTLE SALE AT MOUNT PORDPIAM. 



THE ANNUAL CATTLE SALE AT MOUNT FORDHAM. 



One of the pleasantest events of last month, in the " rural districts," was the annual 

 sale of stock at Mount Fordham, on the 24th of June last. 



Mount Fordham, (as all our agricultural readers know,) is the farm and country seat 

 of Lewis G. Morris, Esq., about eleven miles from New-York. You reach Upper Mor- 

 risiania by the Harlem railroad, in half an hour from the City-Hall, and tnree-quarters 

 of a mile from the station lies Mr. Morris' residence. 



There is a combination of rural elegance and substantial comfort about the mansion at 

 Mount Fordham, that made the most favorable impression upon us. A country house, 

 solidly built of the stone of the native hills about it, always seems to us to have the ge- 

 nuine look of a homestead, far more than one built of any foreign material, however beau- 

 tiful in itself, and therefore the genial gray tint of this building pleased us far more than 

 if it had been marble or brown stone. There seems, too, a character of duration and per- 

 manence about a stone house in the midst of landed property, that connects itself agreea- 

 bly with other things in nature that last " as long as grass grows and water runs," — a 

 feeling that we can never get from wooden buildings, however well proportioned, agreea- 

 ble in design, or economical in construction. The house at Mount Fordham is a good spe- 

 cimen of a free adaptation of the Tuscan or Italian style to this country, and we saw 

 it first with an undefined feeling of a previous acquaintance. Mr. Morris informed us 

 that he was indebted for the conception of the plan, to our Cottage Residences — publish- 

 ed some years ago. The house is, however, larger than our design, and had tlie benefit 

 while in progress of erection, of Davis' talent as an architect, together with Mr. Mor- 

 ris' excellent practical notions of comfort and convenience for the life of a hospitable land- 

 holder in the northern states. As compared with many of the residences of gentlemen- 

 farmers, it struck us as being spacious, genuine in character, and agreeable in arrange- 

 ment, the details bold and appropriate, without any of the frippery ornaments which dis- 

 figure many otherwise acceptable modern houses. 



We found a large company of gentlemen from all parts of the Union, assembled at this 

 annual sale — which has become a kind of agricultural fete-day, as well as business day, 

 for those who take an interest in improved agriculture. Agoodly number of ladies added 

 to the animation and pleasure of the scene, and gave us abundant proof, that with im- 

 proved agriculture comes a larger and healthier interest in rural pursuits, from intelligent 

 women all over the country. 



Around the house at Mount Fordham, extends on all sides a kind of meadow-lawn, en- 

 closed and divided by pretty wire fences of various patterns. This lawn is kept short by 

 the grazing of improved dairy stock, and we were glad to see successfully practiced what 

 we have been commending so strongly of late to our readers, as the most available point 

 of English country places, that we saw on the other side of the Atlantic — that is the main- 

 tenance of a neat and handsome lawn about a country house, not only without the ex- 

 pense of mowing, but with united profit and beauty — the profit of grazing the grass and 

 the beauty — the real pastoral beauty — of fine cattle, soft turf, and pleasant groups of 

 trees, as the home landscape of our country places generally. By adopting this course, 

 the hay-field aspect of many so-called gentlemen's country-seats, would disappear, and 

 a more complete and satisfactory lawn or park be acquired, with no loss of money, and 

 the attainment of a higher species of keeping to one's country home. 



Morris has done this satisfactorily and well, and we advise those who wish 

 from actual practice, to pay a visit of an hour to Mount Fordham. 



