r.VUMlNO AXD FARM BUILDINGS. 



From a t;reeily desiro to soo and bo seen, or for some other reasons, tlio Yankee has 

 always had an inveterate liahit of squatting, with liis buildings, close by the way-side. 

 Not content indocil with lliis, he often spreads liiniself out (or straddles) quite across 

 the road — planting his house upon one side of it, and his barn upon the other. The 

 passing stninger is thus compelled to make his way directly tlirough the group of 

 buildings, an<l elonathan's household gods are every day invaded by the noise and dust 

 and gawky-eves of public travel. This arrangement of farm-buildings would doubt- 

 losslv have long ago fallen into disrepute, were it not for the excellent opportunity 

 which it affords for gratification of a hopelessly insatiable curiosity. Indeed a true 

 Yankee will often put himself to still greater inconvenience and exposure for the sake 

 of lindin-T out the business of the stranger wlio passes his door ! and the curiosity is of 

 a nature to grow hungry by feeding. Until this idle inquisitiveness is somewhat over- 

 come, it is not worth while to attempt to cultivate a taste for what is most beautiful in 

 rural life. 



The architecture of a New England farm-house should be plain, solid, and substan- 

 tial. The buildings ought not to be piled up story above story, like a block of city 

 buildings, but rather spread out and resting upon the ground in quiet repose, like a 

 group of haymakers taking a lunch beneath the friendly shade of a wide-spreading 

 oak. The expression of the architecture should be in a high degree indicative of that 

 comfort and unobtrusive independence, which God seems to have intended as the 

 reward of those who labor in this, the most ancient, most ennobling of all industrial 

 pursuits. The frail ornaments and gingerbread work stuck upon so many modern 

 sti'uctures, are widely out of place upon a farmers home, which beauty, no less than 

 convenience, requires to rest broadly upon the ground, "expressing in its leading forms 

 the strength, honesty, frankness, and sterling goodness of the farmer's character." The 

 oniaments should be fevr, simple, and bold ; rustic, rather than delicate ; strong, rather 

 than highly finished. The best two styles are the plain bracketed, or the rural yothk ; 

 and the effect of the whole place is greatly heightened by a quiet unobtrusive tone of 

 color for all the buildings. 



Of the interior, the thing most essential is that it should be convenient for those who 

 do the housework. Some dwellings are so awkwardly arranged — with so much of the 

 useful sacrificed to the genteel — that two females can with ditliculty perform the labor 

 which one would accomplish in a house of more convenient construction. 



For small families, a sufficient number of sleeping apartments, a living-room, and 

 kitchen are abundantly sufficient. For Very large families with more wealth, it may 

 be well to add a parlor; but what are called suits of rooms, are extravagances in 

 which a fanner's family should not desire to indulge. 



The ornamental grounds, (let not the reader be started,) may next be considered. 

 Surely it is no great piece of extravagance that the grounds immediately between the 

 buildings and the public road should be studded with ornamental trees and shrubs. 

 The hay cut from this lawn is as good as that obtained elsewhere, and the trees once 

 planted, require but trifling care. From a quarter of an acre to two or three acres may 

 be kept in this way at an expense less than is often bestowed on many useless aiticles 

 of interior furniture. So important do we regard this dress-ground, that without it, all 

 arms of a nu'al residence appear, to us, to be wanting. It is indeed altogether 

 spensable. No country -place can possibly be beautiful without it. Some of the 



