548 



ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF COUNTRY VILLAGES. 



trees, speak with gratitude of the energy, 

 public spirit and taste of the late Mr. Hill- 

 house, who was the great apostle of taste 

 for that city, years ago, when the streets 

 were as bare as those of the most graceless 

 village in the land. And what stranger 

 has passed through Springfield, and not 

 recognized immediately a superior spirit in 

 the place, which long since suggested and 

 planted the pretty little square which noAV 

 ornaments the town ? 



But we should be doing injustice to the 

 principle of progress, to which we have 

 already referred, if we did not mention here 

 the signs of the times, which we have lately 

 noticed ; signs that prove the spirit of 

 rural improvement is fairly awake over this 

 broad continent. We have received ac- 

 counts, within the last month, of the doings 

 oi ornamental tree associations, lately formed 

 in five different states, from New-Hamp- 

 shire to Tennessee.* The object of these 

 associations is to do precisely what nobody 

 in particular thinks it his business to do ; 

 that is, to rouse the public mind to the 

 importance of embellishing the streets of 

 towns and villages, and to induce every- 

 body to plant trees in front of his own 

 premises. 



While we are writing this, we have re- 

 ceived the printed report of one of these 

 associations, — the Rockingham Farmer's 

 Club, of Exeter, New-Hampshire. The 

 whole report is so much to the point, that 

 we republish it entire in our Domestic No- 

 tices of the month ; but there is so much 

 earnest enthusiasm in the first paragraph 

 of the report, and it is so entirely apposite 

 to our present remarks, that we must also 

 introduce it here : 



" Why are not the streets of all our vil- 



* We cannot deny ourselves tlie pleasure of commendincf 

 the public spirit of a gentleman in one of the villages in 

 western New-York, (see our last No., p. 53'3,) who, by of- 

 fering a bounty for all trees planted in the village wliere he 

 lives, has induced many to set about the work in good 

 earnest. 



lages shaded and adorned with trees ? Why 

 are so many of our dwellings still unpro- 

 tected from the burning heat of summer, 

 and the ' pelting of the pitiless storms' of 

 winter ? Is it because in New-England 

 hearts, hurried and pressed as they are by 

 care and business, there is no just appre- 

 ciation of the importance of the subject? 

 Or is it that failure in the attempt, which 

 almost every man has made, once in his 

 life, in this way to ornament his home, has 

 led many to the belief that there is some 

 mystery, passing the comprehension of com- 

 mon men, about this matter of transplant- 

 ing trees 1 The answer may be found, we 

 apprehend, partly in each of the reasons 

 suggested. Ask your neighbor why he has 

 not more trees about his home, and he will 

 tell you that they are of no great use, and 

 besides, that it is very difficult to make 

 them grow ; that he has tried it once or 

 twice, and they have all died. Now these, 

 the common reasons, are both ill founded. 

 It is of 7ise for every man to surround 

 himself with objects of interest, to cultivate 

 a taste for the beautiful in all things, and 

 especially in the works of nature. It is of 

 use for every family to have a home, a 

 pleasant, happy home, hallowed by purify- 

 ing influences. It is of use, that every 

 child should be educated, not only in scien- 

 ces, and arts, and dead languages, but that 

 his affections and his taste should be de- 

 veloped and refined ; that the book of na- 

 ture should be laid open to him ; and that 

 he should learn to read her language in the 

 flower and the leaf, written everywhere, in 

 the valley and on the hill-side, and hear it 

 in the songs of birds, and the murmuring 

 of the forest. If you would keep pure the 

 heart of your child, and make his youth 

 innocent and happy, surround him with 

 objects of interest and beauty at home. If 

 you would prevent a restless spirit, if you 



