THE 



JOURNAL OF RURAi. ART AND RIPRAL TASTE. 



Vol. in. 



MAY, 1849, 



No. 11. 



Mr. Colman, in his Agricultural Tour, 

 remarks, that his observations abroad con- 

 vinced him that the Americans are the 

 most extravagant people in the world ; and 

 the truth of the remark is corroborated by 

 the experience of every sensible traveller 

 that returns from Europe. The much 

 greater facility of getting money here, 

 makes us more regardless of system in its 

 expenditure ; and the income of many an 

 ■estate abroad, amounting to twenty thou- 

 sand dollars, is expended with an exact- 

 ness, and nicety of calculation, that would 

 astonish persons in this country, who have 

 only an. income of twenty hundred dollars. 

 Abroad, it is the study of those who have, 

 how to save ; or, in the case of spending, 

 how to get the most for their money. At 

 home, it seems to be the desire of every- 

 body to get — and, having obtained wealth, 

 to expend it in the most lavish and careless 

 manner. 



There are, again, many who wish to be 

 economical in their disbursements, but find, 

 in a country where labor is one of the 

 dearest of commodities, that everything 

 which is attained by the expenditure of 

 labor, costs so much more than they had 

 supposed, that moderate "improvements" — 

 as we call all kinds of building and garden- 



VoL. Ill, 32 



ing in this country — in a short time con- 

 sume a handsome competence. 



The fact, that in no country is labor bet- 

 ter paid for than in ours, is one that has 

 much to do v/iththe success and progress 

 of the country itself. Where the day-laborer 

 is so poorly paid, that he must, of necessity, 

 always be a day-laborer, it follows, inevi- 

 tably, that the condition of the largest 

 number of human beings in the state 

 must remain nearly stationary. On the 

 other hand, in a community where the 

 industrious, prudent, and intelligent day- 

 laborer can certainly rise to a more inde- 

 pendent position, it is equally evident that 

 the improvement of national character, and 

 the increase of wealth, must go on rapidly 

 together. 



But, just in proportion to the ease with 

 which men accumulate wealth, will they 

 desire to spend it ; and, in spending it, to 

 obtain the utmost satisfaction which it can 

 produce. Among the most rational modes of 

 doing this, in the country, are building and 

 gardening ; and hence, every year, we find 

 a greater number of our citizens endeavor- 

 ing to realize the pleasures of country life. 



Now building is sufficiently cheap with 

 us. A man may build a cottage ornee for 

 a few hundred dollars, which abroad would 



