200 Landscape Gardening 



meant to surround his country home, has eluded his grasp 



-that he lives in the house of a noble, set in the fields of 

 a sluggard. This he feels the more keenly after a walk over 

 the grounds of some wiser or more fortunate neighbor who 

 has been able to sweep the whole circle of taste, and better 

 advised, has realized precisely that which has escaped the 

 reach of our unfortunate improver. Is it any marvel that 

 the latter should find himself disappointed in the pleasures 

 of a country life? 



Do we thus portray the mistakes of country life in order 

 to dissuade persons from retiring? Far from it. There is 

 no one who would more willingly exhibit its charms in the 

 most glowing colors. But we would not lure the traveller 

 into an Arcadia without telling him that there are not only 

 golden fruits, but also others, which may prove Sodom- 

 apples if ignorantly plucked. We would not hang garlands 

 of flowers over dangerous pits and fearful chasms. It is 

 rather our duty and pleasure loudly to warn those who are 

 likely to fall into such errors, and to open their eyes to the 

 danger that lies in their paths; for the country is really full 

 of interest to those who are fitted to understand it; nature 

 is full of beauty to those who approach her simply and 

 devoutly; and rural life is full of pure and happy influences, 

 to those who are wise enough rightly to accept and enjoy 

 them. 



What most retired citizens need in country life are objects 

 of real interest, society, occupation. 



We place first, something of permanent interest; for, 

 after all, this is the great desideratum. All men, with the 

 fresh breath of the hay fields of boyhood floating through 

 their memory, fancy that farming itself is the grand occu- 

 pation and panacea of country life. This is a profound 

 error. There is no permanent interest in any pursuit which 

 we are not successful in; and farming, at least in the older 

 states, is an art as difficult as navigation. We mean by 

 this, profitable farming, for there is no constant satisfac- 

 tion in any other; and though some of the best farmers in 

 the Union are retired citizens, yet not more than one in 



