Mistakes of Citizens in Country Life 201 



twenty succeeds in making his land productive. It is well 

 enough, therefore, for the citizen about retiring, to look 

 upon this resource with a little diffidence.* 



If our novice is fond of horticulture, there is some hope 

 for him. In the first place, if he pursues it as an amuse- 

 ment it is inexhaustible, because there is no end to new 

 fruits and flowers, or to the combinations which he may 

 produce by their aid. And besides this, he need not draw 

 heavily on his banker, or purchase a whole township to 

 attain his object. Only grant a downright taste for fruits 

 and flowers, and a man may have occupation and amuse- 

 ment for years in an hundred feet square of good soil. 



Among the happiest men in the country, as we have 

 hinted, are those who find an intense pleasure in nature, 

 either as artists or naturalists. To such men there is no 

 weariness and they should choose a country residence, not 

 so much with a view to what can be made by improving it, 

 as to where it is, what grand and beautiful scenery sur- 

 rounds it and how much inspiration its neighborhood will 

 offer them. 



Men of society, as we have already said, should, in settling 

 in the country, never let go the cord that binds them to their 

 fellows. A suburban country life will most nearly meet 

 their requirements; or, at least, they should select a site 

 where some friends of congenial minds have already made 

 a social sunshine in the "wilderness of woods and forests." 



Above all we should counsel all persons not to underrate 

 the cost of building and improving in the country. Do not 

 imagine that a villa, or even a cottage ornee, takes care of 

 itself. If you wish for rural beauty at a cheap rate, either 

 on the grand or the moderate scale, choose a spot where 

 the two features of home scenery are trees and grass. You 

 may have five hundred acres of natural park - that is to 

 say, fine old woods, tastefully opened, and threaded with 

 walks and drives, for less cost, in preparation and annual 

 outlay, than it will require to maintain five acres of arti- 



* This particular caution is more imperative in 1921 than in 1849. - 

 F. A. W. 



