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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



left to nature, could not have been viewed to ad- 

 vantage, nor presented as pleasing objects in 

 Landscapes. For a like reason the Lan<iscapc 

 Painter is much indebted to the Landscape Gar- 

 dener, for concealing objects which are disagre- 

 able to the eye, and for filling np broken defects 

 in a scene which he could not have represented 

 on canvass as a complete whole. The Gardener 

 efi'ects this by planting characteristic trees 

 where tlie landscape is broken ; and also to 

 conceal defects and repulsive objects. These 

 trees become conspicuous objects, and w^hen 

 tastefully dispo.sed, produce a pleasing hannony 

 on which the mind dwells with admiration and 

 delight. The Poet on the other hand, is not less 

 indebted than the Painter to the skill and taste 

 of the Gardener for the harmony and variety of 

 soothing and delightful objects produced by him, 

 which are naturally creative of new ideas, and 

 which enrich his compo.sstions by affording ma- 

 terials for his di.scription of sublime, picturesque 

 and beautiful scenery. 



"We ought not, we cannot omit the occasion, 

 to urge upon all who have influence in shaping 

 public opinion, and through it the legislation of 

 tlie Country, the importance of taking measures 

 for having the arts of design taught in all our 

 schools. How many millions does France levy on 

 the world, entirely owing it to her proficiency in 

 the Fine Arts? How else has she embellished 

 her capital and sent her armies into foreign coim- 

 tries, at an expense that would have otherwise 

 overwhelmed her in bankruptcy, but that her 

 inimitable proficiency in the arts of tasteful in- 

 vention enables her to sell to other nations the 

 millions on millions of fabrics and manufactures 

 which, with equal cultivation of the arts employ- 

 ed in their preparation, they ought to make at 

 home — who would believe, that with a greater 

 variety and beauty of timber and material for 

 textile fabrics and ornamental household furni- 

 ture, the United States imported many hundred 

 thousand dollars worth of fine goods and fur- 

 niture in the last year from France ! Why 

 is it that in the fashion of a sofa, a picture- 

 frame, or a sideboard, or a smelling bottle, 

 there should be as much difference between 

 French and English or American design, as 

 between the square and compass style in Land- 

 scape Gardening, of "capability Brown," 

 and the easy natural good sense style into which 

 Hepton reformed that beautiful art ? Clearly be- 

 cause in France the art of design takes the place 

 of Latin and Greek in the general course of ed- 

 ucation. See how the value of it is illustrated 

 in working up a dollar's co.st of flax, into a fabric 

 for which the Princess or the Millionaire pays 

 61000 ! Thus it is that she puts the whole world 

 under contribution to her excellence, in those 

 arts which it should be tlie careful policy of 

 every wise nation to foster — can it tlicn be too 

 (30S) 



often urged that here is to be the great beginning 

 point of reform in our educational systems. We 

 should bend the twig as we would incline the 

 tree. Even the scene-shifter, at first deaf to the 

 charms of music, will in time have his ear attuned 

 to harmony. Already has Yankee ingenuity 

 learned to excel the world in the coar.ser fabrics 

 until the native troops of Calcutta are seen to 

 strut in Lowell manufacture. We need not the 

 capacity nor docility — what we want is the 

 taste, to be created in our public schools, by our 

 public writers, by exhibitions of American In- 

 stitutes, and above all by wise and liberal legis- 

 lation. 



To return to the art of Landscape Gardening 

 and Drawing — the principles should be taught 

 in every public school in New-York to begin 

 with. Practical Horticulture itself, when proper- 

 ly understood is to be regarded as an intellectual, 

 and therefore, and in that proportion, an honora- 

 ble pursuit ; for even that requires a knowledge 

 of the various kinds of soil, and the action of the 

 diflerent manures, combined witli a knowledge 

 of the outlines of botany at least, and of vegeta- 

 ble phy.siology. But to practice the finer art of 

 Landscape Gardening, and to laj- down rules for 

 the improvement of Country Seats and Public 

 Grrunds, demands even more than ordinary ac- 

 quirements, yet not more than might vs'ell be 

 taught in its rudiments at least in all our Com- 

 mon Schools, and in its higher degrees in a Na- 

 tional Institute, such as the Smithsonian Legacy 

 might and ought to establish and provide for at 

 Washington. 



The sooner education in any art or trade is 

 commenced, the greater will be the proficiency — 

 who would think of taking up a lad of twenty 

 to make him a rope-dancer any sooner than a 

 horse in his teens to make him a racer ? Would 

 you have your son tuni out a Paganini, put the 

 violin in his hands in his earliest youth — so when 

 more difficult arts are to be taught, as painting, 

 for instance, or sculpture, give him the pencil 

 and tlie chisel as soon as he can use them, and 

 place before him the most beautiful models — in- 

 spire his genius and animate his ambition by 

 grand and .sublime images from Virgil, Homer, 

 and, above all, Milton — after all the first to 

 give true and grand conceptions of Landscape 

 Gardening, as he was the first of Poets — last- 

 ly, opportunity should be afforded to study, 

 when it can be done, the pictures of the great 

 masters, such as Raphael, Guide. Correggio 

 and others, that he may in these study the magic 

 of design, composition, coloring, ifcc, and oh! that 

 in our Country, -we may see the day, that enlight- 

 ened public sentiment and reformed legislation 

 shall decree to excellence in the fine arts and 

 in industrial pursuits, the honors and rewards 

 which military despotisms, and some Republics, 

 in servile imitation of tbem, have reserved so 



