88 Farmers' Miscellany. [July, 



process of agriculture, and view its occurrences with interest; 

 who are at the same time alive to all the minutiae of the animal 

 and vegetable creation ; who mark " How nature paints her 

 colors, how the bee sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet," 

 will derive from the study of nature a gratification the most per- 

 manent and pure. 



Writers of all ages have been lavish of their praises of a coun- 

 try life. The pleasures of rural nature are consistent with every 

 period of our lives; and they certainly approach the nearest of all 

 others to those of the purely philosophical kind. 



But let us for a moment point out the causes that render a 

 country life unequal to anticipation. 



For those who have been accustomed to the activity and soci- 

 ety of a city, a retired country seat, however beautiful and desir- 

 able the situation for rural scenery, is not calculated to afford the 

 expected enjoyments. There are very few minds that can be con- 

 tinually pleased and contented in communion with inanimate 

 objects, and the brute creation. The frequent company of our 

 fellow creatures, the numerous offices of friendship and duty at- 

 tending the compact of society, must still form a considerable 

 portion of daily incidents, independent of those of our own family 

 circle, in order to keep up the elasticity of the mind, and the 

 vibration of hope and fear. If, then, the frequent presence of our 

 neighbors is necessary to brighten up the countenance, in choos- 

 ing a country residence, he who had spent most of his days in the 

 city should not locate himself on some lonely bank of the Hudson, 

 but in some little village, in which live a good parson, a learned 

 physician, and an intelligent schoolmaster. It tends very much 

 to deprive a long storm of its tediousness, by stepping into the 

 doctor's now and then, for a little chit chat; or having the cler- 

 gyman, wife and daughter, to run over at a slack of rain, and 

 keep up the zest of social life, while roars the howling wind and 

 rain without. 



Another reason why a country life often fails of being agreea- 

 ble, is, a deficiency of a cultivated and scientific acquaintance 

 with the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Some knowledge of 



