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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



projectors are fairly at a loss for names, — ancient 

 and modern history having been literally worn 

 tlireadbarc by tlic godfathers, until all association 

 with great heroes and mighty deeds is fairly beg- 

 gared by this rechristening going on in our new set- 

 tlements and future towns, as yet only populous to 

 tJie extent of six houses. And notwithstanding the 

 apparent vastness of our territory, the growth of 

 new towns and new states is so wonderful — fifteen 

 or twenty years giving a population of hundreds of 

 tliousands, where all was wilderness before — that 

 the plan and arrangement of new towns ought to be 

 a matter of national importance. And yet, to judge 

 by the manner in which we see the thing done, there 

 hiis not, in tlie whole duration of the republic, been 

 a single word said, or a single plan formed, calculated 

 to embody past experience or to assist in any way 

 the laying out of a village or town. 



We have been the more struck by this fact, in ob- 

 serving the cftbrts of some companies who have 

 lately, upon the Hudson, within some twenty or 

 tliirty miles of New York, undertaken to lay out 

 rural villages, with some pretension to taste and 

 conitbrt ; and aim, at least, at combining the advan- 

 tages of the country with easy railroad access to 

 thein. 



Our readers more interested in such matters (and 

 taking our principal cities together, it is a pretty 

 large class) will be interested to know what is the 

 beau ideal of these companies, who undertake to buy 

 ti-acts of land, lay them out in the best manner, and 

 torm the most complete and attractive rural villages, 

 in order to tempt those tired of the way-worn life 

 of sidewalks into a neighborhood where, without 

 losing society, they can see the horizon, breathe 

 the trcsh air, and walk upon elastic greensward. 



Well, the beau ideal of these newly-planned vil- 

 lages is not down to the zero of dirty lanes and 

 shadeless roadsides ; but it rises, we are sorry to say, 

 no higher than streets, lined on each side with shade 

 trees, and bordered with rows of houses. For the 

 most part, these houses (cottages, we presume) are 

 to be built on fifty feet lots ; or if any buyer is not 

 satisfied with that amount of elbow room, he may 

 buy two lots, though certain that his neighbor will 

 still be within twenty feet of his fence. And this is 

 the sum total of the rural beauty, convenience, and 

 comfort of the latest plan for a rural village in the 

 Union.* The buyer gets nothing more than he has 

 in town, save his little patch of back and front yard, 

 a little peep down the street, looking one way at the 

 river, and the other way at the sky. So far from 

 gaining any thing which all inhabitants of a village 

 should gain by the combination, one of these new 

 villagers actually loses ; for if he were to go by him- 

 self, he would buy land cheaper, and have a fresh 

 landscape of fields and hills around him, instead of 

 houses on all sides, almost as closely placed as in the 

 city, which he has endeavored to tiy from. 



Now, a rural village, newly planned in the suburbs 

 of a great city, and planned, too, specially for those 

 whose circumstances will allow them to own a taste- 

 ful cottage in such a village, should present attrac- 

 tions much higher than this. It should aim at some- 

 thing higher than mere rows of houses, upon streets 

 crossing each other at right angles, and bordered 

 with shade trees. Any one may find as good shade 

 trees, and much better houses, in certain streets of 

 tlie city which he leaves behind him ; and if he is to 

 give up fifty conveniences and comforts, long enjoyed 

 in town, for the mere fact of fresh air, he had better 

 take board during the summer months in some snug 

 farm-house, as before. 



* We say plan ; but we do not mean to incluile in this siicli 

 villages as Nortlianipton, Jlrookline, &c., beautilul and tastelul 

 as they arc. Uut thty are in Massachusetts. 



The indispensable desiderata, in rural villages of 

 this kind, are the following : First, a large, open 

 space, common, or park, situated in the middle of 

 the village ; not less than twenty acres, and better 

 if fifty or more in extent. This should be well 

 planted with groups of trees, and kept as a lawn. 

 The expense of mowing it vvould be paid by the 

 grass in some cases, and in others, a considerable part 

 of the space might be enclosed with a wire fence, 

 and fed by sheep or cows, like many of the public 

 parks in England. 



This park would be the nucleus or heart of the vil- 

 lage, and would give it an essentially rural character. 

 Around it should be grouped all the best cottages 

 and residences of the place ; and this would be 

 secured by selling no lots fronting upon it of less 

 than one fourth of an acre in extent. Wide streets, 

 with rows of elms or maples, should diverge from 

 the park on each side, and upon these streets smaller 

 lots, but no smaller than one hundred feet front 

 should be sold for smaller cottages. 



In this way, we would secure to our village a per- 

 manent rural character ; first, by the possession of a 

 large central space, always devoted to park or pleas- 

 ure ground, and always held as joint property, and 

 for the common use of the whole village ; second, 

 by the imperative arrangement of cottages or dwell- 

 ings around it, in such a way as to secure, in all parts 

 of the village, sufiicient space, view, circulation of 

 air, and broad, well-planted avenues of shade trees. 



After such a village is built, and the central park 

 planted a few years, the inhabitants would not be 

 contented with the mere meadow and trees, usually 

 called a park in this country. By submitting to a 

 small annual tax per family, they could turn the 

 whole park, if small, or considerable portions, here 

 and there, if large, into pleasure grounds. In the 

 latter there would be collected, by the combined 

 means of the village, all the rare, hardy shrubs, 

 trees, and plants usually found in the private grounds 

 of any amateur in America. Beds and masses of 

 ever-blooming roses, sweet-scented climbers, and the 

 richest shrubs would thus bo open to the enjoyment 

 of all during the whole growing season. Those who 

 had neither the means, time, nor inclination to devote 

 to the culture of private pleasure grounds, could 

 thus enjoy those which belonged to all. Others 

 might prefer to devote their own garden to fruits and 

 vegetables, since the pleasure grounds, which be- 

 longed to all, and which all would enjoy, would, by 

 their greater breadth and magnitude, otter beauties 

 and enjoyments which few private gardens can give. 



The next step, after the possession of such public 

 pleasure grounds, would be the social and common 

 enjoyment of them. Upon the well-mown glades 

 of lawn, and beneath the shade of the forest trees, 

 would be formed rustic seats. Little arbors would 

 be placed near, where, in midsummer evenings, ices 

 would be served to all who wished them. And, 

 little by little, the musical taste of the village (with, 

 the help of those good musical folks, the German 

 emigrants) would organize itself into a band, which 

 would occasionally delight the ears of all frequent- 

 ers of the park with popular airs. 



Do we overrate the mental and moral influences 

 of such a common ground of entertainment as this, 

 when we say that the inhabitants of such a village, 

 enjoying iir this way a common interest in flowers, 

 trees, the fresh air, and sweet music, daily, would 

 have something more healthful than the ordinary 

 life of cities, and more refining aiul elevating than 

 the common gossip of country villages ? 



" Ah, I see, Mr. Editor, you are a bit of a com- 

 munist." By no means. On the contrary, we be- 

 lieve, above all things under heaven, in the jjower 

 and virtue of the individual home. We devote our 

 life and humble eftbrts to raising its condition. But 



