408 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



yard. In each corner of this, is perhaps a 

 tree, or perhaps a row of firs in front, with 

 their branches trimmed up three or four feet 

 from the ground. The out-buildings have the 

 same hard, square, niatter-of-fiict appearance. 

 A puerile taste may see something to admire 

 in the clear white of the house and the con- 

 trast of its green blinds, if it have any. 



Now look at this bit of landscape by the 

 road side. There cOmes sloping down a 

 sunny hill-side on which, midway from the 

 top, is a gnarled oak with spreading branches, 

 and here and there are aged cedars and clumps 

 of trees and shrubs unspoiled by the hand of 

 art. At the foot of the hill is a level space ; 

 on the other side of this, is a rocky knoll of 

 huge riven and splintered boulders, amid which 

 grow trees, shrubs and clambering vines. In 

 the rear is an open field, bounded by a brook, 

 beyond which rises a wooded eminence, whose 

 trees and shrubs form a most agreeable back- 

 ground, with almost every hue and shade of 

 green in summer, and of crimson, orange and 

 gold in autumn. Study the scene a few mo- 

 ments, and take in its simple, yet mysterious 

 beautv. You may look and look again, and 

 not tire of it. Familiarity only makes it the 

 lovelier. 



Now suppose we set a cottage, the simplest 

 possible, to begin with, on the level space be- 

 tween the foot of the hill and the rocky knoll, 

 -with a steep, Gothic roof, for this is both pic- 

 turesque and roomy. On this we will have 

 neither clapboards nor paint, but cover with 

 rough, solid boards, six or eight inches wide, 

 matched and thoroughly^ nailed. Over the 

 <loor we will make a rustic porch, with a seat 

 on either side, and over each of the windows 

 a rustic trellis for vines and running roses, and 

 leave all for nature to give a color in harmony 

 with its surroundings. A little back of the 

 cottage, in the midst of that thicket of cedars 

 and slirubs which will serve to protect it from 

 the cold wintry blast, we will place a barn to 

 correspond in style with the house,' and near 

 the rocky knoll, and within the shadow of the 

 trees and vines, a rustic arbor. For a passage 

 ■way from the road, for carriages, we will take 

 out a part of the stone wall, and at each end 

 of the gap put up a substantial unhewn post, 

 and here banoj a rustic gate, and directly in 

 front of the- cottage door, which may be from 

 six to ten rods from the road, we will place a 

 similar gate, but less in size, for foot travel- 

 lers, and this completes the picture. 



Let the two be compared and see which is 

 the most attractive and beautiful. The first 

 is expensive, tlie latter cheap. Is it objected 

 that the cottage is too small for &farm house ? 

 It may be inoreased to any size and almost 

 any picturesque form, and as the great ex- 

 pense of paint which, in the first case, is to be 

 renewed every few years, is saved, the greater 

 convenience may be afforded within. Another 

 material which abounds everj^ where in New 

 En<Tlami, may be used for building with greater 



durability and even more pleasing effect than 

 boards. I mean the stones, as they are taken 

 from the ground or surface, — cobble or rub- 

 ble stones, if you please. An objection is 

 made to these, that a house made of them is 

 cold and damp, but if properly made, the walls 

 of a stone house are as dry and pleasant as one 

 of wood. 



Bandolph, Mass., 1868. 



Remarks. — We cannot agree with our cor- 

 respondent in some of his ideas of taste and 

 beauty. We confess to a liking for bis 

 "square-as-a-brick," "clapboarded," "daz- 

 zling white" building, though we might prefer 

 a light cream color, with "green blinds, a pi- 

 azza and shade trees," and a dislike of his 

 fanciful cottage, with "steep Gothic roof," 

 "covered with rough solid boards and left 

 without paint for nature to color in harmony 

 with its surroundings." Think of sleeping in 

 a room immediately under such a "pictur- 

 esque" roof after the fierce rays of a July sun 

 have rested all day on its roomy surface ! We 

 have tried it so often that an involuntary 

 "Good Lord, deliver us" springs up at the 

 very sight or mention of a steep, picturesque 

 and roomy Gothic roof. And then as to color, 

 we feel like moving a vote of thanks to the 

 proprietors of the old South Church every 

 time we go up or down Washington Street, 

 for the lighter shade and more cheerful look 

 which a new coat of paint has given to that 

 venerable structure. We rejoice also to see 

 in every direction unmistakable evidence that 

 the taste for the dark and dismal in the color 

 of dwellings is passing away. 



For the Xew England Farmer, 

 IiIGHTNlNQ RODS AND FUMIQATOB. 



Do you know of any facts proving lightning 

 rods of any value? If you do not, is there no 

 way of compiling statistics having a look one 

 way or the other, for, or against them ? 



A third and, it is to be hoped, the last gang 

 of builders of these rods, is now crawling 

 over our hills, and through our valleys, and 

 getting the usual amount of money from the 

 farmers, who are in doubt about the whole 

 subject, and too easily victimized by the art- 

 ful conductor of these speculations. 



Some ten years ago, the whole country, to the 

 farthest west, was canvassed and bled by those 

 carrying iron rods and insulators. Three or four 

 years ago, the thing was repeated with twisted 

 copper and no insulators. 



Now they have got a new twist, and per- 

 haps have twisted both materials together, call- 



