194 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



April 



I am aware that the natural system, as it has 

 been abused, lias met with much disfavor, but 

 where easy, flowing lines have been substituted for 

 the rigid, straiglit and stiff, particular!}' if accom- 

 panied with proper ornamentation, the change is 

 not tmplcasant, it will evcTi be spccialhj agreeable. 

 Aa the proprietors of small places are the most 

 troubled to arrange their pleasure grounds consist- 

 ently with correct ideas of beauty, I shall treat of 

 the arrangements befitting the grounds of village 

 homes : and the immediate surroundings of the 



farm-house, firat ; because what is true of them, ivill 

 be of country residences and parJi-Uhe grounds, on 

 a large scale, and vice, versa. As botany teaches, 

 the leaf is the type of the tree. 



I subjoin an imaginary plan of the surround- 

 ings of but too many homes in New England vil- 

 |lages, as they shmildnot he, hut are. I wish to show 

 particularly, the farmer and mechanic, that they 

 I may have beauty, elegance and comfort , at the same 

 Icostivith stiffjicss, awkwardness and discomfort. 



taof 



Village Homestead as it is— Unimproved. 



a. Ilouse. 



b. Kitchen. 



c. Woodshed. 



d. Barn. 



e. Pife'-sty. 



/. Main Carriage Road. 

 g. Path from Shed to Barn. 

 k. Path from Kitchen to Barn. 

 i. Patli from Kitchen to Garden. 

 j. Path from front door to Garden. 



k. Patli to front door. 

 /. Border of Currant Bushes, 

 m. Dilapidated elms in front. 

 n. Rows of Apple trees, 

 o. Manure heaj). 

 p. Gooseberry border. 

 q. Grass, 

 r. Flower Border, 

 s. Kitchen Garden. 



The above wood cut represents a village home- 

 stead, hundreds of which, of the same size and 

 shape, or slightly differing, are familiar to all. 

 Tlie_,„land itself is half an acre in size, on which 

 is a house 40 feet square, with Land woodshed of 

 proportionate dimensions ; there is also a barn, 

 40x30 ; at one corner of the barn, o, is a large 

 pile of manure exposed to the washing and beat- 

 ing of wind and i-ain ; this manure-pile is sur- 

 rounded by the hog-pen, whose squealing and 

 noisome inhabitants are plainly perceival/lc by 

 all. 



The buildings are all more or less painted ; pro- 

 bably white in front, and bright staring red on 

 the^ back and sides ; in some places there are 

 blinds, but in more none, and probably the barn 

 doors are swinging in the wind. Every path is 

 straight, and if it is inconvenient to go around 

 the corners, another path isAvorn across the grass 

 /, is the road up to the barn; this road is shut 

 from the main street, by either a pair of bars, or 

 a three-barred gate, generally halting on one 

 hinge, k, is the path to the front door, which al- 

 so is closed by a gate, commonly composed of pick- 

 ets, one or more of which are askew, or broken 



out. h, g, c andj, are paths througli the garden 

 and gi-ass, to and from the house and barn ; in 

 every case it is necessarj' eit.her to go around a 

 long and awkward corner ,or cross grass or plowed 

 land to the detriment of all concerned, m, is a 

 row of half-starved elms, from the woods, or per- 

 haps of overgrown and neglected apple trees — af- 

 fording more suckers and canker worms than ap- 

 ples, s, represents tiie tillage by dotted lines, q, 

 grass by straight lines. In tiie grass at the west of 

 the liouse are perhajis two large elms or other fine 

 trees, which have most likely been disligured^by 

 a barbarous course of scraping Avith the fruit tree 

 scraper, and a coat of whitewash. At ji, n, we 

 have apple or other fruit trees, all of which indi- 

 cate tl'.e absence of a true horticultural skill, and 

 in too many cases, of even the wish for anything 

 better.^ On the west side is a long picket fence, 

 out of which numy slats have been lost, thus ac-^ 

 commodating the neiglibors or the j^ropi'ictor's 

 pigs and hens in their friendly visits. Very like- 

 ly, in homesteads of the better order, the front 

 will be j^rotectcd by a light, white paling, in per- 

 fect repair, and finished at an expense of need- 

 less carpenter work, sufficient to h ; a( 



