1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



209 



Village Homestead as it should be— Improved. 



180 £ 



a. llouso. 



b. Kitchen. 



c. W..i..ished. 



d. liain and Cellar 

 f. l'ig-3ty. 



f. Main Carriage Road. 

 S. I'atli to front door. 

 h. Flower Beds. 



J. Kitchen Garden and Orchard. 

 j. Verandahs. 



it will be b;>st to reduce their numbers, and increase 

 the other kinds ; beside the fences and path?, set 

 ourrantsi, gooseberries and raspberries ; of the two 

 former, the tree varieties are best, as they do not 

 sucker. Having thus given a detailed account of 

 the niKessury changos, I -will close with reitera- 

 ting tiiat however pleasing the arrangement of 

 lines, trees and flowers is in itself, it is al>- 

 solutely nothing, unless the owner is ever ac- 

 tive in keeping the ichole place in a state of repair ; 

 nothing can compensate for the absence of neatness. 

 Wo may have boen deceived, and have purchased 

 almost worthless varieties of trees and shrubs, 

 but tliat is na reason for allowing them when 

 planted to become a disgrace to the garden ; if 

 good for nothing, pull them up, and if unable to 

 l)uy others, let the green grass fill their places ; 

 if possible to disencumber ourselves of the idea 

 that the greater or less first cost constitutes cheap- 

 ness, believe the experience of those best qualified 

 to judge, that it is never economy to buy ill-shaped , 

 unhealthy trees, or bad varieties because they are sold 

 loic ; nor yet that it is good economy to get trees 

 &c., from the woods, because they cost nothing; 

 taking into account tlie first cost of getting them, 

 the long time they stand, almost bare poles, and 

 the usually inferior sliapos they assume when 

 they do grow aft(;r mudi pruning and coaxing, 

 7n//*y ry trees arc far best and cheapest. 1 have no 

 time to enter upon the minutiu of roots and branch- 

 es to prove this, as may easily be done, but must 

 leave that for the future. In respect to gates and 

 fences, Imild the cheapest consistent Avith strength, 

 the most unpretending and unobtrusive, for there is 

 no surer indication of bad taste and pretensions, 

 tlian a co.'^lly carpenter's monument of white pint' 

 and white paint. Make the fence simple, of good 

 but cheap material (rustic poles t'cry good!) and 

 then paint it a dark color ; why cover your fences 

 with white, so as to force your boundary lines on 



your own and every one's else eye, at the same 

 time making a direct violation of the harmonies 

 of nature ; the same may be, and has been said of 

 painting houses. What can lie more glaring and 

 disagreeal)le in a hot day than the sunny side of 

 a white house, dazzling the eye, as much as the 

 sun ? Vine.s and trees relieve the glare, somewhat, 

 but the effect is almost always forced and unnat 

 ural. 



Is the argument of the durability of white, 

 {even if it can he proved to be more lasting than other 

 colors) enough? Did any man ever wear iron 

 pants and coat for their durability ? If durability 

 is the aim, build of stone, wlien you will get it, 

 and harmony of colors at the same time. 



Filially, we all remember that neatness, order 

 and beauty outside, indicates the same within ; 

 and to quote from a learned European, "the care 

 of flowers and cultivation of plants, do not merely 

 contril)ute to the maintenance of health ; they 

 soften the p issions, and elevate the taste above tiie 

 affairs of cvcry-day life. In the home around 

 wliich we 8 'o a well kept garden, internal order 

 almost always prevails ; and where there is a flow- 

 er stand outside, there is almost always a book 

 shelf witliin." R. Morris Coi-elaxd. 



lioxbury, March 24, 1854. 



Extraordinary E.KOTic. — A fine specimen of a 

 magnificent tree, recently introduced into tliis 

 couiitry from California, is now growing in the 

 neighliorhood of Exeter, at the nursery of I\Iessrs. 

 Jeitch. This tree, from its extraordinary height 

 and large dimensions, nuiy well be_ termed the 

 monarcli of the Californian forest ; it grows in a 

 solitary district on the elevated slopes of the Sierra 

 Nevada, at an elevation of 5,000 feet from the lev- 

 el of the sea. From HO to 90 trees exist, all with 

 in the circuit of a mile, and varying from 250 feet 



