THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



39 



adequate to the ends to be obtained, or tlie result 

 BO riisproportioned to the eftective cause. Pala- 

 ces, and temples, and labyrinths, and pyramids, 

 have been and may be erected by the united la- 

 bors and finr.nces of a nation ; but the American 

 lluwner, with the single implement of an axe, and 

 the simple element of fire, enters the forest alone. 

 The wilderness disappears at his touch, and is 

 supplanted by the most valuable exotics of other 

 climes. Groups of oriental animals, equally use 

 ful and beautiful, administer to his wants, and 

 obey his call. The cereal grains of Siberia and 

 Tartary, of Abyssynia and Mexico, wave over his 

 field ; the fruits of Syria and Persia ripen in his 

 orchard ; the most beautiful flowers of the uni- 

 verse decorate his garden, and the changing tem- 

 perature of the seasons is subjected to his control. 

 Here, then, we find the richest museum of na- 

 ture, and the noblest triuinph of arts. Here, too, 

 surrounded by the peaceful influences of rural 

 life, man has more to animate to virtue, and less 

 to contaminate the moraKs, than in any other 

 sphere of action. 



In cities, the refinements of taste, and the du- 

 ties of social life, are too often the sickly oflspring 

 of a morbid sensibility which takes its form and 

 coloring from that gold which becomes tlie mea- 

 sure of respectability, as well as the medium of 

 commerce. In courts all is subservient to pleas- 

 ure and power, and in camps to the potencies of 

 glory and ambition. But lift; is not glorious alone 

 from the contingencies of ibrtune^ or from an 

 elevated sphere of action — not from length of 

 years, or brilliancy of thought, but from the hon- 

 est and enlightened fulfilment of our moral and 

 social duties, and the preservation of those rights 

 inalienable from their nature and indispensable 

 to the happiness of m,in. And where are those 

 rights better appreciated, or those duties better 

 fulfilled, than when we erect amidst the most 

 beautiful scenery of nature, a sanctuary to the so- 

 cial aftections, where infancy is cherished in ten- 

 derness, youth is trained to science, and the way- 

 ward passions of maturer age quieted by precept 

 and example ? Virtue is the result of the con- 

 viction of the heart and the purity of the senti- 

 ment, and that sentiment is vivid in its impulses 

 and permanent in its resolves in proportion to tlie 

 visions of utility and beauty which have been 

 woven into its composition. 



A refined and cultivated taste is necessary alike 

 to the production and enjoyment of scenic beau- 

 t3', either upon the canvas or the farm. '^The 

 icelings of taste," says an elegant writer,* " are in- 

 visible lies, which connect us with nature, as our 

 rnoial feelings connect us with man. How cold 

 and comfortless would the world, with its varied 

 landscape of mountain, and river, and forest, and 

 Avaterfail, appear to us, if divested of this power- 

 ful enchantment .= What a charm would perish 

 from life if that secret sympathy with nature 

 which connects the heart of man with the scenes 

 of his earthly pilgrimage were once extinguished ! 

 what a deep serenity is infused into the soul by 

 that spirit of beauty which breathes from the face 

 of nature ! How it comes over that restless tide 

 of feeling which swells up from the secret springs 

 of the lieart, calming its waters as it steals softly 

 over them and imparting a soothing influence to 

 its lowest depths." 



And would not the most splendid visions o? 

 life disappear in the annihilation of rural scene- 

 ry .' We view, with enthusiasm, a landscape from 

 the pencil of the highly gifted Claude Lorraine, 

 or a group representing the social affections, from 

 the chisel ofCanova;and shall we turn with 

 careless indifference from the contemplation of 

 the glorious originals ? 



AVhat traveller hut has admired the beautifid 

 scenery of England; her tasteful cottages, fruit- 

 ful fields, and verdant lawns ; her neatly trimmed 

 hedges where the hawthorn commingles its sweet- 

 ness with the honeysuckle, the eglantine and the 

 rose, and her elegant groves giving an air of gran- 

 deur to the whole ? But the general features of 

 English landscape are richness and beauty, not 

 boldness or sublimity ; hence the last seldom con- 

 stitutes an element in her rural scenery, except 

 from tifb ideas of association. Here field beyond 

 field and lawn beyond lavMi rise in endless per- 

 spective, and appear more like one interminable 

 series of gardens and pleasure grounds, than like 

 the wild and varied scenery of other countries, 



or the imperfect cultivation of other climes. If 

 we add to these the turreted castles and halls of 

 the nobility and gentry, with their immense parks 

 and princely domains, sometimes embracing sev- 

 eral miles square of fine territory, and enclosing 

 gardens, lawns, and forest*, adorned with avenues, 

 fishponds, streams, canals, substantial roads, and 

 permanent enclosures, we have n coup (Tail 

 sketch of English scenery in all its beauty and 

 all its grandeur. And if, as a general thing, these 

 splendid domains were the result of resources 

 drawn from the treasiuy of the nation, at least one 

 exainple remains to show the power of genius, 

 and tlie success of individual efforts when aided 

 by su])crior intelligence and regular habits! 



The landed estate of Mr. Coke, (now Earl of 

 Leicester) the celebrated farmer of Norfolk, con- 

 tains 35,000 acres. His genius and industry re- 

 claimed it in a few years from almost a barren 

 waste to a state of high luxuriancy and fertility, 

 and realized the greatest appreciation in the val- 

 ue of property, everkuowii. He has embellished 

 it with a princely palace, a splendid village, taste- 

 litl cottages, extensive fields, and lawns, and 

 parks, and artificial lakes and forests, creating his 

 own resources, and multiplying his facilities in 

 proportion to his means, and at the same time 

 that he has diffused extensively the enjoyments of 

 rural life, he has surrounded them with the light: 

 of science and all the elegancies of taste. 



And is there nothing sublime in the contem 

 plation of a work so splendid and beautiful ? If 

 the meed of praise is prominently due to Wash- 

 ington fbr successful resistance to tyranny and 

 oppression — to Napoleon, for controlling the wild 

 tornado of a fitction at home, and the overwhelm- 

 ing surges of military desolation from abroad — to 

 Newton, for the discovery of the physical laws of 

 nature ; and to Linnaeus, for exploring and ar- 

 ranging her vegetable and animat kingdom; equal 

 ly is it due to the splendid farmer of Norfolk for 

 the high moral influence his devotion to the first 

 and the noblest of the arts has diffused, and which 

 is felt and acknowledged, not only by those who 

 have participated in its blessings, but by all who 

 have witnessed its effects. It is a splendid trophy 

 erected to a nation's welfare, whose energies fo*^ 

 destruction have long reigned paramount ; while 

 science and the peaceful arts have been the ser- 

 vile victims of its powers. 



If we turn from England to the Continent, we 

 find Loitibardy, lovely and picturesque, France, 

 Badeu, arid Prussia, impressing beauty and utility 

 upon their cultivation in the direct ratio of scien- 

 tific attainments. 



But it is in China alone, amidst a population 

 that imperiously calls forth the most powerful en- 

 ergies of the mind and body for its support, that 

 the beautiful, the picturesque, and the sublime, 

 have been divested of fictitious hues and carried 

 to the highest state of perfection. 'Tis there the 

 productive arts have received their just share of 

 embellishment, to which all contribute, both by 

 precept and example, from the peasant who 

 drives the team, to the monarch, who annually 

 quits his throne to guide the plough. Sensible of 

 the control which the beautifid exercises, not on- 

 ly over the imagination and the passions, but over 

 the reasoning faculties and the every day occur- 

 rences of life, this people have embellished those 

 arts which most conduce to the multiplication, 

 support, and comfort of our species, rather than 

 those which tend to their diminution, degradation 

 and misery. And if they advance no claim to 

 being the conquerors and enslavers of the world, 

 they at least merit the nobler praise of multiply- 

 ing to a vast amount its resources and enjoy- 

 ments. 



And if virtue results from the purity of the 

 sentiment, where are those images which leave 

 their impress upon the heart more pure than in 

 the refined end)ellishments of rural life .' Among 

 the multiplicity of elevated conceptions in the 

 sacred writings, there is none more beautifully 

 sublime than the pattern invocation for mortals, 

 given by our Saviour in his sermon on the mount. 

 The paternity and superintending providence of 

 our Heavenly Father is here brought home to 

 the feelings iind conditions of every age and eve- 

 ry vicissitude of life. And may not the guardian 

 siiirits of infancy and innocence, say with equal 

 propriety to their earthly parents, "O! lead us 

 not into temptation, but deliver ui> from evil." 

 And where shall wc find .stronger incentives to 

 allure to the virtues, and protect from the vices of 



the world, thaa in the peaceful and happy retire- 

 ments of the farm ? 



If Paradise lost was an exile from rural scene- 

 ry in its perfect state of embellishment. Paradise 

 regained will be, when the influence of the same 

 scenery calls into exercise the nobler energies of 

 the mind to the exclusion of the evil passions, 

 when the reign of peace and good will over the 

 earth will change the visions of ideality, and di- 

 vested of false impressions they will appear in 

 their native loveliness ; when the arts shall be as- 

 sociated with the virtues, and the meed of praise 

 be graduated by the measure of utility. Then, 

 and not till then, will man be happy, for tyranny 

 and oppression shall cease to exist, and the de- 

 structive arts which now engross his time, his 

 talents and resources, shall have faded from the 

 world. 



THE HONEST BLACKSMITH. 



BY H. W. LONGFELLOW. 



Under r 



spreadmg chestnut tree 



The village smithy stands ; 

 The smith, a mighty man is he, 



With large and sinewy hands ; 

 And the muscles of his brawny arms 



Are strong as iron bands. 



Hif 



His face i 

 His brow is wet with honest sweat ; 



He earns whate'er he can, 

 And looks the whole world in the face, 



For he owes not any man. 



Week out, week in, from morn till night, 

 You can hear his bellows blow ; 



You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, 

 With measured beat and slow. 



Like a sexton, ringing the old kirk chimes 

 When the evening sun is low. 



And children coming home from school 



Look in at the open door ; 

 They love to see the flaming fbrge, 



And hear the bellows roar. 



He goes on .Sunday to the church, 



And sits among his boys ; 

 He hears the parson pray and preach. 



He hears his daughter's voice 

 Singing in the village choir, 



And it makes his heart rejoice. 



It sounds to him like hsr mother's voic 



Singing in Paradise ; 

 He needs mast think of her once more 



How in the grave she lies ; 

 And with his hard rough hand he wipes 



A tear from < 



ing — sorrowing — 

 igh life he goes ; 

 lees some task begin. 



^ Onward th: 



Something attempted — something done. 

 Has earned a night's repose. '^ 



Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend. 

 For the lesson thou has taught ! 



Thus at the I'laming forge of Life 

 Our fortunes must be wrought. 



Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 



Each burning deed and thought. 



From the Thiladelphia Farmer's Cabinet. 

 Fmit Trees. 



The propagation and cultivation of fruit trees 

 is a most pleasant and agreeable occupation for 

 the sons and daughters of farmers; and those 

 who have been educated in indu.strious habits, 

 and those into whose minds sound moral princi- 

 ples have been instilled, are invariably fond of it. 

 Every family who occupy a lot, or a farm, should 

 annually devote a small portion of time and at- 

 tention to this interesting and profitable depart- 

 ment of nu-al occupation ; for, we are all fond of 

 good apples, pears, peaches, plums, quinces, and 

 cherries, and all should lend their aid in their 

 production ; but never plant inferior kinds of 

 fruit-trees : the same expense, time, care, and 

 room are required as for the finest varieties, 

 which are tenfold more valuable. 



The roots of trees being designed not only to 

 sustain them in a proper position, hut to furnish 

 them with nutriment, care should be laken, in 

 jilanting, to loosen the earth for a considerable 

 distance around thein. Those who try how small 

 a hole will accommodate the roots, of a tree, miss 

 their aim, for experiment has shown, that a tree 

 planted in a hole three feet in diameter, will grow- 

 as much in five years, as one planted in a small 

 hole will ill ten | and the reason is obvious, for 



