222 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Sept. 



Rural Taste. — Cottage Residences. 



It has been said that " true taste is a good 

 economist." Now taste, when kept within 

 proper bounds, may be economy ; but we often 

 see TASTE get the upper hand of reason, and 

 drive rampant, regardless alike of utilicy or 

 economy, of means or ends. I was led to these 

 perhaps rather crude reflections on an examina- 

 tion of "Downing's Landscape Gardening," and 

 "Cottage Residences," in which I find the 

 above quotation. The beauty of Mr. Down- 

 INGS works no one will doubt — the taste and 

 genius displayed by the admired author no one 

 will call in question : yet, how illy are they 

 adapted to the wants of the American people — 

 how poorly calculated to refine the tastes of the 

 masses, or to give a touch of beauty to the thou- 

 sands of buildings that are " going up" around 

 us. Of how little service to the Farmer and 

 Mechanic — the man of small means and refined 

 taste, who wishes to make his home pleasant 

 and attractive. 



From these works the man of wealth may 

 learn how to expend his thousands in building 

 beautiful and costly mansions. They may en- 

 courage a taste for display — for princely resi- 

 dences and retinues. They may cause aristo- 

 cratic '■'■ estaMislmients^^ to spring up over oui 

 land. The ghost of some ancient castle, or the 

 effigy of some lordly manor-house, with its 

 " lodges" and " liveried" attendants, may be 

 made to supplant the plain republican " home- 

 stead" — European indolence and luxury to en- 

 croach upon American industry and simplicity : 

 but, ] doubt whether this will improve the taste 

 or the morals, or add much to the peace and 

 happiness of the American people. I doubt 

 whether it will promote that equality of which 

 we boast, or make us more worthy the respect 

 and imitation of the world. 



In this country, thanks to our Republican in- 

 stitutions, and the smiles of a kind Providence, 

 we have but few very rich, and iew extremely 

 poor. Here, with slight exceptions, all labor in 

 some sphere, and all all alike enjoy the neces- 

 saries and luxuries of life. And I regret, that 

 under a plea of improving the " taste" of our 

 people, Americans should be taught a love of 

 pomp and show, and costly establishments. 

 Taste may be purchased at too great an expense. 



That the taste of our people needs improving 

 in respect to building and beautifying their 

 homes, and tliat such improvement might be 

 made consistent with simplicity and economy, 

 no one can doubt. But a work to aid in its ac- 

 complishment, must, as far as possible, be within 

 the means, and meet the wants of all, so that the 

 man with four or five hundred dollars may find 

 assistance in enabling him to make him a home 

 at once convenient and tasteful. I long for the 



time when not only the mansions of the rich, 

 but the cottages of the poor, shall have the benefit 

 of that " true taste which is good economy." 



The traveller in many parts of Europe, par- 

 ticularly in the Agricultural districts of England, 

 is enchanted with the beauty of its rural resi- 

 dences. And this delight is not caused by the 

 elegance and splendor of the palaces of the 

 ^'■gentry" occasionally met with, but by the beau- 

 tiful, though humble cottages of the poor, which, 

 with the flowering hedges so common in Eng- 

 land, gives to it the appearance of a vast garden, 

 with here and there a summer-house, shaded by 

 a cluster of overspreadiiig trees, and covered 

 with roses and honeysuckles. 



We need another work on Cottage Resi- 

 dences — a work for the million. And as the 

 Genesee Farmer circulates among the masses, 

 it is a fit medium through which to present a 

 ^evr thoughts on the subject. Rustic. 



Rose-Lawn, N. Y., Aug., 1848. 



Honey Bees. 



Certain persons in this country, are making 

 money by producing artificial swarms of bees at 

 one dollar for each swarm produced. They 

 attempt to veil the subject in mystery. 



Was the process a discovery of any of these 

 persons, we would say go ahead gentlemen — do 

 what you can and make what you can by your 

 discovery and genius. But it is a species of 

 "Book Farming." which they have learned from 

 Books, and thereby it is not — should not — and 

 shall not be used as a recent valuable discovery 

 if we can make the matter understood. 



Artificial Swarming, consists merely in taking 

 a piece of comb containing young bees about 

 three days old — fixing this comb in a clean hive 

 and then collecting by means of a quill or brush 

 and saucer, at least one-half of the bees belong- 

 ing to the hive from which the comb was taken 

 and placing them in the hive containing the new- 

 ly cut comb. This is all that is necessary to 

 produce a good active swarm of bees, which will 

 do as well at last as those left behind. Some 

 pretend that a particuliar kind of comb should 

 and must be taken for this purpose, for instance, 

 comb containing royal cells. It is a mere pre- 

 tence ; any comb containing bees of the age above 

 mentioned will do. 



Another Process. — Take the Queen Bee, 

 and secure her — then drive more than half the 

 Bees in the hive into another hive — remove it 

 some distance and then put the Queen in, or if 

 less than half are taken, remove the old hive 

 to some other place and let the new one occupy 

 the place of the old one, so that the absent work- 

 ers, as they return from their labors may recog- 

 nize their old Queen and remain with her. — Mor- 

 gan [Ohio) Chronicle. 



