deed strike the house on the hill with some force, but as for the cold, it is al- 

 ways colder in the valley, of a still night, than on the hill. Corn is frost bitten 

 later in the spring and earlier in the fall in the Housatonic valley than on the 

 elevated and dry sites which overlook it. We say dry sites, for not every ele- 

 vation is free from the damp, chilling and unhealthy influences which emanate 

 from marshes. We find cold, muck swamps as frequently on the hills as in the 

 valleys, and in their neighborhood we may look for early frosts and malarial 

 fevers. 



Another suggestion is, that every farm house be built w T here the sun shines 

 for the most hours of each day, and the most clays of each year. There is life 

 in sunshine, and he is not wise who places his house where the sun does not rise 

 till late in the morning, and sets early in the evening, or where, during the 

 whole day, it is rendered dark and dismal by dense foliage. Trees have their 

 uses, but it was never the design of Providence that man should live in a forest. 

 Even the wild beasts, who make their home there, contrive to take a frequent 

 sun bath. On the sheltered, sunny side of some ledge of rocks, or on the south- 

 ern slope of some hill where the rays of the sun fall most perpendicularly, there 

 the forest-born beasts most do congregate. The nimble squirrel climbs to the 

 sunlight on the limb of some tree, and there takes his sun bath, apparently 

 asleep, but the hunter always finds him dozing with one eye open, and he is 

 very apt to slip into the shade when he hears the click of the gun. Even the 

 mud turtle, that is commonly supposed to love darkness rather than light, is 

 found basking on some log or rock, each sunny day. The same love of sun- 

 shine is manifested by all the inferior animals. Why should man, endowed 

 with reason, be less wise than the beast, with only instinct for his guide. 



We would by no means convey the idea that the home should have no trees 

 to shelter the location from the summer's heat and the winter's cold. We would 

 plant trees for both these purposes, but in this cold climate, more for the latter 

 than the former. If a house is situated on a bleak hill it may be sheltered from 

 the prevailing winds by a belt of white pines or other evergreens, planted on 

 the windward side, which, even in winter, will give it a cosy, comfortable look, 

 and really add much to the warmth of the location. A few T stately elms, with 

 here and there a maple, or an oak, and scattered clusters of evergreens placed 

 in front and on either flank, will give to the home a retired, sheltered look, such 

 as the word originally signified, but they should never be planted so as to shut 

 out the sunlight from any room in the house. From May to November there is 

 nothing in the externals of a rural home so pleasing to the eye as a green, vel- 

 vety lawn, and this we can not have with an overhanging forest. But at all 

 events let the sun strike fairly upon the house, and from the living rooms let no 

 blinds intercept the rays. In light there is color, energy, and life ; in darkness 

 there is pallor, lassitude and death. The houses of our city cousins are so sand- 

 wiched between each other that light can only be admitted from the two ends, 

 and we are sorry to add that they generally prefer darkness to light, and keep 

 their blinds closed and curtains drawn, lest the sun should fade their carpets, 

 or color their cheeks. Let city children grow pale and feeble in the dim relig- 



