56 HORTICULTURE. 



must, of necessity, always be a day-laborer, it follows, inevitably, 

 that the condition of the largest number of human beings in the 

 State must remain nearly stationary. On the other hand, in a com- 

 munity where the industrious, prudent, and intelligent day-laborer 

 can certainly rise to a more independent position, it is equally evi- 

 dent that the improvement of national character, and the increase of 

 wealth, must go on rapidly together. 



But, just in proportion to the ease with which men accumulate 

 wealth, will they desire to spend it ; and, in spending it, to obtain 

 the utmost satisfaction which it can produce. Among the most 

 rational modes of doing this, in the country, are building and gar- 

 dening ; and hence, every year, we find a greater number of our 

 citizens endeavoring to realize the pleasures of country life. 



Now building is sufficiently cheap with us. A man may build 

 a cottage orne for a few hundred dollars, which abroad would cost 

 a few thousands. But the moment he touches a spade to the 

 ground, to plant a tree, or to level a hillock, that moment his farm 

 is taxed three or four times as heavily as in Europe ; and as he 

 builds in a year, but " gardens" all his life, it is evident that his out- 

 of-door expenses must be systematized, or economized, or he will find 

 his income greatly the loser by it. Many a citizen, who has settled 

 in the country with the greatest enthusiasm, has gone back to town 

 in disgust at the unsuspected cost of country pleasures. 



And yet, there are ways in which economy and satisfactory re- 

 sults may be combined in country life. There are always two ways 

 of arriving at a result ; and, in some cases, that mode least usually 

 pursued is the better and more satisfactory one. 



The price of the cheapest labor in the country generally, aver- 

 ages 80 cents to $1 per day. Now we have no wish whatever to 

 lower the price of labor ; we would rather feel that, by and by, we 

 could afford to pay even more. But we wish either to avoid un- 

 necessary expenditure for labor in producing a certain result, or to 

 arrive at some mode of insuring that the dollar a day, paid for labor, 

 shall be fairly and well earned. 



Four-fifths of all the gardening labor performed in the eastern 

 and middle States is performed by Irish emigrants. Always accus- 

 tomed to something of oppression on the part of landlords and em 



