126 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



for the healthful breezes of the hill-tops, but also to make a small 

 income do the business of a large one. To their great surprise, they 

 find the country dear. Every thing they grow on their land costs 

 them as much as when bought (because they produce it with hired 

 labor) ; and every thing they do to improve their estate, calls for a 

 mint of money, because with us labor is always costly. But, in fact, 

 the great secret of the matter is this ; they have brought as many as 

 possible of their town habits into the country, and find that a mo- 

 derate income, applied in this way, gives less here than in town. To 

 live economically in the country, one must adopt the rustic habits 

 of country life. Lnbor must be understood, closely watched, and 

 even shared, to give the farm products at a cost likely to increase 

 the income ; and pate's defoie gras, or perigord pies must be given up 

 for boiled mutton and turnips. (And, between them and us, it is not 

 so difficult as might be imagined, when the mistress of the house is 

 a woman of genius, to give as refined an expression to country life 

 with the latter as the former. The way of doing things is, in these 

 matters, as important as the means.) 



Now a word or two, touching the second source of evil in coun- 

 try life, undertaking too much. 



There is, apparently, as much fascination in the idea of a large 

 landed estate as in the eye of a serpent. Notwithstanding our in- 

 stitutions, our habits, 'above all the continual distribution of our 

 fortunes, every thing, in short, teaching us so plainly the folly of 

 improving large landed estates, human nature and the love of dis- 

 tinction, every now and then, triumph over all. What a homily 

 might there not be written on the extravagance of Americans ! 

 We can point at once to half a dozen examples of country resi- 

 dences, that have cost between one and two hundred thousand dol- 

 .ars ; and every one of which either already has been, or soon will 

 be, enjoyed by others than those who constructed them. This is 

 the great and glaring mistake of our wealthy men, ambitious of 

 taste, that of supposing that only by large places and great expen- 

 ditures can the problem of rural beauty and enjoyment be solved. 

 The truth is, that with us, a large fortune does not and cannot (at 

 least at. the present time) produce the increased enjoyment which it 

 does abroad. Large estates, large houses, large establishments, 



