18G0. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



81 



A PLEASAOTT AND COIyTVElSTENT HOME- 

 STEAD. 



There are few things that more truly indicate 

 the degree of civilization and refinement that a 

 people have attained than the style and an-ange- 

 ment of the buildings in -which they live. These 

 stand as memorials of the age, and mark its char- 

 acter as distinctly as does its literature, or any de- 

 partment of the arts. 



When we see a house constructed in true archi- 

 tectural taste, all its parts harmoniously combin- 

 ing with each other, and the grounds about it so 

 laid out as to blend with and heighten the effect 

 of the v/hole, Ave expect to find within its doors a 

 family of intelligent persons, with cultivated minds 

 in most things, possessing attractive manners 

 and adorning the society in which they move, as 

 their house and lands adorn the natural world 

 about them. 



The tendency of this condition of things has 

 an important influence upon the state of the mind, 

 other things being equal. It soothes it when agi- 

 tated — tranquillizes grief — furnishes pleasant ob- 

 jects for contemplation in sickness or sorrow, and 

 fills the mind with a class of delightful associa- 

 tions that give it color and tone through life. 



Is it not important, then, that when we build, it 

 should bo done in accordance with true rules, and 

 so as to avail ourselves of all the advantages of 

 location, style, health, convenience of arrange- 

 ment, and to secure such an aspect about us as 

 shall always suggest pleasant and kindly emo- 

 tions ? 



It is not always more costly to get those things, 

 than it is to forego them. It maybe even cheaper. 

 The man who kiwrvs hoiv to construct a building 

 upon true rules, will do it with less material than 

 he who guesses at it, and at the same time give 

 you a house furnishing the conveniences you re- 

 quire. 



Another person might have expended $500 

 more upon the buildings which are illustrated 

 above, v/ithout obtaining their accommodations. 

 It is best, therefore, for every one, before build- 

 ing, to advise with others in regard to location, 

 arrangement of the interior, construction, and lay- 

 ing out of the grounds ; and no house should be 

 erected in the country without regard to laying 

 out the grounds around it. A mere cabin, remote 

 from all other buildings, Avith its bit of lawn in 

 front, a little rude ti'ellis-Avork here and there, 

 with its creeping plants over the door, or their 

 blossoms looking in at the windows and exhaling 

 their fragrance there, is a thousand times more at- 

 tractive than many a costly and presuming man- 

 sion. And this is attainable by all who build in 

 the covmtry. 



The engi-aving which we present to-day repre- 

 sents the farm buildings of Calvin Chamber- 



lain, Esq., of Foxcroft, Maine, and it illustrates 

 far better than we can by words, the idea Avhich 

 we should be glad to impress upon the mind of 

 the reader. 



Mere shelter is not all we want ; a cultivated 

 mind will never be contented with that alone — it 

 yearns for something to please, as Avell as protect, 

 and even in poverty and privation, will surround 

 itself with such objects as will excite pleasant and 

 healthful thoughts. 



Wo intended to say something of the an-ange- 

 ment of these buildings, of the octagon barn, and 

 the grounds about them, but our preface has ex- 

 hausted all the space we can spare, and we must 

 leave the reader to examine for himself, and post- 

 pone giving another train of thought, which this 

 cut had excited, luitil another opportunity. 



TO MANAGE A KE3FRACT03Y HORSE. 



Mr. Euitou: — In the Farmer of the Ijthinst, 

 appeared an item, copied from the Coiion Planter, 

 at which I was not a little surprised. Knowing the 

 uniform humane proclivities of that journal, (the 

 Farmer,) I wondered that it should seem to give 

 countenance to such a barbarous experiment, as 

 tying a cord — a plow-line was suggested — to the 

 nether jav/ of a balky or contrary horse or mule, 

 and going forward of the poor brute with the oth- 

 er entf, and -pulling till it would come f n'ward 

 with its load. Now such a spectacle as that might, 

 perhaps, be witnessed with approval, where ail 

 labor is coerced ; but shame should and would 

 mantle the cheek of your readers, most of them, 

 certainly, at the thought of such a cruel op- 

 eration. The time was Avhen, among us, it was 

 customary to Avhip all refractory brutes into sub- 

 mission, and many a valuable horse has been ren- 

 dered worthless by such barbarity. But, thanks 

 to the intelligence of the age, such practices, in 

 NcAV England, are being done avv^ay with, and 

 more gentle and reasonable means substituted for 

 correcting the follies to which brutes, as well as 

 m 'U, are liable, especially through the inilueuce 

 of early mismanagement. 



It has been pretty well demonstrated, that a 

 horse, as well as a man, is the creature of educa- 

 tion, and when the Cotton Planter comes to learn 

 this fact, and act upon this ])rinciple, it will have 

 attained a higher civilization than that Avhich ad- 

 mits of drawing horses or mules by the under jaAV, 

 to extort work from them. 



Having said thus much on the article alluded to, 

 let me suggest a better way to overcome the no- 

 tion — for it is only that — of refractory beasts. The 

 law of kindness has never yet failed to produce 

 a salutary effect, in a greater or less degree, 

 when properly applied ; nor will it, in its applica- 

 tion to a balky horse. It may require an immense 

 patience and considerable time, with many efforts, 

 to make a thoroughly contrary horse lift upon his 

 collar, at a heavy load, in all places, but never- 

 theless, it may be done, and perhaps somewhat 

 after this Avisc : Put him into the hands of some 

 man fit to manage a horse, and Avho can control 

 his temper under any circumstances, and Avithhim 

 let the horse become thoroughly acquainted, 



