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bar* located their hooses on the south side of a 

 kill. Many a farm is exposed all winter to the 

 bleak northwest wind, which might be rendered 

 comfortable by a plantation of trees on its north- 

 ern boandary, and be farnished with an agree- 

 able promenade all along snder the edge of the 

 groTe. 



It may be objected, that every man cannot 

 bare choice of a location for his hoaie. This 

 might be said with troth, if the whole land 

 were eoTered with baildinga, as in the town or 

 city.. Bat every man who owns a farm, or even 

 a solitary aere of land, unless the whole of it lie 

 OB the northern slope of a hill, may plant a 

 grove of evergreens, of greater or less width, 

 around its northern limits, which, if well supplied 

 with undergrowth, thoogk but two or three rods 

 in width, would protect his grounds as well as 

 half a mile of forest. 



A. house en a bleak exposure would suffer the 

 ineonvenience of it during eight or nine months 

 of the year; while another, in a sheltered vale, 

 though exposed to more heat in July, would suf- 

 fer vastly less from the inclemency of the weather 

 Ib winter and spring. But it is not necessary 

 to plant one's house in a valley to secure these 

 advantages. An elevated site may be as warm 

 as a low one, if its slopes are in such a position 

 as to receive the direct rays of the sun during 

 the best part of the day, and if it be provided 

 with a boundary of wood that will save the solar 

 heat from being scattered by the winds. I 

 would never allow this bulwark, if it could be 

 prevented, to extend round so far east or west as 

 to intercept my view of sunrise or sunset, con- 

 sidering a view of the heavens, at these hours of 

 the day, as more valuable than any other kind 

 of prospect; and, daring the short days of au- 

 tumn and winter, I should set a high value upon 

 any circumstance that would hasten the arrival 

 of mom, and prolong the light of declining day. 



The best kind of protection is a hill qr a ridge 

 forming a bend, with its concave side facing the 

 south, having its lower part open, and its sum- 

 mit crowned with a wood. The wood in this 

 case cuts ofi the force of the winds, while the 

 lower sarfaee of the slope acts as a reverberator 

 of the sub's heat. The same hill, without the 

 trees, would be an excellent reverberator; but it 

 needs the wood on its summit, to retain the heat 

 which is thus accumulated. As the width of 

 surface protected by any such barrier is propor- 

 tional to its height, other things being eqnal, a 

 wood on the summit of a ridge or a bank must 

 protect a much wider surface than could be pro- 

 tected by the hill without the wood, or the 

 wood without the hill, or by the hill with the 

 wood only on its lower part. 



lo spite of the awkward appearance of a 

 northern boundary of wood near one's dwelling- 

 house, it seems to be almost indispensable in a 

 climate like our own, which, more than any 

 other, admits of sAch improvements. If my 

 house were protected only by a wood, I should 

 plant a close thicket of undergrowth outside of 

 the belt, to prevent the winds from sweeping un- 

 der the trees. In that case, the members of the 

 family might walk with comfort in the grove, 



which would freely admit the beams of the sun to 

 enter on the south side. 



It is hard to determine whether the northeast 

 or the northwest wind, in this part of the ooao- 

 try, produces the most discomfort. N<me will 

 deny that the northwest is the coldest winter 

 wind but in spring the northeast wind is more 

 uncomfortable than the other in winter. In the 

 Kew England States, no house is well protected 

 which is not guarded against both of these 

 winds. It is wise to furnish all country-houses 

 with such safeguards, when the space will admit 

 of it, Bot only for the comfort of the inmates of 

 the house, but also for the good condition of 

 one's cattle and flocks. All animals in cold 

 weather require additional feed, to supply their 

 systems with fuel for the production of animal 

 heat, as well as for sustenance. Hence, if they 

 are well protected from the cold, they must re- 

 quire less of this fuel to preserve their vital 

 warmth. Good economy, therefore, as well as a 

 regard for our own comfort, would advise the 

 adoption of ail such available means of protec- 

 tion from the cold, and of securing the benefit of 

 the solar heat. 



A great deal might also be said of the utility 

 of such protection for farming and gardening 

 operations; but this point has been ably elucida- 

 ted,in a late article, by the editor of this journal. 

 In the majority of cases, when one is about to se- 

 lect a location for a dwelling-house, he might 

 choose a spot that is already provided with 

 these advantages, without sacrificing others 

 that might be deemed of more importance. — 

 Protection is more valuable in this climate than 

 prospect, how highly soever the latter may be 

 prized. But if the best views of the landscape 

 lie north of one's grounds, let them be reserved 

 for reereatioB. when the weather will permit 

 one to go oat to seek for them In almost all 

 cases, the value of a prospect is enhanced by 

 any little diffieulty in the way of obtaining it; 

 and there are but few who would not prefer a 

 prospect that was near at hand, though nn- 

 seen from one's windows, to one that was al- 

 ways tiresomely conspicuous, and eould uot be 

 concealed. 



•*•*- 



Thr Mother's iNPLuiifCE. — The solid rock, 

 which turns the end of the chisel, bears forever, 

 the impress of the leaf and the acorn, received 

 long, long since, ere it had beobme hardened 

 by time and the elements. If we trace back to 

 its fountain, the mighty torrent which fertilizes 

 the land with its copious streams, or sweeps 

 over it with a devastating flood, we shall find 

 it dripping in crystal drops, from some mossy 

 crevice, among the distant hills ; so, too, the 

 gentle feelings and affections that enrich and 

 adorn the heart, and the mighty passions that 

 sweep away all the barriers of the soul, and 

 desolate society, may have sprung up in the in- 

 fant bosom, in the sheltered retirement of home. 

 " I should have been an atheist," said John 

 Randolph, " if it had not been for one recolleo- 

 tion, and that was the memory of the time, 

 when my departed mother used to take my hand 

 in hers, and caused me, on my knees, to say, 

 " Our Father who art in Heaven 1" 



