88 
FARM AND VILLA OF MR. DONALDSON. 
FARM AND VILLA OF MR. DONALDSON. 
W ithin the past ten years, there has been quite 
a revolution in the Northern States with respect to 
country life ; it is now rapidly assuming here the 
rank it has so long held in Great Britain, and in 
some parts of xhe Continent. In England, especially 
where the love of rural pleasures pervades all clas¬ 
ses, the most affluent and noble of the land seem to 
consider their town houses as merely temporary ac¬ 
commodations during the whirl of the fashionable 
season, and the sitting of Parliament, after which 
they fondly return to their ancestral castles, where 
for many generations all that wealth, taste, and skill 
could contribute, have been accumulating to make 
their homes desirable. The opulent merchant, too, 
as soon as the hour on ’Change permits, seeks his 
cherished suburban villa; and even the toiling me¬ 
chanic and pent-up tradesman look forward with 
impatience to the period when they shall escape 
from the din, dust, and vexation of the city, to en¬ 
joy the pure air, fresh verdure, and blooming shrub¬ 
bery of a cottage. Too much of the wealth of this 
great and growing Republic is lavished in the finery 
of town houses; and how often do we see gentle¬ 
men, after securing ample fortunes, still pursue, 
amidst the turmoil and heat of the city, the dull rou¬ 
tine of business, as mechanically as if on a tread¬ 
mill ; with countenances seamed with care—often 
prematurely sinking into haggard dyspeptics, when 
they have within reach the ever varying and refin¬ 
ing pursuits of the country, where their health may 
be renovated, after the wear and tear of city life, 
and their children receive that best inheritance, the 
mens sana in corpore sano —health of body with health 
of mind. 
We hail with pleasure the evidence of an improv¬ 
ing taste in country life in America; but above all, 
bringing the various sciences of chemistry, geolo¬ 
gy, botany, animal physiology, &c., to the aid of 
the farmer, and making them his efficient handmaids. 
Even sublime astronomy has at length become sub¬ 
servient to agriculture. The celebrated philosopher 
Arago, was enabled to predict in Europe the severe 
winter of ’44 and ’45 in time to prepare against its 
rigor. How much expense and suffering would have 
been obviated, could the wide reaching drought of 
last summer have been foretold ! With these ex¬ 
planatory suggestions, our readers will perceive why 
we occasionally visit and describe highly improved 
places. We anticipate much good to agriculture 
from gentlemen of wealth and leisure; indeed, they 
are its most liberal patrons. We cite one evidence 
of this. A few persons in this city have recently 
contributed nearly $10,000 for the importation of 
Alpacas from South America; and we hope soon to 
see a subscription on foot, for establishing an agri¬ 
cultural college where farmers’ sons may be pro¬ 
perly educated for their profession, and be taught to 
follow it through life with the same pride and plea¬ 
sure as did the good and great Washington, who 
emphatically pronounced it “ the most healthful, the 
most useful, and the most noble employment of 
man.” 
Blithewood, the residence of Robert Donaldson, 
Esq., is situated in Dutchess County, on the Hudson 
fiver, about a hundred miles above this city. It 
was formetly the seat of General Armstrong, of 
Revolutionary memory, who was Secretary of Wa? 
under Mr. Madison. Though the author of several 
useful works on practical Agriculture and Garden¬ 
ing, Gen. Armstrong will perhaps be better known 
hereafter by his celebrated Newburgh Letters, ad¬ 
dressed to the Army of the Revolution, when about 
to be disbanded by Gen. Washington. An inter¬ 
esting relic of the early days of our Republic was 
recently brought to light at Blithewood, by the 
removal of a partition wall. We annex an engrav¬ 
es- T . 
It is a large copper 
button, supposed to 
have been worn by the 
officers of the army, and 
evinces their great at¬ 
tachment to Washing¬ 
ton. The motto, “ Long 
live the President,” en¬ 
circles the letters “ G. 
W.,” and the whole in¬ 
scription is embraced 
by a chain,. in each link 
Fig. 23 . of which is the initial 
letter of one of the glorious old Thirteen States of 
the Revolution. 
Gate-Lodge.—Fig. 24. 
Gardener’s House.—Fig. 25. 
To visit Blithewood, we landed at Barr own, 
two miles below, and in approaching it. the gate¬ 
house or lodge (fig. 24) was the first objt i tha 
attracted our attention. It is a hexagonal brick 
building, stuccoed and colored in imitation o' free¬ 
stone ; and strikingly placed on a terrace H the 
