AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
197 
no attention to art and its influences may be 
surprised at the assertion—such a chaos cannot 
be daily seen with impunity. What at first 
shocked soon becomes familiar, and the suscep¬ 
tibility to healthy impressions from the display 
of order, harmony, logical dependence, and ad¬ 
aptation, is weakened, if not destroyed, in the 
observer. 
I have mentioned some flagrant instances of 
the want of care or of knowledge on the part 
of those to whom the national buildings have 
been intrusted. This strain of remark might be 
continued until we had passed in review almost 
every detail of the structure and ornaments of 
the public works. It is an ungrateful task. 
Enough has been said to show that the evident 
intention of Congress to render these buildings 
and grounds worthy of the nation, both in their 
construction and maintenance, has, thus far, 
been very imperfectly effected. I will now state 
what I believe to be the reason why so much 
outlay has produced so unsatisfactory a result. 
First—I believe that the absence of any clear 
and distinct ideas of what is becoming, dignified 1 
and proper in the premises, lies at the root of 
the evil. For this no one is to blame. The 
wants of this people have called—imperatively 
called—the active and able men of the country 
to pursuits far removed from an investigation of 
the beautiful, either in theory or in practice. 
These minds have been engaged in laying the 
foundations, broad and deep, of a mighty em¬ 
pire. They have reared the walls—they* have 
distributed the blessed light and blessing air 
throughout the vast structure. They have 
tamed the forest, subdued the wilderness, and 
spread the benign influence of the gospel and 
of education from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
ocean. They have left to later days, and men 
of other mould, the task of throwing around the 
pillars of the State the garlands of a fine artistic 
culture. Had they been men intent upon the 
questions that occupy us now, they had been as 
unfit for the task imposed on them, as the land 
was unprepared for their labors. But, untutored 
as they were in the mysteries of art, an instinct, 
great, noble and unerring guided their decision 
in respect to the visible attributes of this me¬ 
tropolis. The selection of this site, the ground 
plan of this city, show the outline of a master; 
and years must elapse ere any school which we 
can found will be capable of worthily filling it. 
Secondly—I believe that the heterogeneous and 
chaotic character of these buildings and grounds 
arises from an ill-judged interference with tech¬ 
nical design and arrangement on the part of men 
in authority, whether in the legislative or exe¬ 
cutive branches of government. Since our in¬ 
stitutions carry with them, as a necessary con¬ 
sequence, a frequent change in the 'personnel of 
government, it is clear that if each succeeding 
wave of disputed authority is to leave the im¬ 
press of its taste and its will upon the public 
structures, these must, ere long, be but a patch- 
work of as many whims, fancies and artistic 
dogmas, as have found favor in the eyes of the 
temporary occupants of place, unless some stand¬ 
ard can be established which all will recognize 
—a consummation not now to be hoped for. I 
believe that this country is alone in referring 
matters of art to legislative committees. In 
England committees supervise and report, and 
Parliament criticises and condemns ; but the ar¬ 
tist is not interferred with, in his own province. 
The law maxim is held good in that case. I 
have been told that the invention of the alto re¬ 
lievo upon the tympanum, was due to Mr. 
Adams. If so, it was an unhappy exertion of 
his great powers. Sculpture, when it adorns 
buildings, is subordinate to them; and when 
the sculptor invades the tympanum, he must fill 
it, or he produces a meagre and mean effect. 
Mr. Adams knew all of art that books and much 
observation could teach him ; but he could not, 
of course, be aware of the many proprieties 
violated in that invention. The work has an¬ 
other defect as sculpture. It is the translation 
of rhetoric into stone — a feat often fatal to the 
rhetoric, always fatal to the stone. 
As a most honorable contrast to ever con¬ 
flicting claims of private taste and whim to ob¬ 
tain utterance in the public works, I feel plea¬ 
sure and pride in observing the course adopted 
by the architect who has been honored with 
the task of adding the wings of the Capitol. 
.That architect, trained in the severest school of 
ancient art, had he been called on for a new 
building, would surely have attempted some¬ 
thing different from the actual Capitol. Called 
to enlarge it, he has sought to divest himself of 
every prepossession that would interfere with 
its harmony as a whole. He has approached 
his task with reverence. He has sought to keep 
company with his predecessor. This is not only 
honorable and just as regards Latrobe, but can 
take nothing from his own well-earned reputa¬ 
tion. Speaking now and in view of the mere 
model, I doubt if it be even in his power so 
widely to extend the facade , without painfully 
isolating the cupola, and leaving the present 
edifice too low, too wanting in mass and weight 
to characterize a center. Avoiding this defect, 
he will triumph over a great obstacle. What 
the architect has here decided in reference to 
the original design of the Capitol, seems worthy 
of all emulation on the part of such as, by the 
vicissitudes of office, may have charge of the 
national buildings. 
In all remarks upon important public edifices, 
there is a twofold subject under contemplation. 
First—The organic structure of the works. 
Second—Their monumental character. To plant 
a building firmly on the ground—to give it the 
light that may, the air that must, be needed— 
to apportion the spaces for convenience—decide 
their size—and model their shapes for then- 
functions—these acts organize a building. No 
college of architects is a quorum to judge this 
part of the task. The occupants alone can say 
if they have been well served; time alone can 
stamp any building as solid. The monumental 
character of a building has reference to its site 
—to its adaptation in size and form in that site. 
It has reference also to the external expression 
of the inward functions of the building—to 
adaptation of its features and their gradation to 
its dignity and importance, and it relates, more¬ 
over, in that just distinction which taste always 
requires between external breadth and interior 
detail. 
To ascertain what the organic requirements 
of a building like the Capitol are, is, in itself, a 
most laborious task. To meet them r equires all 
the science we possess. Have we not seen the 
House of Lords, in spite of all the experience 
and the knowledge brought to bear upon the 
vast outlay that reared it, pronounced a gewgaw 
by the men who were obliged to work therein ? 
Discomfort and annoyance soon find utterance. 
Decoration and magnificence in such cases, like 
the velvet and guilding of a ship’s cabin, seen 
with sea-sick eyes, aggravate our discontent. 
Nor is a defective arrangement merely uncom¬ 
fortable ; it may prove costly beyond all belief. 
I have been assured by one of the chief officers 
of a department, that one-half of the employee 
of his section of the administration were required 
only by the blundering and ignorant arrange¬ 
ment of the edifice. To say that such oversights 
are inevitable, is an unjust accusation of the art. 
When those who are called to the task of lodg¬ 
ing one of the departments of the Government, 
shall make organization the basis of their design, 
instead of a predetermined front, which often 
deserves to have the inverted commas of quota¬ 
tion affixed to it, we shall hear no such com¬ 
plaints as I have above related. 
The men who have reduced locomotion to its 
simplest elements, in the trotting wagon, and 
the yacht America, are nearer to Athens at this 
moment than they who would bend the Greek 
temple to every use. I contend for Greek prin¬ 
ciples, not Greek things. If a flat sail goes near¬ 
est wind, a bellying sail, though picturesque, 
must be given up. The slender harness and tall, 
gaunt wheels are not only effective, they are 
beautiful—for they respect the beauty of a 
horse, and do not uselessly task him. The Eng¬ 
lish span is a good one, but they lug along more 
pretension than beauty; they are stopped in 
their way to claim respect for wealth and sta¬ 
tion ; they are stopped for this, and, therefore, 
easily passed by those who care not to seem, 
but are. To prefer housings to horseflesh, and 
trappings to men, is alike worthy of a savage ! 
—- 9 -©.-O'—-- 
Shelter For Horses. —The nearer we follow 
nature in the treatment of animals, the better ; 
and I contend that keeping horses in cold and 
exposed situations, is a violation of the laws of 
nature. The blood-horse originally came from 
eastern climates, where the temperature is dry 
and warm ; and although he is to a certain ex¬ 
tent naturalized to this climate the nearer the 
climate may be to that of his primitive soil, the 
better will his health be. The vine, it is true, 
will grow and produce grapes in the open air, in 
this country, but not in that abundance, size, 
quality or flavor, as it does in warmer climates, 
or when protected by the shelter of a hot-house. 
Those who object to having their carriage- 
horses kept warm, argue that at times they are 
inevitably exposed to a cold stable, and that 
such a change will be productive of catarrh, in¬ 
flammation, and various other diseases. This 
is not an evil so frequently to be encountered as 
formerly ; stables are more comfortably con¬ 
structed than they used to be; and if a dinner 
invitation, or other social visit, exposes the 
horse to a temporary asylum in a cold stable, a 
rug or two, or even a blanket, can be found to 
keep him warm while his master enjoys himself 
at the festive board. Indeed, if no envelopment 
can be procured, I am convinced the animal will 
not be as susceptible of cold, although accus¬ 
tomed to warmth at home, as he will be if kept 
too cold, and for this reason he will be finer in 
his coat, and from the beneficial result of con¬ 
dition he will be dry; whereas a horse with a 
long coat, and out of condition, has a garment 
like a wet blanket, with a languid circulation, 
insufficient to create that evaporation necessary 
to render the horse dry, and the perspiration 
will be seen hanging to the point of almost 
every hair on his body .—London Sporting Mag- 
aztne. 
Planting Oysters in Northern Waters.'— 
The oyster vessels, upon their arrival from the 
South, are anchored near the site of the proposed 
beds, and their cargoes are removed by small 
boats which come alongside. The beds are 
formed by staking off the ground into small lots, 
or squares, each of which is spread over with 
about fifty bushels, so laid that one shall not be 
on another. By Fall, the oysters have consid¬ 
erably increased in size, and greatly improved 
in flavor. If allowed to remain too long in the 
beds, the oyster, not being acclimated to north¬ 
ern winters, perishes with cold ; and if planted 
too thick, they smother each other. Without 
regard to mutual rights, each one encroaches 
upon the peculiar domain of his neighbor, gradu¬ 
ally enlarging his residence in whatever direc¬ 
tion pleasure may dictate. In this way, when 
oysters remain long undisturbed, the increase 
of number involves the destruction of multitudes. 
Their means of communicating with the outer 
world is closed upon them by the cementing 
properties of the newly-formed shell, and the 
unfortunate victim is consigned to starvation.— 
Journal of Commerce. 
Timely hints as applied to children : 
When you consent, consent cordially. 
When you refuse, refuse finally. 
When you punish, punish good-naturedly. 
Commend often—never scold ! 
When all is done, human life is at the great¬ 
est and the best but like a froward child, it 
must be played with and humored a little to 
keep it until it falls asleep, and then the care is 
over. — Sir Wm. Temple. 
Never chase a lie; for if you be quiet, truth 
will eventually overtake it and destroy it 
