AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
229 
or a young tree, is founded on the poetic senti¬ 
ment associated with the remains of antiquity 
and the ravages of time. An old dilapidated house 
awakens the poetic sentiment of melancholy in 
some minds; in others it is connected with in¬ 
teresting romantic images, with curious ancient 
customs, with old people of a by-gone generation, 
and with the legends and traditions of fireside 
romance. It gives origin to a pathetic flow of 
sentiment, and the quality that produces this in¬ 
fluence on the mind is its picturesque expression. 
In the case of the ruined tower or castle or pal¬ 
ace, it is the historic associations attached to 
them that produce their picturesque effect; 
and it is the idea of rustic simplicity, suggested 
by the unadorned cottage of the peasant, that 
confers upon the latter a similar expression. 
We are charmed with the apparent indication 
or expression of certain amiable virtues, such as 
humility, resignation, innocence, cheerfulness 
and contentment. If we observe the same in a 
face, as in that of a simple-minded and intelligent- 
looking old person, this face, if skillfully repre¬ 
sented on canvas, would become a favorite paint¬ 
ing. Any thing that suggests the idea of simi¬ 
lar qualities in the style or the decorations of a 
cottage, renders it a favorite subject for the ar¬ 
tist. These are some of the qualities of the pic¬ 
turesque. Beauty would serve to heighten its 
effect just so far as it harmonizes with it; as a 
beautiful face would render a young peasant girl 
still more interesting in her rustic garb. Though 
the picturesque and the beautiful are distinct 
qualities, they may in certain ways and propor¬ 
tions be united in the same object or scene. 
The peasant girl in her rustic garb is the more 
picturesque on account of her beautiful face ; but 
were she to add to her garb some of the elegant 
ornaments of fashion, she would be grotesque 
and ridiculous. 
The picturesque character of any building is 
that quality belonging to it, or connected with 
it, which excites in the mind an agreeable senti¬ 
ment or emotion, independently of its intrinsic 
beauty. Such is an apparent adaptedness to 
pleasant rural retirement and domestic peace 
and comfort. A plain cottage, overgrown with 
vines and creeping plants, suggesting that the 
inmates are humble people, endowed with a love 
for the beauties of nature, and uncorrupted by 
any foolish ambition, has an expression that 
renders it a pleasing object for a cultivated mind 
to behold and contemplate. But it is not neces¬ 
sary that a cottage should be reduced to such a 
state of rudeness as to make it evidently the 
habitation of rustics. Rusticity is a picturesque 
quality; and it is this idea that possesses the 
minds of certain improvers when they rather 
absurdly build a fence of rough rails around a 
highly ornamented villa. In this case, the con¬ 
trast is too striking to produce a good effect. 
There are other expressions which are suf¬ 
ficiently rural, without rudeness or rusticity. 
It is a still greater error to suppose that a cot¬ 
tage should be a miserable hovel to be pictur¬ 
esque. Any quality which is suggestive of 
squalid wretchedness, or any kind of discomfort, 
injures this expression. But any appearance 
that is suggestive of humble poverty, goodness 
and simplicity, joined with a happy life, is highly 
picturesque, by arousing a train of agreeable, 
poetic and virtuous associations. We can easily 
sympathize with the inmates of such an abode. 
We see nothing in it indicative of pride, osten¬ 
tation, or the foolish aping of one’s superiors, 
anything to provoke jealousy or ridicule. There 
is more of the love of virtue in the human heart 
than the generality of men are ready to admit. 
The worst people in the world despise the very 
qualities which degrade themselves. They hate 
the manifestation of pride and selfishness, and 
delight in that of contentment and humility. 
It is of the greatest importance for the attain¬ 
ment of good picturesque effects, to provide for 
an appearance of neatness and comfort in the 
scenes and enclosures around our habitations. 
If this be wanting, the mind of the spectator is 
affected with disagreeable sympathies—with 
pity of the inhabitants for their want of comfort, 
or contempt for their want of neatness. Neat¬ 
ness must not be confounded with primness, or 
the manifestation of a great deal of labor or ex¬ 
pense, in providing paint or whitewash or fanciful 
decorations of the fences and outbuildings. An 
unpainted cottage, with a mere footpath wind¬ 
ing along from the roadside to the front door step, 
consisting of a rough slab of granite, with the 
grass growing all round it, may exhibit a perfect 
pattern of neatness ; while a highly ornamental 
cottage, with white painted fences, a straight 
graveled walk, and other finical appurtenances, 
may exhibit a disgusting example of slovenliness. 
If neatness be combined with simplicity around 
a plain cottage, it has a double charm, by sug¬ 
gesting the idea of comfort and thrift unassoci¬ 
ated with wealth and pride. It is natural for the 
wealthy of uncultivated taste to banish simpli¬ 
city from the rural decorations of their dwelling- 
houses, because it seems calculated to conceal 
that wealth of which they are ostentatious. 
This species of vanity would be comparatively 
innocent if it were confined to the wealthy. But 
how often do we see a house built by a poor 
man, with borrowed capital, which is expressive 
only of the effort of the builder to make the 
house wear a false appearance of great cost. 
Such builders fancy themselves guided by taste, 
while they are only aping what they cannot suc¬ 
cessfully imitate. It should be a rule with all 
who are going to build or decorate a house, to 
take their models from cheaper houses, than 
such as they can well afford to build, and 
then improve upon them. The contrary rule is 
their present guide. They take an expensive 
house for their model, and make up in sham 
what they cannot afford in perfection. Such 
houses are sufficiently numerous in this country 
to destroy the picturesque effects of our land¬ 
scapes ; for nothing is so ridiculous as the result 
of an unsuccessful attempt. 
That sort of neatness which is compatible 
with a simple and natural appearance of one’s 
enclosures, may be preserved comparatively 
with little labor or cost. To preserve neatness, 
on the other hand, in the midst of costly and 
luxurious embellishments,whether rural or arch¬ 
itectural, requires the constant employment of 
proportional labor and expense. The man of 
moderate means, therefore, who imitates the 
wealthy by profusion of architectural ornaments, 
shrubbery and flowers, must imitate them still 
further by hiring laborers to keep them in decent 
trim. On this account, it is advisable for every 
one to consider, when laying out his grounds, 
whether he is not providing either for a constant 
source of expense, or a yard full of litter and de¬ 
formity. Let one by these means strive to at¬ 
tain picturesque effects, and leave more costly 
decorations to those who can pay for them, and 
he would derive vastly more satisfaction from 
the results. 
It is the habit of overlooking these considera¬ 
tions that causes so much slovenliness about the 
enclosures of most of our houses in the country. 
The owner has commenced by laying out more 
work than he can afford to perform. As the 
majority of men who own houses cannot afford 
to hire much labor, it is reasonable to inquire 
what is the best method of decorating them and 
their enclosures with the least expense and the 
happiest effects. Fortunately that style which 
is the most delightful to contemplate, though 
not the most dazzling to the eye, is that which 
is most favorable to the economy of labor and 
expense.— Wilson Flagg, in Hovey's Magazine. 
(To be continued.) 
TURNIPS FOR PIGS. 
If we could only discover some mode of keep¬ 
ing a large stock of swine on our farms near 
good markets, so that we could make plenty of 
manure, and yet sell our hay, the question of 
how can we live by farming, in this part of New- 
Ilampshire, would be answered. When hay is 
worth but ten dollars a ton, steers and heifers 
will consume more of it than the worth of their 
bodies at three years old ; but our farmers are 
too far sighted, and have too much honesty to 
take from the soil without returning an equiva¬ 
lent, and so many of them work all summer to 
collect food for their cattle in winter, and in the 
spring have only their cattle left, increased in 
value not one-half the value of their winter’s 
food. 
Most of us have seen this to be folly, and tried 
keeping swine; and when potatoes could be 
raised for ten or twelve cents a bushel, we 
could raise pork to some profit, at prices lower 
than the present. 
But potatoes are not to be named, in these 
days, for such base uses, and the question 
whether corn can be used with advantage for 
feeding swine has been very nicely tested. Per¬ 
haps with corn at a dollar a bushel, and pork at 
six cents a pound, the farmer may get the labor 
of the swine for his trouble, and perhaps not. 
One thing every farmer knows who has tried 
it, that a dozen half-grown porkers will demolish 
his beautiful crib-full of a hundred bushels of 
corn, which it cost him so much hard work last 
summer to raise, in a painfully short time, and 
the golden ears are so beautiful, that one can 
hardly have the heart thus to “ cast pearls be¬ 
fore swine.” I think a farmer feels rich so long 
as he can show his neighbor his corn bam filled 
up above his head all round with this substantial 
treasure. 
Are Turnips good for Pigs ? Are pigs any 
the better for turnips ? One man said turnips 
were good for nothing for any critter , for one 
of his neighbors, last winter, fed out a cart load 
to a yoke of oxen, without doing them the least 
good in the world. Another said turnips were 
first rate for fatting cattle, because he tried it 
last winter, on a yoke of oxen and cow, and he 
never saw animals gain faster. A third had tried 
it on pigs; and they eat the turnips well enough 
and in great quantities, but he was convinced 
that they ate just as much meal with the turnips 
as when kept on meal alone, and that the tur¬ 
nips were a total loss. 
I had three shoats in November, one a full 
blood Suffolk, one a half blood, and one native 
American from a drove. I had also a crop of 
white, flat turnips, sowed with my grass seed 
in July, which cost me nothing but the trouble 
of picking up. For the past six weeks, I have 
fed these pigs with the turnips principally. We 
boil in a portable boiler, out of doors, two 
bushels of turnips at once, until they are soft, 
then take them out and put them into a barrel, 
and add a pailful, about ten quarts, of coarse 
shorts, and mash them together hot, adding a 
handful of salt. We have slops from the house, 
not quite enough to keep one of them, and these 
with two kettlefuls of the boiled dish, last them 
one week. I never saw pigs thrive better. They 
are getting too fat to be kept over the winter, 
and two of them are in danger of an early 
death. From this single experiment, it would 
seem as if a bushel of turnips is worth as much 
for swine, as the same quantity of potatoes; 
but it is not time to draw that conclusion. Many 
farmers have turnips on hand, and I hope the 
experiment will be thoroughly tried, so that if 
results be favorable, we may all lay down our 
land in July and August with grass and turnips, 
sell part of our hay, and keep the homestead in 
good heart by raising swine at a profit. My 
ruta bagas, which will keep good till spring, will 
many of them be turned to the same account. 
I have another old porker which fed on turnips 
until within a month, but as he was expected to 
aid the festivities of Thanksgiving in the house, 
it was thought best to put him on a corn meal 
diet. 
It is said in the “Complete Body of Hus¬ 
bandry,” published in England a hundred years 
ago, that sheep fattened upon turnips, should 
be fed on other food two weeks before they are 
killed, or the mutton will taste of the turnips. 
It probably would be prudent for those who 
prefer their pork and turnips on separate dishes, 
to attend to this hint. 
The Genessee Farmer has a notice of an 
article from the Irish Farmer's Gazette , in 
