AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Designed to improve all Classes interested in Soil Culture 
AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, THE MOST USEFUL, AND THE MOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF MAN —WiSHINOTOS 
ORAIGE IUBI), A. M., 
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. 
IMS. 
i $1.00 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE. 
) SINGLE NUMBERS 10 CENTS. 
YOL. XVIII.—No, 4.] 
NEW-YORK, APRIL, 1859. 
[NEW SERIES—No. 147. 
ISPOlfice at 1 SO Water-st., (Near Fulton-st.) 
^Contents, Terms, Ac., on jiajjc 128. 
[copy eight secured.] 
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1858, 
by Orange Judd, in the Clerk’s Office of the District 
Court of the United States for the Southern District of 
New-York. 
N. IE.—Every Journal is invited Ireely to copy 
any and all desirable articles, and no use or advantage 
will be taken of the Copy-Right, wherever each article 
or illustration is duly accredited to the American Agri¬ 
culturist. ORANGE JUDD, Proprietor 
American ^militarist in (Ewman. 
The AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST is published in 
both the English and German Languages. Both 
Editions ara of Uniform size, and contain as 
nearly as possible the samo Articles and Illustra¬ 
tions. The German Edition is furnished at the 
same rates as the English. 
April. 
“■ Below me trees unnumbered rise, 
Beautiful in various dyes : 
The gloomy pine, the poplar blue 
The yellow beach, the sable yew, 
The slender fir, that taper grows, 
The sturdy oak with broad-spread boughs, 
And beyond the purple grove, 
Haunt of Phillis, queen of love ' 
Guady as the opening dawn 
Lies a long and level lawn.”—D yer. 
Why do we not see the farm house more fre¬ 
quently graced witli trees, and with a bit of lawn 
in front to welcome the guest with its velvety 
turf, and to refresh the eye of the traveller as he 
passes 1 We know there has been extensive tree- 
planting for the past eight or ten years, and that 
the nursery business was never so brisk and 
lively in this country as in the last decade. Not 
only have our own establishments produced large¬ 
ly, but foreign nurseries have sent us trees by the 
million, ordered by dealers here, and in many in¬ 
stances by gentlemen travelling in Europe, who 
desire the best of everything for their fruit yards 
and ornamental grounds. But if we look at the 
present location of these trees, we shall find them 
mainly in cities and villages, and in their imme¬ 
diate suburbs. Among this class of our people 
tree planting has become popularized, and there 
are a multitude of charming rural houses near all 
our northern cities, with grounds well laid out 
and planted, to which every passing year will add 
now attractions for a generation to come. Even 
in villages, upon half-acre homesteads, a multitude 
of beautiful and useful things have been gathered, 
that one ignorant of the mysteries of horticulture, 
could hardly suppose possible. The dwellers in 
these tasteful houses have flowers and fruits of 
their own raising for nine months in the year, 
shade the live long summer, and shelter that 
breaks the violence and terror of the winter 
winds. There is thus kept up a beautiful com¬ 
munion of the family with Nature, which is es¬ 
sential to the highest happiness and usefulness of 
the race. 
But as we recede from these great social 
centers, the evidences of horticultural taste are 
more and more wanting. We know, indeed, that 
there are exceptions, farmers’ homes that are as 
perfect models of good taste as any tiling that 
can he found in the country. They are built and 
adorned with the profits of legitimate farming, are 
within the means of their owner, and are the out¬ 
growth of a taste and mental culture developed 
upon the farm. The trees and shrubbery are well 
selected for the climate, and well planted, the 
lawn is ample enough, and yet in keeping with the 
size of the farm and the means of the owner. But 
still such homes are rare exceptions in the country. 
There is no generous enthusiasm for tree plant¬ 
ing among the great mass of our farming popula¬ 
tion, and even our readers, apt scholars as they 
are, and rapidly improving in their rural tastes, 
are not quite up to the standard. There is many 
a farm long cultivated, where there is no orchard, 
no fiuit yard, and not even a solitary shade-tree. 
There are many others where the fields are well 
tilled, and the fruit is abundant, that have still no 
adornments from the trees of the forest. Every 
approach to the house is without shade or orna¬ 
ment, and there is hardly a fruit tree visible. 
And this neglect of planting is not owing gener¬ 
ally to any want of appreciation or desire for 
tasteful houses. Let any one of these careless 
farmers pass a neighbor’s house that has appro¬ 
priate surroundings of trees, shrubs, and flowers, 
and he can not refrain from expressing his grati¬ 
fication. He may know nothing of the laws of 
esthetics, and yet a pleasing impression is made 
upon his mind by every individual object in the 
plantation, and by the general arrangement of the 
whole. A well grown elm, or maple in good foli¬ 
age, fills every beholder with pleasing emotions. 
The form, the color, the shade are all delightful, 
and leave pleasant memories behind when summer 
is gone. The wide spreading oak in the meadow 
is often sought by the farmer, and his sons, 
and workmen, during the labors of the hay and 
the grain harvests. It brings no pecuniary gains, 
yea, is a positive tax upon the soil, spoiling all 
that it covers for his crops, and yet he would 
sooner lose his best cow, than have it cut down. 
It is a beautiful object in the landscape, he loves 
to look up into its green boughs, and hear the 
rustling of its leaves in the summer breeze. It 
redeems the scene of his labors from the gross¬ 
ness of mere ut ility. One thing, at least, is loved 
not for its pecuniary value, but for what it is in 
itself, an object of taste. 
And yet a lover of trees as he is, he did not 
plant this old oak in the meadow, and he has never 
planted a tree for shade or ornament by the road 
side, or around his dwelling. He has often wished 
some full grown monarch of the forest could be 
taken up, and put down by his door, but that was 
impracticable. He has often thought of planting 
saplings, and been tempted by their clean trunks 
and thrifty limbs, but just as often has thought 
that he might not stay more than another year in 
his present location. He has felt the emigration 
fever, and it is only owing to untoward circum¬ 
stances that he has not long since sought a new 
home. This unsettled disposition, which affects 
more or less all classes of our farming population, 
especially perhaps in eastern sections, is the se¬ 
cret, we imagine, of our neglected road-sides and 
unadorned homesteads. 
It was not so with the early settlers in the 
older states. They took possession of the wilder¬ 
ness, and expected that when they had redeemed 
it, it would be a possession to them and to their 
children forever. They laid out in the center of 
the town a broad avenue, and planted it with 
trees, as well as the road-side, around their own 
houses. No one can visit these old towns, which 
are found all the way up the vallies of the Con¬ 
necticut, and of the Hudson, and at almost all 
points settled a hundred years ago, and behold 
the long avenues of elms and maples, without a 
feeling of veneration for the men who planted 
them. The sons should emulate the example of 
the fathers, and like them plant trees for future 
generations. 
Nor should we look at this improvement mere¬ 
ly as a matter of taste. Admitting that yo-ur pre¬ 
sent location is not a permanent home, and that 
you will sell out within a few years, it is for your 
interest to plant trees. They are cheap, are 
easily removed from the nursery or forest, occupy 
no valuable room, and when once established add 
beauty and value to your farm without your 
thought or labor. You can do nothing at so 
small cost, so likely to enhance its value. Your 
best purchaser, five or ten years hence, is likely 
to come from the city, with whom such an ad¬ 
junct to your farm would be a chief attraction. 
The taste for rural life is growing more and more 
strong in cities, and will increase as the follies 
and extravagancies of fashion are multiplied. The 
retiring merchant, or professional man can not 
wait to grow his own trees. He can build his 
house, and lay out his grounds, and plant his 
shrubs and flowers in a year ; but trees are the 
work of lime. These are indispensable to his 
cultivated tastes, and the essential condition of 
his location in the country. He can soo er 
make him a tasteful home in the uncleared forest 
than upon a treeless farm. Whatever then your 
future home may be, tilling the old homestead or 
going hence, make the most of it as a home of in¬ 
telligence and taste, while you remain. Let the 
passing traveller see that 
“ Hence every gale 
Breaks odors, every zephyr from his wings 
Wafting new fragrance ; borne from trees, from shrube, 
From deep carnations, from the blushing rose. 
From every flower and aromatic herb, 
In grateful mixtures. Hence ambrosial fruite 
Yield their delicious flavors.” 
