After the general remarks made in the preceding pages, no _particular_
instructions can be given for the manner in which this residence should
be embellished in its trees and shrubbery. The large forest trees,
always grand, graceful, and appropriate, would become such a house,
throwing a protecting air around and over its quiet, unpretending roof.
Vines, or climbing roses, might throw their delicate spray around the
columns of the modest veranda, and a varied selection of familiar
shrubbery and ornamental plants checker the immediate front and sides of
the house looking out upon the lawn; through which a spacious walk, or
carriage-way should wind, from the high road, or chief approach.
There are, however, so many objects to be consulted in the various sites
of houses, that no one rule can be laid down for individual guidance.
The surface of the ground immediately adjoining the house must be
considered; the position of the house, as it is viewed from surrounding
objects; its altitude, or depression, as affected by the adjacent lands;
its command upon surrounding near, or distant objects, in the way of
prospect; the presence of water, either in stream, pond, or lake, far or
near, or the absence of water altogether--all these enter immediately
into the manner in which the lawn of a house should be laid out, and
worked, and planted. But as a rule, all _filagree_ work, such as
serpentine paths, and tortuous, unmeaning circles, artificial piles of
rock, and a multitude of small _ornaments_--so esteemed, by some--should
never be introduced into the lawn of a _farm_ house. It is unmeaning,
in the first place; expensive in its care, in the second place;
unsatisfactory and annoying altogether. Such things about a farm
establishment are neither dignified nor useful, and should be left to
town's-people, having but a stinted appreciation of what constitutes
_natural_ beauty, and wanting to make the most of the limited piece of
ground of which they are possessed.
Nor would we shut out, by these remarks, the beauty and odor of the
flower-borders, which are so appropriately the care of the good matron
of the household and her comely daughters. To them may be devoted a
well-dug plat beneath the windows, or in the garden. Enough, and to
spare, they should always have, of such cheerful, life-giving pleasures.
We only object to their being strewed all over the ground,--a tussoc of
plant here, a patch of posey there, and a scattering of both everywhere,
without either system or meaning. They lower the dignity and simplicity
of the country dwelling altogether.
The business approach to this house is, of course, toward the stables
and carriage-house, and from them should lead off the main farm-avenue.
The kitchen garden, if possible, should lie on the kitchen side of the
house, where, also, should be placed the bee-house, in full sight from
the windows, that their labors and swarming may be watched. In fact, the
entire economy of the farm house, and its appendages, should be brought
close under the eye of the household, to engage their care and
watchfulness, and to interest them in all the little associations and
endearments--and they are many, when properly studied out--which go to
make agricultural life one of the most agreeable pursuits, if not
altogether so, in which our lot in life may be cast.
A fruit-garden, too, should be a prominent object near this house. We
are now advancing somewhat into the _elegances_ of agricultural life;
and although fruit trees, and _good_ fruits too, should hold a strong
place in the surroundings of even the humblest of all country
places--sufficient, at least, for the ample use of the family--they have
not yet been noticed, to any extent, in those already described. It may
be remarked, that the fruit-_garden_--the _orchard_, for market
purposes, is not here intended--should be placed in near proximity to
the house. All the _small_ fruits, for household use, such as
strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, grapes,
as well as apricots, plums, nectarines, peaches, pears, apples, quinces,
or whatever fruits may be cultivated, in different localities, should be
close by, for the convenience of collecting them, and to protect them
from destruction by vermin, birds, or the depredations of creatures
_called_ human.
A decided plan of arrangement for all the plantations and grounds,
should enter into the composition of the site for the dwelling,
out-houses, gardens, &c., as they are to appear when the whole
establishment is completed; and nothing left to accident, chance, or
after-thought, which can be disposed of at the commencement. By the
adoption of such a course, the entire composition is more easily
perfected, and with infinitely greater expression of character, than if
left to the chance designs, or accidental demands of the future.
Another feature should be strictly enforced, in the outward appointments
of the farm house,--and that is, the entire withdrawal of any use of the
highway, in its occupation by the stock of the farm, except in leading
them to and from its enclosures. Nothing looks more slovenly, and
nothing can be more unthrifty, in an _enclosed_ country, than the
running of farm stock in the highway. What so untidy as the approach to
a house, with a herd of filthy hogs rooting about the fences, basking
along the sidewalk, or feeding at a huge, uncouth, hollowed log, in the
road near the dwelling. It may be out of place here to speak of it, but
this disgusting spectacle has so often offended our sight, at the
approach of an otherwise pleasant farm establishment, that we cannot
forego the opportunity to speak of it. The road lying in front, or
between the different sections of the farm, should be as well, and as
cleanly kept as any portion of the enclosures, and it is equally a sin
against good taste and neighborhood-morality, to have it otherwise.