New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-06-18
to b~ii-,. .h.t manhood spent in Se p'''ai.' u
r;,x lie ia no, the best training By which 10 AN

city life il no, the best training BY which 10 sain
knowledgr VI The outdoor LIE Of the coao'
Shades IN the market are familiar % them; bal "
shadow. in landscape they do Dot preteod 70 Know
,u,,hinz. A.sorted coors ia calcors or ro-
bous they underr,And; but they have never
learned the infinite Vsrietie. Of nnts ID
nature. having only vague potion that 81 trees
sre green in summer. AID gray IN Winter hs'ing
reached the beginning Of know ledge-the --nse oil
irnorsnce-ihey put Themselves IL The hans' OF
ure,.ution. gsrdeDers who are in tha, mott HOPE
le.. stage Of ignorance when they DO not know that
know nothing With some snstiering Of terms
they can talk of nesrne-. and distance. Of unity
and ,ariety. Of breadth and scope. OF lights
and shadows. OF groups and masses, snd
csn ~ bc-ps,ter the bewildered ci'y gen
t-rusn with words tbs, be puts himself oat TO
DR., nur.e for country life with 3 confidence d.
-erying Of better fate. The cutting Of the eye
teeth of that baby bod Is very painful and aYery
expensive process
We are sfiming nothing er'rsysgaut-nothing
TO th. truth of which nine tenths Of those who
have .ough, home in the country can not testify
nothing but which nine teBihs Of those who are
.tIl 10 move cot Of town have yet u learn.
man wbo proposes to spend 500 for place if
Il i. 70 be made, usually spends 100000; BE- who
means 10 make sn outlay Of $1,000 does not
stop short Of $4,000: snd be who i, willing to
90 e. far a. $4,000 spends perhaps 100000
more The fact ia discoursging enough even IN
this merely pecunary view fit II isstill more so
uhen We consider Ii It not only the ou,y not well
made. but Il !. 40 positively bad that 1t IL proven
bal that no man can eel biz place for anything Ike
yhst Il cost him; and when il is sold AZ all, II IL
only With determination on the part OF the
purchaser that be must make It all over
again, perhap. even to render II haoitsble,
certainly to make il beautiful All this Is
very di.coursging; dlscouragng TO the young
man who hopes TO find healthier and more eco
nomica home in some rural district than his limited
means can afford in great city; discouraglug to
the comparatively wealthy who would seek rePose.
and quiet, and the long-dreamedof pleasures OF
country life IN the lovely natural scenery afforded
in the ueighborhoOd Of 40 many Of the large towns
of this country and particularly on the bay and
rivers which surround our own.
Happily, the taste for rural life, notwihstsnd
ing the positive waste of untold sums which has
been made in INDUCING H. is growing one. The
Inheritance from our first parents was not alto
gether evil, for man has always loved Garden.
Perhaps il is one Of the consequences Of the for
hidden use of its fruits BY the fret mother that ln
the sweat of the face, BY labor and study and OBJ
servaton only the inheritors of the earth can ever
make second Paradise. 1t is step toward re-
turn TO innocence TO try Nowhere else are there
so many appliances, and so many resources of
happy home as in the home in the country; and it
ia well for us, as people, that under so many dis
couragemeuts we cling to that belief
We owe debt of gratitude to the late A. j.
Downing which We should never forget, and should
be- always prompt t. acknowledge that he was the
first man among to incucate this love OF country
life. Nor has any man. as yet, done more to give
il a right direction. His work upon Landscape
| Gardening, and Rural Architecture-of which A.
| o. Moore & Co of this city have recently issued u
new edition. greatly improved and enlarged, under
the editorshp of Mr.. II. w. Sargent-is still the
best book adapted to our habits Of life
which has ever been written upon this
subject IL cannot, of course, nor does it
pretend to, supply the place of cultivated
and faithful Landscape Gardener; nor has he who
has read it reached the end Of all knowledge in
rural affairs, neither will it do away with the ne
cessity on the part Of the reader of all observation
| of his own But the faithful student Of its pages
will escape the consequences of ignorance in him
self, and be upon his guard against the conceited
| assumptions of others. If it be read as n text
book by the man who proposes to be his own Land
scape Gardener. he will begin with pretty
accurate estimate at the outset, OF what he wants,
| and know when be begins, what he means to have.
Nor is it much less useful to the man who has only
begun his country labOrs than to him who thinks
| he has ended them. With Downing as his guide,
even at the eleventh hour, he will detect the mis-
| takes he is making, discover and correct the
blunders he has already made. Naseitur non fit, is
| ~ true of the man of taste as Of the poet, and
Downing will not supply natural deficiency in
| ANYBODY But he who makes Of him q familiar
friend will save himself from many of the mlsfor-
tunes we have hinted at if he lives in the country;
and they are sure to befall him if he goes there
without the knowledge which Downing can give
| him. and which he can get in no other single
| volume.