Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-05-24
farm, 8maen 4 9oilsehpld.
From the Farm and Fireside,
FARMERS HOMES.
~ ALEzANpER nYpE. Id, MAss.


New England. There is an air Of neatness
and comfort about them which we look for in
vain elsewhere. We find better land and
better barns in other countries, but our houses,
our homes, as whole, are superior. This IS
doubtless the result of higher civilization,
the legitimate fruit of intellectual and moral
culture. It may seem vain glorious for us TO
say so, and we should not venture on the as
sertion, did not the testimony of foreigners
universally strengthen the conviction Of our
own observations. Lord Morpeth, on his
visit to America was struck with admiration
Of the comfortable homes Of the farmers Of
New Epglaad. The English system of large
landed pTopnetors farming out their lands to
ten@uts, is not conducive 10 the cultivation Of
The nome feeling, nor to permanent improve
ments. The Specification Of the word farm in
Great Britain, is land leased, and a farmer is
mere tenant Of the proprietor. Our New
England mode Of dividing the land into small
tracts, each owned in fee simple by the occu-
pant is far preferable, stimulating not only
TO the better cultivation of the soil, and the
erection Of better buildings, but what is Of far
higher value, to self respect and love OF home
and country. As far as lordships are con
cernedwe are far better off in this country than
the English, for we have hundred landlords
to England's one, and the genius Of our insh-
tutions favors the idea of every mans being
not only landlord but nobleman The
New England system Of small farms is also
far preferable to the Southern mode Of large
plantations. At the South, with a thousand
acres ofland, we find one man with many ser
wants, while here, with the same amount Of
land, we have at least ten men, who by their
intelligence and virtue are worthy ofthe name
As a Consequence we have ten houses at the
North to one at the South, and villages
schools and churches in like proportion. The
Southerner, as he travels North for the first
time, is struck with nothing so much as with
the multiplicity of villages, farms and school
houses, and whoever has travefsed the Poto-
mac and Connecticut valleys, must have con
trasted the paucity and poverty of the homes
in the former, with their multiplicity and com.
fort in the latter.
But however much reason we have to con-
gratulate ourselves upon our pleasant and
comfortable rural homes, there is margin
for still further improvement The spacious,
painted, tidy farm houses, surrounded by
lawns and groups of trees, though as we affirm
more numerous in New England than in any
other land, are not as numerous as we could
wish. We also pass many large, well built
houses, evidently the homes ofthrify farmers,
but with bleak desolate air, for the want Of
few shade trees, or a green velvet turf
around them. We never pass such a house
without wishing to stop and say to the pro-
prietor, that at the expense Of few dollars
we can make the market value of his house
many hundreds more, and add inlriusically to
its worth as place of abode, if he does not
desire to sell it. A few welms and'pines, which
two men can transplant in day, will give
cheerful aspect to many a desolate looking
home. II is a mistaken idea that we must
purchase Norway Spruce, or Scotch Larches
with which to adorn our grounds There are
no better ornamental shade trees in the wide
world than are to be found IN our own forests.
We do not sufficiently prize the blessings that
are near US, and are apt to overlook the beau
ty of the objects to which our eyes are accas-
toned. We remember well the time when
we saw no special beauty in the graceful deem
green foliage Of the hemlock. The truth is
we had been accustomed to see it all around
our path, from childhood, and to hear it spo.
E-aFs Of vFrfRk J. L :.
be contemplate, but we are grateful that we
have outliYed such childish notions We wish
also to say in passing, that in building our
houses, even the most elegant ones, we need
not 90 to the West Indies for mahogony, nor
TO Florida for yellow pine Que OF the best
built houses we ever saw, was made entirely
from the wood of our native forests. The
floors we're constructed with alternate narrow
boards Of beech and maple, and merely oiled,
were as handsome as any carpet could make
them. Birch, butternut, chestnut and oak,
all contributed their share in the different
rooms and needed no paint to make them
beautiful. Why should we paint and grain |
in imitation Of different woods, when we can !
have the original grain of the wood brought
out by oil, in a style no paint can perfectly i'm
itste?
We are glad to notice an improved taste in |
the matter of rural homes. To the lamented |
Downing we are greatly indebted for this i'm.
proyement. Though dead, yet he speaks by
his books, and through those whose taste was
educated by his genius Before Downing's
LAY, however, the glaring red house, once so
common in the country had very generally
gwen place to the more attractive white one,
with its green blinds, aad we now have the
still more agreeable, light stone colors, which
please the eye and harmonic with nature.
Instead Of the large, square, stone or brick
chimney, which formerly claimed its third of
he best part Of the house, we have more light
and graceful structures, which answer eyery
purpose, except it be as ballast for the
house.
The idea is still too prevalent that it is only
he forehanded farmer who can indulge his
aste in the construction of his home and It's
surroundings. There is room for the exercise
'i taste in building cottage or even a shanty
IS well as in the mansion. Some of the hum.
'lest abodes strike the eye of thetrayeler with
pleasure. There is an indescribable some.
hing about the premises that leads as to
hink that it is the home of intelligence and
irtue. It may be a porch over the door,