New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-03-02
CITY BUSINESS AND COUNTRY LIVING.

gland.
CITY BUSINESS AND COUNIRY LIVING.
Persons who have long been waiting for
fall in prices of real estate in the country
and villages near New-YOrk will this Spring
be again disappointed. There are no indca-
tions that spectators and discreet holders will
meet with so stringent a money market; that
when they compute the demands OF mort
gagees and taX-assessors, they VIII De CON-
PEELED to sell land at prices reduced from those
of last year. The bears in real estate are
many but the bulls are not few. Although
there is according to popular belief, much
land lying outdoors, there is not much
more than is Immediately available for
purposes of country living. The demand
for houses in the suburbs Is very great,
and many persons who purchased land
with a merely speculative idea of speedy
rise in value are investing their surplus cap
ital in cheap and salable buildings. In this
way the land is made to pay more than It's
interest Yet while there are some houses Tor
sale, there are comparatively few available
ones to rent. Builders have nOtalways chosen
the best sites on their land for building. The
low grounds near the depOts have been III
many cases selected in preference to the
more picturesque, heathful, and tillable
grounds further away and on the MIL
sides This is rather a comforting fact
than otherwise for men who con-
template rural living while looking into the
mists of the present hint Of Spring There
are farmers and other land-hOlders within an
hours ride of New-York who, being further
away from the march of the house hunters
than their more fortunate neighbOrs nearer
the depOts, will sell elegant plots at reduced
prices to respectable persons who will prob
ably erect pretty, if not elaborate, houses.
There will be many such hOme-hunters this
Spring, as there have been every year since
New-YOrk became crowded and had no means
of speedy escape for her business population.
To such people, we offer some considerations.
First of all, be sure that the promise of the
shOrtness of time between business and the
expected home is such as it is said to be, and
that the trains do make such stops as the
landowner suggests. Study the timetable,
the condition of the road from the house or
land to the depot, and the system of deten-
tons to which every railway Is unjustly, by
its managers, made subject. Remember that
the trains do not always catch the boats which
are said on the timetable to belong to them.
and know that it appears to be rule with
superintendent of ferries to leave the slips
the moment they see a train approaching 1t
is safe to add One-quarter to the time specified
on the timetable as required to reach New
York. For man who works in New-YOrk,
an hour and half is as much time as he
ought to give to a single trip over the rail-
way, while the arrangements are as wretched as
they generally are now. A place which is
given on the timetable as at an hours travel
from the City Hall, is far enough at present
for most men, who work nine or ten hours a
day, to seek Even at that they will have to
give three hours a day to the cars. Without
desiring to make any invidOus distinctions,
we are justified in saying that the railway
which charges the least for communication tick
cts and gives the least for them, is the Erie.
The road is run for the mere purpose of max
ing money. Its cars are good; its boats are
elegant; its timetable is excitingy agreeable;
but its brakesmen are offensive and its boosted
time is falsehOOd.
The hOme-hunter should go to the doctor of
rival village and ascertain whether there is
anything unhealthful in the town he is seek
ing. Do not fully rely on the doctors word,
unless you know he has no land for sale.
0ne-quarter of the country places are under
the ban of chils and fever. The men who
live only few hours a day at such places
may have faces ruddy with the excitement of
getting to the depot but the pale cheeks of
the children and the chill-blue veins of the
wOmens fingers tell that malaria is present in
that locality. Beware Of men who offer houses
for sale after living in them about two sea-
sons, unless it is ascertainable that it is bust
ness and not the ague that calls them thence.
1t is not true that the hill-tOps are without
the fever; nor that it is always in existence
along the rivers. Sometimes the ague infests
a hitherto healthful town, because fields
are laid out into broad avenues. If a man
er-solemnly AYERS that there are no chills
and fever in his locality, wait patiently until
you see him shake.
In the country places there must be much
carrying to and fro of market-baskets The
more rural the place the hungrier the children
will be and the less there will be to eat The
New-YOrk markets may, at least during
the first few seasons, contain all the berries
and beef. 1t is q mistake to suppose that all
the milk is watered in New-YOrk. Country
butchers charge more for meats than is
charged in New-York, and the best butter,
berries, and vegetables are sent to the mar
kets of NewYork, which take them in large
quantities. There are green-grocers in country
villages who do not know of the existence of
such articles of luxury as asparagus, cauli-
flower, or fat raspberries. The autOcrat Of the
country village is ruthless peddler with a
tin horn. If one markets in NewYOrk
he will have to carry his own basket, I'M