INDEX OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS. Asparagus Knife (Book of Garden),.. 551 Barn, ground plan, three stories,..... 454 Barrel for liquid manure,. . . . . . . Beaver Brook, Author's residence,.. Finis. Boiler, Weeks & Co.'s (Book of Gar- Budding Roses, incision in stock, and bud ready (Field's Pear Culture),.. 731 Budding; bud in place and wound, 731 Buds, well and ill prepared,................. 730 66 pears,.. vines,. 206 ..116, 117, 118 Farm), 575 698 34 ..762, 764 74 Trees, instances of grouping,. "Twice gathered " land, diagram, Rafter to coal pit, with air chamber,. 170 Ventilation of glass houses; poor,.... 100 Ridge and furrow roof,... 369 64 "in section,.. 368 Ridge and furrow applied to span roof,... Ventilation of glass houses; good,.... 101 351 367 Village-garden,. 316 Wardian case (Book of Garden),..... 247 794 Roots, in deep soil,. Rosaries, of W. Paul, ground plans, 667-668 designs for, by Author,..671, 672 Water supplied to cattle,. Wire fence,.. Wood road,. 669 643 ..217, 218 .241, 242 .194 669 85 COUNTRY LIFE. CHAPTER I. N Agriculture, Nature repeats herself. Each year is a repetition of its predecessor, and each month but a further development of the plans and processes of the last. The cultivator of the smallest piece of land performs, on his scale, the same operations with the farmer whose acres are numbered by scores, or with the gardener whose gardens and greenhouses have cost thousands of dollars. In preparing a handbook for the instruction of one class of cultivators of the soil, we must touch upon the subjects which interest all; and therefore, to avoid redundancy, we will select as an example the estate of a person who must in the course of a year have occasion to practise every operation of agriculture and horticulture which comes within the means of men of moderate fortune. I shall proceed to describe month by month a system of proceeding, based upon the most approved theories and practice of modern horticulture, agriculture, and landscape gardening, which will insure the largest return in pleasure and money to any one who will observe faithfully the directions given. I shall confine myself to the wants of men with small fortunes, as our country must always be principally inhabited by this class. Men of large fortunes need no such handbook, as they will seek their pleasure through agents whose especial business it is to understand all that I propose to discuss. Men with a bare competence need no special book, for although they may have a bit of land to cultivate, their operations will be identical with those I describe, only on a smaller scale, and they have but to reduce my advice and remarks to their own scale. I do not propose to offer to the public advice and directions adapted to all parts of the continent. This would manifestly be impossible, owing to the great difference in climate. It might seem at first sight that differences in climate would only affect the time for commencing and concluding operations, and this idea has influenced all who have hitherto prepared such a work as this; but the view is incorrect. We must not assume that because the season in Philadelphia or Bangor is a week earlier or later than in Boston, directions prepared for either latitude will apply to the other. It is indeed so in a measure; but special directions are based upon special differences which are affected by slight variations in climate: as, what kind of plants will bear out-of-door culture; what precautions must be taken to secure satisfactory crops of various kinds; the length of season that will enable those plants and crops to mature. Again, in the tasteful department of culture there is a considerable difference in the plants that will bear exposure to the weather, and consequently in the combinations and effects that are possible; therefore, if we should take the plants or crops advised for places four or five hundred miles asunder, and cultivate them ourselves, allowing the proper difference in time, so that the season shall have advanced to that point that will warrant a commencement, we should ultimately find that there was the same allowance to be made at the end of the season; and thus a crop which would require three or four months for its perfection would be cut short a fortnight at each end, a month in the whole. Of course the difficulty in preparing a book of this general character is only one of size, as by taking room enough the writer might consider the whole continent; but the resulting volume would be too unwieldy and cumbrous for general use. Nor shall I treat the various subjects introduced in a complete and finished manner, entering into a discussion of the whys and wherefores which have induced me to assume and maintain the views enunciated, as that course also would demand too much space and time; but shall content myself with stating the theories and practice which experience and common sense have proved to be the best for people who live |