h the farmer or
his occupation. We hold, that although many of the practical operations
of the farm may be rough, laborious, and untidy, yet they are not, and
need not be inconsistent with the knowledge and practice of neatness,
order, and even elegance and refinement within doors; and, that the due
accommodation of the various things appertaining to farm stock, farm
labor, and farm life, should have a tendency to elevate the social
position, the associations, thoughts, and entire condition of the
farmer. As the man himself--no matter what his occupation--be lodged and
fed, so influenced, in a degree, will be his practice in the daily
duties of his life. A squalid, miserable tenement, with which they who
inhabit it are content, can lead to no elevation of character, no
improvement in condition, either social or moral, of its occupants. But,
the family comfortably and tidily, although humbly provided in their
habitation and domestic arrangements, have usually a corresponding
character in their personal relations. A log cabin, even,--and I speak
of this primitive American structure with profound affection and regard,
as the shelter from which we have achieved the most of our prodigious
and rapid agricultural conquests,--may be so constructed as to speak an
air of neatness, intelligence, and even refinement in those who inhabit
it.

Admitting, then, without further argument, that well conditioned
household accommodations are as important to the farmer, even to the
indulgence of luxury itself, when it can be afforded, as for those who
occupy other and more active pursuits, it is quite important that he be
equally well instructed in the art of planning and arranging these
accommodations, and in designing, also, the various other structures
which are necessary to his wants in their fullest extent. As a question
of economy, both in saving and accumulating, good and sufficient
buildings are of the first consequence, in a pecuniary light, and when
to this are added other considerations touching our social enjoyment,
our advancement in temporal condition, our associations, our position
and influence in life, and, not least, the decided item of national good
taste which the introduction of good buildings throughout our extended
agricultural country will give, we find abundant cause for effort in
improvement.

It is not intended in our remarks to convey the impression that we
Americans, as a people, are destitute of comfortable,