tivation would fail to
bestow; and the most negligent apparel of nature in a thousand ways may
give a character which we might strive in vain to accomplish by our own
invention. In the efforts to embellish our dwellings or grounds, the
strong natural objects with which they are associated should be
consulted, always keeping in view an _expression_ of the chief character
to which the whole is applied.

MATERIAL FOR FARM BUILDINGS.

In a country like ours, containing within its soils and upon its surface
such an abundance and variety of building material, the composition of
our farm erections must depend in most cases upon the ability or the
choice of the builder himself.

Stone is the most durable, in the long run the cheapest, and as a
consequence, the _best_ material which can be furnished for the walls of
a dwelling. With other farm buildings circumstances may govern
differently; still, in many sections of the United States, even stone
cannot be obtained, except at an expense and inconvenience altogether
forbidding its use. Yet it is a happy relief that where stone is
difficult, or not at all to be obtained, the best of clay for bricks,
is abundant; and in almost all parts of our country, even where building
timber is scarce, its transportation is so comparatively light, and the
facilities of removing it are so cheap, that wood is accessible to every
one. Hence we may indulge in almost every fitting style of architecture
and arrangement, to which either kind of these materials are best
adapted. We shall slightly discuss them as applicable to our purposes.

Stone is found either on the surface, or in quarries under ground.
On the surface they lie chiefly as bowlders of less or greater size,
usually of hard and durable kinds. Large bowlders may be either blasted,
or split with wedges into sufficiently available shapes to lay in walls
with mortar; or if small, they may with a little extra labor, be fitted
by the aid of good mortar into equally substantial wall as the larger
masses. In quarries they are thrown out, either by blasting or splitting
in layers, so as to form regular courses when laid up; and all their
varieties may, _unhammered_, except to strike off projecting points or
angles, be laid up with a sufficiently smooth face to give fine effect
to a building. Thus, when easily obtained, aside from the greater
advantages of their durability, stone is as cheap in the first instance
as lumber, excepting