THE FARM AND THE FIRESIDE; OR, THE ROMANCE OF AGRICULTURE, BEING HALF HOURS OF LIFE IN THE COUNTRY, FOR RAINY DAYS AND WINTER EVENINGS.
[figure description] Page 001.[end figure description]
BY REV. JOHN L. BLAKE, D.D.
AUTHOR OF FARMER'S EVERY-DAY BOOK; THE FARMER AT HOME; AND A
GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
COMMENDATIONS OF THE PERIODICAL PRESS.
From the Ohio Farmer.
Dr. Blake is justly regarded as one of the best agricultural writers
in the country, and the work before us is one of the most interesting
productions of his pen. Its peculiar merit, as a work for the fireside,
consists in the variety of its topics, its plain and simple, yet attractive
style, its fine engravings, and the interesting romance which the author
has thrown around Rural and Agricultural Life. In this respect, “The
Farm and the Fireside” is a work well adapted to the youthful mind.
We hope it may be extensively read, as it cannot fail to improve the
taste and promote inquiry in the most useful and practical of all departments
of science.
From the New-York Evangelist.
The aim of the author has been to throw over labor, home and agricultural
life, their true dignity and charm; to introduce the farmer to
the delights and privileges of his lot; to embellish the cares of toil
with those kindly sentiments so naturally associated with the country
and its employments. It is a pleasant book—one that will enliven the
-- 002 --
[figure description] Page 002.[end figure description]
fireside, elevate and purify the thoughts, and, at the same time, impart
a great deal of valuable agricultural knowledge. We know not how
the natural trains of thought of the farmer could be more aptly met
or more safely and agreeably led, than they are by these brief and
varied discussions. The range is as wide as life itself—morals, religion
business, recreation, education, home, wife and daughters—every relation
and duty is touched upon, genially and instinctively.
From the New-York Tribune.
We have here another highly instructive and entertaining volume
from an author, who had laid the community under large obligations by
the enterprise and tact with which he has so frequently catered to the
popular taste for descriptions of rural life. Its contents are of a very
miscellaneous character, embracing sketches of natural history, accounts
of successful farming operations, anecdotes of distinguished characters,
singular personal reminiscences, pithy moral reflections, and numerous
picturesof household life in the country. No family can add this volume
to their collection of books without increasing their sources of
pleasure and profit.
From the Northern Christian Advocate.
The venerable author of this work is entitled to the warmest thanks
of the public for his numerous and valuable contributions to our literature.
He is truly an American classic. We have been conversant
with his writings for the last twenty years, and have always found
them both useful and entertaining in a high degree. His writings on
Agriculture contain much real science, with numerous illustrative incidents,
anecdotes, and aphorisms, all in the most lively and pleasing
manner. By this means the dry details of farming business are made
to possess all the interest of romance. The style is clear, easy, and
dignified; the matter instructive, philosophical, and persuasive. This
work is an eloquent plea for the noble and independent pursuit of
Agriculture.
From the National Magazine.
We return our thanks for the new volume of Dr. Blake, “The Farm
and the Fireside, or the Romance of Agriculture, being Half Hours and
-- 003 --
[figure description] Page 003.[end figure description]
Sketches of Life in the Country,” a charming title, certainly, and one
that smacks of the man as well as of the country. Eschewing the
dryness of scientific forms and erudite details, the author presents detached,
but most entertaining, and often very suggestive articles on a
great variety of topics—from the “Wild Goose” to “Conscience in the
Cow,”—from the “Value of Lawyers in a Community” to the “Objections
to early Marriages.” The book is, in fine, quite unique, and just
such a one as the farmer would like to pore over at his fireside on long
winter evenings.
From the New-York Recorder.
“The Farm and the Fireside,” is a most interesting and valuable
work, being a series of Sketches relating to Agriculture and the numerous
kindred arts and sciences, interspersed with miscellaneous moral
instruction, adapted to the life of the farmer.
From the Germantown Telegraph.
We have looked through this work and read some of the “Sketches,”
and feel a degree of satisfaction in saying that it possesses decided
merit, and will commend itself, wherever known, as a volume of much
social interest and entertainment. The sketches comprise “Country
Life” generally—some of them are just sufficiently touched with romance
to give them additional zest; while others are purely practical,
and relate to the farmer's pursuit. We regard it as a valuable book,
and are sorry our limits will not admit of bestowing upon it such a
notice as it really deserves.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
This work is a collection of miscellaneous sketches on the Romance
of Agriculture and Rural Life. Matters of fact, however, are not excluded
from the volume, which is well adapted for reading in the
snatches of leisure enjoyed at the farmer's fireside.
From the True Democrat.
Dr. Blake's publications are all of a high order, and are doing a most
important work towards refining the taste, improving the intellect, and
-- 004 --
[figure description] Page 004.[end figure description]
rendering attractive the various branches of Agricultural science. Indeed
we know no author who has so successfully blended the romantic,
the rural and beautiful with the poetical, the useful, and true,
as has Dr. Blake. This is a peculiar feature of all his works His
style is plain, simple, and perspicuous; and, with unusual tact and
judgment, he so manages to insinuate himself upon you, that you are
at once amused, delighted, and instructed with the subject he is discussing.
In this respect he relieves the study of agricultural science
from the abstruseness of technical science, and thus renders himself
easily comprehended by all classes of readers.
From the New-York Evening Post.
The author's object is to improve the soil through the mind—not so
much to place in the hands of farmers the best methods of raising
large crops—for these he refers them to Leibig's Agricultural Chemistry,
and to treatises of the like description—but to make them feel
how useful, agreeable, and ennobling, is the profession of agriculture,
and, above all, how profitable the business must become when skilfully
and economically carried on. These money-making considerations are,
we suspect, the best moral guano that can be applied to the farmer's
spiritual soil. The author writes well of the countryman's independence,
the good effect of fresh salubrious air upon his health, and the
moral influence of his every-day intimacy with nature upon his mind.
“The Farm and the Fireside” is a kind of Bucolical annual—to be
read in seasons of leisure—intended for the Phyllises and Chloes, as
well as for the Strephons and Lindors. Dr. Blake has enriched it with
curious anecdotes of domestic animals, and of the best way of raising
and selling them. He describes model-farms, and the large incomes
made from them. He expatiates on the advantages of matrimony in
rural life, expounds the true theory of choosing a helpmate, discusses
the advantages of Sunday-Schools, and recommends neatness of attire
and punctuality in bathing. In short, this volume is as diversified in
its aspect as the small garden of a judicious cultivator, where, in a
limited space, useful cabbages, potatoes, and all the solid esculent
greens, grow side by side with choice fruits and pleasant flowers.
-- --
N. P. WILLIS'S SELECT WORKS, IN UNIFORM 12MO. VOLS.
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
RURAL LETTERS. AND OTHER RECORDS OF THOUGHTS AT
LEISURE, embracing Letters from under a Bridge, Open Air Musings in the City,
“Invalid Ramble in Germany,” “Letters from Watering Places,” &c., &c. 1 vol.
Fourth Edition.
“There is scarcely a page in it in which the reader will not remember, and turn to again
with a fresh sense of delight. It bears the imprint of nature in her purest and most joyous
forms, and under her most cheering and inspiring influences.”
—N. Y. Tribune.
“If we would show how a modern could write with the ease of Cowley, most gentle
lover of nature's gardens, and their fitting accessaries from life, we would offer this volume
as the best proof that the secret has not yet died out.”
—Literary World.
PEOPLE I HAVE MET, or Pictures of Society and People of Mark—drawn under a
thin veil of fiction. By N. P. Willis. 1 vol., 12mo. Third Edition.
“It is a collection of twenty or more of the stories which have blossomed out from the
summer soil of the author's thoughts within the last few years. Each word in some of
them the author seems to have picked as daintily, for its richness or grace, or its fine fitness
to his purpose, as if a humming-bird were picking upon his quivering wing the
flower whose sweets he would lovingly rifle, or a belle were culling the stones for her
bridal necklace.”
—N. Y. Independent.
“The book embraces a great variety of personal and social sketches in the Old World,
and concludes with some thrilling reminiscences of distinguished ladies, including the
Belles of New York, etc.”
—The Republic.
LIFE HERE AND THERE, or Sketches of Society and Adventure at far-apart times
and places. By N. P. Willis. 1 vol., 12mo.
“This very agreeable volume consists of sketches of life and adventure, all of them, the
author assures us, having a foundation strictly historical, and to a great extent autobiographical.
Such of these sketches as we have read, are in Mr. Willis's happiest vein—a vein,
by the way, in which he is unsurpassed.”
—Sartain's Magazine.
“Few readers who take up this pleasant volume will lay it aside until they have perused
every line of its contents.”
—Jersey Journal.
HURRYGRAPHS, or Sketches of Scenery, Celebrities, and Society, taken from Life
By N. P. Willis. 1 vol., 12mo. Third Edition.
“Some of the best specimens of Mr. Willis's prose, we think, are herein contained.”
—
N. Y. Evangelist.
“In the present volume, which is filled with all sorts of enticements, we prefer the
descriptions of nature to the sketches of character, and the dusty road-side grows delightful
under the touches of Willis's blossoming-dropping pen: and when we come to the
mountain and lake, it is like revelling in all the fragrant odors of Paradise.
—Boston Atlas.
-- --
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
THE FRUIT GARDEN. Second Edition. A Treatise intended to Illustrate
and explain the Physiology of Fruit Trees, the Theory and Practice of all
operations connected with the Propagation, Transplanting, Pruning and Training of
Orchard and Garden Trees, as Standards, Dwarfs, Pyramids, Espaliers, &c., the laying
out and arranging different kinds of Orchards and Gardens, the selection of
suitable varieties for different purposes and localities gathering and preserving
Fruits, Treatment of Disease, Destruction of Insects. Descriptions and Uses
of Implements, &c., illustrated with upward of one hundred ard fifty figures, representing
different parts of Trees, all Practical Operations, Forms of Trees, Designs for
Plantations, Implements, &c. By P. Barry, of the Mount Hope Nurseries, Rochester
New York. 1 vol. 12mo.
“It is one of the most thorough works of the kind we have ever seen, dealing in particular
as well as generalities, and imparting many valuable hints relative to soil, manures, pruning
and transplanting.”
—Boston Gazette.
“A mass of useful information is collected, which will give the work a value even to
those who possess the best works on the cultivation of fruit yet published.”
—Evening
Post.
“His work is one of the completest, and, as we have every reason for believing, most
accurate to be obtained on the subject.”
—N. Y. Evangelist.
“A concise Manual of the kind here presented has long been wanted, and we will
venture to say that, should this volume be carefully studied and acted upon by our industrious
farmers, the quantity of fruit in the State would be doubled in five years, and the
quality, too, greatly improved. Here may be found advice suited to all emergencies, and
the gentleman farmer may find direction for the simplest matters, as well as those which
trouble older heads. The book, we think, will be found valuable.”
—Newark Dailg
Advertiser.
“It is full of directions as to the management of trees, and buds, and fruits, and is a
valuable and pleasant Book.”
—Albany Evening Journal.
“The work is prepared with great judgment, and founded on the practical experience
of the Author—is of far greater value to the cultivator than most of the popular compilations
on the subjects.”
—N. Y. Tribune.
This Book supplies a place in fruit culture, and that is saying a great deal, while we
have the popular works of Downing, Thomas, and Cole. Mr. Barry has then a field to
himself which he occupies with decided skill and ability.
—Prairie Farmer.
Among the many works which within a few years have been brought before the public
designed to give impulse and shape to practical husbandry and horticulture, this is among
the best, and in many respects, the very best. It ought to be in every family in the
United States.
—Ashtabula Sentinel.
It is a manual that ought to be in the possession of every man that owns a foot of land.
—N. Y. Observer
Both to the active fruit grower and the novice in Pomology, this book will be found
invaluable.
—Arthur's Home Gazette.
-- --
[figure description] Advertisement.[end figure description]
RURAL HOMES; Or, SKETCHES OF HOUSES suited to American Country Life.
With over 70 Original Plans, Designs, &c. By Gervase Wheeler. 1 vol. 12mo.
Price, $1,25.
It commences with the first foot-tread upon the spot chosen for the house; details the
considerations that should weigh in selecting the site; gives models of ouildings differing
in character, extent, and cost; shows how to harmonize the building with the surrounding
scenery; teaches how healthfully to warm and ventilate; assists in selecting furniture and
the innumerable articles of utility and ornament used in constructing and finishing, and
concludes with final practical directions, giving useful limits as to drawing up written de
scriptions, specifications and contracts.
“In this neat and tasteful volume, Mr. Wheeler has condensed the results of an accomplished
training in his art, and the liberal professional practice of it.
“We can confidently recommend this elaborate production to the attention of gentlemen
who are about building or renovating their country houses, to professional architects,
and to all readers of discrimination, who wish to know what is truly eloquent in this beautiful
art, and to cultivate a taste worthy to cope with “judgment of wisest censure.”
“The cost of such establishments is carefully considered, no less than the comforts they
should afford, the display they can (honestly) pretend to, and all the adjuncts that go to
complete the ideal of a convenient and elegant mansion.”
—N. Y. Mirror.
“It is extremely practical, containing such simple and comprehensive directions for all
wishing at any time to build, being in fact the sum of the author's study and experience as
an architect for many years.”
—Albany Spectator.
“Mr. Wheeler's remarks convey much practical and useful information, evince good
taste and a proper appreciation of the beautiful, and no one should build a rural house
without first hearing what he has to recommend.”
—Philadelphia Presbyterian.
“Important in its subject, careful and ample in its details, and charmingly attractive in
its style. It gives all the information that would be desired as to the selection of sites—
the choice of appropriate styles, the particulars of plans, materials, fences, gateways, furniture,
warming, ventilation, specifications, contracts, &c., concluding with a chapter on the
intellectual and moral effect of rural architecture.”
—Hartford Religious Herald.
“A book very much needed, for it teaches people how to build comfortable, sensible,
beautiful country houses. Its conformity to common sense, as well as to the sense of
beauty, cannot be too much commended.”
—N. Y. Courier & Enquirer.
“No person can read this book without gaining much useful knowledge, and it will be a
great aid to those who intend to build houses for their own use. It is scientific without
being so interlarded with technical terms as to confuse the reader, and contains all the information
necessary to build a house from the cellar to the ridge pole. It is a parlor book,
or a book for the workshop, and will be valuable in either place.”
—Buffalo Commercial.
“This work should be in the hands of every one who contemplates building for himself
a home. It is filled with beautifully executed elevations and plans of country houses from
the most unpretending cottage to the villa. Its contents are simple and comprehensive,
embracing every variety of house usually needed.”
—Lowell Courier.
“To all who desire a delightful rural retreat of “lively cottagely” of getting a fair equivalent
of comfort and tastefulness, for a moderate outlay, we commend the Rural Homes of
Mr. wheeler.”
—N. Y. Evening Post.
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Blank Page.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Free Endpaper.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Free Endpaper.[end figure description]
-- --
[figure description] Paste-Down Endpaper.[end figure description]
Willis, Nathaniel Parker, 1806-1867 [1853], Fun-jottings, or, Laughs I have taken a pen to (Wanzer, Beardsley & Co., Rochester) [word count] [eaf745T].
