Although we are not now writing of buildings, it is not inappropriate here to remark how much may be done in the country, and indeed even in town, by using vines and creepers to decorate buildings. The cottage in this country too rarely conveys the idea of comfort and happiness which we wish to attach to such a habitation, and chiefly because so often it stands bleak, solitary, and exposed to every ray of our summer sun, with a scanty robe of foliage to shelter it. How different such edifices, however humble, become when the porch is overhung with climbing plants,-when the blushing rose-buds peep in at the window sill, or the ripe purple clusters of the grape hang down about the eaves, those who have seen the better cottages of England well know. Very little care and trifling expense will procure all the additional beauty; and it is truly wonderful how much so little once done, adds to the happiness of the inmates. Every man feels prouder of his home when it is a pleasant spot for the eye to rest upon, than when it is situated in a desert, or overgrown with weeds. Besides this, tasteful embellishment has a tendency to refine the feelings of every member of the family; and every leisure hour spent in rendering more lovely and agreeable even the humblest cottage, is infinitely better employed than in lounging about in idle and useless dissipation.
