64 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Trees and bushes never appear to better advantage than when seen in 

 natural clumps. But to interpret an attractive natural clump is one of the 

 most difficult problems in ornamental gardening. It is almost impossible 

 for an inexperienced person to plant trees in nature's regular irregularity. 

 He will get them in rows, in squares, in a long and irregular belt, or in an 

 even-bordered clump. The finest natural groups are those which possess 

 bold curves of large trees and recesses or bays of smaller ones. In such 

 groups the large trees heighten the boldness and the small ones heighten the 

 retirement. Then, to construct a group, draw an irregular outline, with 

 deep bays aud large, rounded projections, and plant the largest and most 

 rapid growing plants near the border of the projections and the smallest 

 ones near the borders of the recesses. The interior of the clump should be 

 made up of the largest plants also. Upon the immediate borders of the 

 group it is customary to plant low bushes to give a desirable taper from the 

 greensward to the body of the groujD. The most difficult part of this whole 

 operation will be to plant the trees in such a manner that they will appear 

 not to have been planted. '-'Throw up a handful of peas and plant a tree 

 wherever a pea falls," is a gardener's rule. Some years since a clump was 

 set at the College by an intoxicated man, and he set the trees in exact rows 

 in two directions. 



Our grounds should be cut up as little as possible by walks and drives. 

 The more continuous the lawn the larger it will look, and the more easily it 

 can be cared for. There is a prevalent notion that walks must be crooked, and 

 we occasionally see extravagant forms of such vagaries. In a certain eastern 

 city is a fine residence with a cork-screw walk leading from the front gate to 

 the residence, but if the person is not intoxicated by the appearance he can 

 walk in a bee-line through the center of the cork-screw! Landscape garden- 

 ing never demands extravagant forms. A walk should never appear to go 

 where it does not go. A direct and gently curved path from one side or 

 both sides of the premises is the most desirable. The carriage drive should 

 enter at one side and approach the side of the residence, reach the kitchen 

 door and veer off towards the barn. Directly in front of the house there 

 should be a well kept lawn of small extent, with enough shrubbery to inter- 

 cept the gaze of passers-by, but not enough to conceal desirable views. It 

 is pleasanter to secure side views of the highway than direct front views, 

 and especially so if the residence is close to the highway. The flower-beds 

 should be at one side of the residence, nearest the common windows, and in 

 but partial view from the highway. A front yard full of flowers possesses 

 the same fault as a person with an over-gaudy dress. 



For ordinary ornamental purposes, common flowers and native shrubs are 

 the best. We know them. The craze for exotics simply because they are 

 exotics is drawing to a close. The craze has been of great benefit, because 

 it has taught us the value of native plants by instituting a means of com- 

 parison. A friend valued his visit to Italy because it taught him to appre- 

 ciate the sunsets of Michigi.n. Many exotics are beautiful and vigorous 

 everywhere, but many more are not so. They demand of the farmer too 

 great an expenditure of time and money. Our woods and fence-rows are 

 nurseries. All our shrubs are worthy of cultivation. We do not know how 

 to propagate them all to advantage, but we can transplant them. They 

 should be taken up early in the fall with a liberal amount of earth, and 

 stored for a couple of months in a warm cellar or cool greenhouse. The 

 plants will then make roots. They should be placed in a colder place, as 



