Ornamentation of Our Country Homes. 155 



trees in our yards and let them grow with our children, and our love with 

 them. In my own home, I think more of my trees than I do of my house, 

 and I have a good one, too. 



TO PLANT CHEAPLY. 



Plant a clump of elm, a clump of sugar maple, a clump of soft maple, a 

 clump of white pine, a clump of Norway spruce, a clump of red cedar, a 

 clump of shrubs, Althea, Wigelia snow ball, a clump of the lilacs, a clump of 

 spirea, a bed of roses, hybrids and June, a bed of peonias, phlox and hardy 

 perennials, and, if you can aflford it, a bed of house plants. These, put in 

 proper places, so as not to interfere with the view from the house, will, with 

 very little expense, give a very pleasant yard. Small evergreens can be had 

 one foot high for ten to fifteen cents. Trees two years old of the varieties 

 given at about the same price. Shrubs two years old at five to ten cents ; 

 roses at fifteen to twenty cents; herbaceous plants at five to twenty cents. 

 The total expense of such planting of such a place need not exceed $10 to 

 $15, and will prove the best invedment a man ever viade on ttiefarm. 



The roads and paths should be as few and simple as are needed only, 

 because they take more time to keep them well than any other thing on the 

 place. A drive from the gate, circling or straight, to the side of the house, 

 and thence to the barn, with a path from the front gate to the front and side 

 of the house, is all that is needed. This path if angling or curved will be 

 much the better, but never so much so as to cause a jDcrson to turn out of 

 the way in going from the house to the gate. 



The back yard may be used for indiscriminate planting, and many 

 things not proper to go into the front yard can be used in the rear, and with- 

 out so much system. In fact, it may be a mixed mass or a conglomeration 

 if you choose to have it. Plant thickly, and if some die you do not miss 

 them, and as soon as they begin to crowd take them out by transplanting or 

 cutting down. Do not be afraid to cut down wJien necessary any more than 

 you are to plant tvfiere necessary. On my own place I have cut down twice 

 as many trees as I have left, and will have to do more of it. 



The planting of larger places, or ornamentation of city homes, is not in 

 the province of my paper, and yet I can not help but notice the great mis- 

 take that the city people are making of letting their places be so much 

 crowded as to spoil their beauty. I find that to be the case much more so 

 in California than even in our own state. One fine, well-perfected tree, with 

 plenty of green lawn, makes a prettier show than a dozen planted too closely, 

 and one well grouped clump of trees are much more beautiful in a lawn 

 than would be a dozen scattered here and there. If you do plant thickly or 

 indiscriminately, be sure in after years to begin your thinning in time. 



Ornamenting our country homes can be very much assisted by roadside 

 planting. Not by any means planting in single lines of trees about the roads, 

 but if the road is straight, then, by all means plant the trees in groups along 

 the road, and at every corner, especially, make a clump of trees. If the 



