TRANSACTIONS OF NORTHERN ILL. HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 2Y3 



effects could not be produced without great expenditure of money and 

 time. 



When a young man becomes the possessor of a farm, let him lose 

 no time before procuring young evergreens and deciduous trees from 

 some responsible nurserymen, and setting them out in a small nursery. I 

 followed this plan, and found it very satisfactory. A few hundred ever- 

 greens, as Norway and American Spruces, l^alsam Kir, Austrian, Scotch, 

 and White Pines, from six to a dozen inches high, will cost but a few dol- 

 lars. Seeds of the most valuable timber and ornamental trees can be 

 obtained at a trifling cost. Such a young nursery will really cost less than 

 a few of the good sized trees which are usually purchased. It takes but 

 little time to attend to it, and when one wishes to use the trees, a large 

 number can be safely removed in a few hours, and there is little danger 

 of loss even in a dry season. The farmer then has plenty of the best 

 material at hand, and ready for use by the time he has selected appropri- 

 ate localities ; and if in the end he has more trees than he needs for him- 

 self, there are a plenty of people less provident who will desire them, and 

 he will become not only the enricher and beautifyer oi" his own farm, but 

 of the country around him. 



The whole farm is his to enrich and beautify. It may be made 

 attractive in the highest degree without taking in the least from its utili- 

 tarian productiveness. He should study to give all of his additions to 

 the scenery an air of rural simplicity, and bring them into pleasing har- 

 mony with the surrounding landscape. As he walks about his farm, and 

 as he rides to and fro on the public highway within view of it, and, in- 

 deed, from every available position, let him study the capacities of his 

 farm for simple and natural improvement. A barren, unsightly knoll, 

 which is an eye-sore to him, may become one of the chief attractions of 

 the landscape, if crowned with evergreens. The evergreens, especially 

 the pines, produce the best effect generally when planted in a.ssemblages ; 

 and there is no better time to study the proper places for groups of ever- 

 greens than on the white snow fields of winter ; one can tell then just 

 where these trees will add the greatest charm to the place, and utility and 

 beauty will generally be found pointing to the same spots. The ever- 

 greens are particulaly adapted to improve the winter scenery of Northern 

 Illinois. Deciduous trees, as well as evergreens, have a finer effect in 

 groups than when planted singly, though of course there are spots where 

 only single trees would be admissible. The oaks are at home on the up- 

 lands, and there is no tree of Northern Illinois more picturescjue and 

 characteristic than the Burr Oak ; the elms and willows are particularl} 

 fond of water, and if a stream runs through or beside the farm, they 

 should not be denied a place beside it; the Sugar Maple is a fine tree, and 

 seems adapted to almost any location in our landscape ; there is no finer 

 roadside tree ; its dense, cool foliage, throwing a hosi)itable shade over 

 the heated road in summer, and its bright autumn leaves laying a tinted 

 carpet beside the fence, are recommendations in its favor fijr this purpose. 

 There should be a woodland on every farm, both for beauty and utility; 

 and if nature has not already provided for the owner, let him select a 

 ly 



