TREES ABOUT THE HOUSE. 143 



There are many other trees of great beauty. Such are all 

 the oaks, but they are not very desirable to have near one's 

 house. They must be planted at some distance, where they 

 may have ample space. All the birches are beautiful. We 

 have four or five of them among the finest trees of the world. 

 You have one growing on the banks of your charming Merri- 

 mack, that I never found in Massachusetts except on the banks 

 of that river or its tributaries, — the red birch. It is an ordi- 

 nar}'^, often a shabby looking, tree, as you see it on the banks, 

 but, carefully cultivated, it makes one of the most graceful 

 trees I have ever seen. I saw one not long ago, and stopped 

 to look at it, it was so attractive. Usually, it is found only 

 near water, but that one was growing, perfectly well, miles 

 away from any stream or collection of water, and was per- 

 fectly healthy. 



There are multitudes of trees, any one of which you will 

 find an ornament to your house. A single tree growing near 

 a house gives a beauty and appearance of comfort that nothing 

 else can. Go into the country and find a house standing by 

 itself, without anything about it, and you pity the owner, 

 especially on such a cold, bleak day as this, obliged to dwell 

 in such a bare, unprotected home ! 



Now, I say, gentlemen, for yourselves and for your neigh- 

 bors, see to the planting, at proper distances from your house, 

 of some of those most beautiful trees, — beeches, ashes, 

 maples, oaks, tupelos, hickories, button woods. Very near 

 the house, I would not have any of the pines; but at a 

 distance, as many as you please, and I would have a mixture 

 of pines and the other trees. Here is a remarkable fact, 

 which is now perfectly well known, and yet many people are 

 not aware of it. Most of our forest-trees flourish better 

 when there are other trees, very widely differing in character, 

 mixed with them. Why should it be so? Why should a 

 forest of oaks flourish better because pines are mixed with 

 them, or a forest of maples? It is diflScult to say, but prob- 

 ably the reason is that the food of each tree is, in some 

 measure, peculiar to it. All the trees have to gather from 

 the soil certain elements, and each tree needs some elements 

 which no other tree wants. If, therefore, you want to hus- 

 band all the resources of your soil, you nuist have a consider- 



