DECIDUOUS TREES AND EVERGREENS. 159 



111 regard to maples, there is one marked exception to the 

 general rule respecting foreign trees. The Norway maple, 

 I believe, is a perfectly hardy and sure grower, and it is as 

 beautiful a maple as we can plant, except that in the autumn, 

 its leaves assume a yellow color, instead of the various colors 

 of the rock-maple. 



The canoe-birch of Maine is a far more beautiful tree in 

 every respect than the gray birch of Massachusetts. All the 

 birches are beautiful trees. You can have a forest of them in 

 your own life-time which will be of immense value as timber, 

 for they are rapid growers. 



It has been stated that deciduous trees will grow better 

 if planted with pines, and that is true. I attempted to grow 

 deciduous trees on a side-hill, exposed to the wind, and lost 

 them, because I did not protect them with pines and other 

 evergreens. The moment I planted piues with them, they 

 protected them from the northern blasts, and they grew with 

 the utmost rapidity. I planted my trees seventeen years ago. 

 It was a very windy place. My children suffered with croup, 

 and other diseases of the throat. My house was on high 

 ground, and I never supposed for a moment that the location 

 had anything to do with the prevalence of this disease ; but 

 it was very much exposed ; there was not a tree near enough 

 to keep the wind away from it. Now it is perfectly protected 

 by trees, and I have not had a case of croup since I secured 

 that protection, though there are still young children in the 

 house. This is an illustration of the influence of trees upon 

 the atmosphere and upon health, by the protection which they 

 afford against winds. 



As regards the drying up of streams, I had a most interest- 

 ing illustration of that when I was travelling in Spain, many 

 years ago. I was riding on horseback through Andalusia, 

 with a very intelligent peasant, who had been Washington 

 Irvinir's Sfuide, when he was writing his books, "The Alham- 

 bra," and the "Conquest of Grenada." He was an old man, 

 and as we were ridino: along the bed of a brook, which was 

 perfectly dry, I said, "Does water ever flow here, Manuel?" 

 "No," he said, "except in winter, and then it is a torrent. It 

 used to be a river in old times, as long ago as when the 

 Romans were here." "How do you know that?" Said he, 



