FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 181 



how delightful it is to coavey to our own premises the unparalleled beauties of 

 our Michigan autumn foliage. 



There is opportunity for the exhibition of delicate taste in the arrangement 

 of a bouquet of flowers so that each form and each varying tint and shade will 

 augment the beauty of the group, but it takes more skill and there is a greater 

 charm in arranging our groups of trees in such a manner that the different types 

 of form will not, by juxtaposition, injure each other, and so that each hue of 

 summer and autumn will be in its position of best effect. It is a skill not to be 

 learned in books, not to be taught in a lecture, but to be acquired by a careful 

 acquaintance with the chapters of the book of nature, that are so replete with 

 the knowledge we need. In adjusting trees with rich autumn tints it is desira- 

 ble that somewhere close at hand, — either in front or behind, — there be the 

 rich color of the evergreens for contrast. A low spot can be beautifully and 

 appropriately planted to the drooping trees; the willows, the elms, the water 

 maples, and larches, — all may be made to contribute to a beautiful effect. 



Single trees, placed as specimens on the lawn and kept neatly pruned so as 

 not to injure their habit, can be so selected and placed as to give individuality 

 to the place; and this is what we are to seek after. Each family stamps its 

 individuality upon the place it occupies, .and if this accords with principles of 

 taste, the fact of its originality gives beauty and satisfaction to the premises. 



Our native trees are not well appreciated. A tree agent will come around and 

 exhibit his plates of trees with foreign and high sounding names, for which we 

 pay great prices, when in our native forests we can find far more beautiful ones 

 that we know we can transplant and warrant to be hardy. It would be far bet- 

 ter if the tree agents would exhibit plates of our best native trees, well grown, 

 putting to them their scientific names. They would make just as much money, 

 and the people would not lose so much by it, even if they could get the same 

 specimens in their own wood lots. 



No climber with a foreign title can ever equal our common Virginia creeper, 

 growing so abundantly in our own woods, and no plants can equal our maples, 

 elms, lindens, ashes, and oaks, among trees ; our azaleas, kalmias, spice-bush, 

 leather-wood, witch-hazel, alders, and red-ozier, among shrubs ; and our pines, 

 hemlocks, spruces, and cedars, among the evergreens. 



What shall I say of flowers? Some of us are drawn to them as by a magnet, 

 and still are easily satisfied. It is not the costly or rare ones we crave, but our 

 common lilacs, mock orange, Japan quince, phlox, pinks, verbenas, asters, 

 stocks, candy-tuft, sweet william, roses, and columbine. And where shall we 

 put our flowers? Not in beds dotting the lawn here and there. No, don't for 

 anything spoil the beauty of that velvet carpet. Have the flowers on one side. 

 Make them into borders or beds as you choose, but certainly have plenty, apart 

 from even these, that you can, during their season, cut from them to embellish 

 your mantel, your windows, your dining-room, and your kitchen. I say kitchen, 

 i)ecause, for the farmer's wife, a large part of the time is spent here, and the 

 flowers are for use and enjoyment Vv'here they will do the most good. 



Many of the dwarf evergreens are beautiful to employ as centers for flower 

 beds, and make a permanent position about which to arrange colors. 



Do not think because you have a climbing rose, a clematis, a honey-suckle, 

 or a frost grape, that you must make an elaborate lattice-work or trellis. Let 

 one climb up the corner of the house, another the veranda column, another 

 over the door to the side entrance, and put one by the gate-post, by an old oak 



