48 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



keep. After making tlie above calculation I ^vas at the trouble to ascertain just 

 how much they do keep, and I find that in ISTl the town of Troy, one of the 

 wealthiest in the county, had 786 horses over one year old, 1,304 cattle, 5,163 

 sheep, or about two-thirds the number of horses in the above estimate : about 

 one-third the number of cattle, and one-third the number of sheep, while the 

 average of the county of Oakland is about one-half the number of horses, one- 

 third the number of sheep, and one-fourth the number of cattle. So that if 

 the fanner works according to the census, he lias to make, even in Troy, thirty 

 per cent clear on his stock to pay for his fences, and in this county on the 

 average more than fifty per cent. 



When tliese truths shall be thoroughly appreciated, and the further truth 

 that every three acres will sustain as much stock in the yard as five acres will 

 in the field, then farmers will begin to inquire if fences cannot be dispensed 

 •with, and when they shall realize how destructive to crops it is, to let the winds 

 go wholly at large, then they will begin not only to decorate and adorn their 

 homes and gardens witli evergreens, but will extend them along the highways, 

 and make landmarks of them between all their neighboring possessions and 

 properties; then the lands will all be ornamental grounds and their gardens 

 extended over the whole of the farm, and the Paradise lost will appear to have 

 been in a measure regained. 



For ornamental purposes, on lawns, or near houses, evergreens should be 

 planted in considerable variety, as in their dilTercnt forms and tints of foliage 

 they contrast with and show off each other ; one kind adding beauty to another, 

 massing their coml)ined attractions to glorify tiie landscape. 



Their lower limbs and branches should swcej) the ground alway>, and in 

 pruning an upper branch should never be allowed to extend beyond a lower one, 

 but rather be cut a little shorter, else the lower limb will inevitably begin to 

 suffer for want of light and in time decay and fall off. 



A fine Norway spruce or dark Austrian pine or arbor vita?, with its flowing 

 branches like flowing robes spread out on the ground and gradually gathered 

 in as they ascend until the topmost spray sways in the air alone, like a pencil 

 of waving light, is certainly an object of surpassing beauty. So is a graceful 

 woman in full dress on the lawn beside the tree. For myself, I like the latter 

 the best ; but cut away, as many do, the evergreen branches a few feet from 

 the ground and cut off the lady's skirts at the knee, and while both the tree 

 and the woman will have something left of beauty and interest, and will still 

 be worth having, yet they will not after that, either of them, represent the 

 Graces. 



Care should be taken to ])lace evergreens and other shade trees not only 

 where you want them, but also where you would like to have them stand when 

 they shall have had time to grow a few years. ]\Iany do not realize how large 

 a space an evergreen or a maple twenty years old requires. For instance, I 

 saw a few days ago in one of the interior cities of this State, two as fine specimens 

 of Norway spruce as one often sees. Each occupied a circular space of about 

 twenty-five feet in diameter. They had been placed there probably when not more 

 than three feet high (they are now about thirty feet high) in front of a cheaply 

 built little cottage, standing back about twenty-five feet from the street. The 

 result is that they occupy the whole space in front of the house ; both the upper 

 and the lower windows are completely walled uj) with them, and the front door, 

 which opens between them, is entirely invisible from the gate, and almost inac- 

 cessible. Now what is to be done? To cut away the lower branches so that 



