THE SECEETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 343 



beautified by walks in curved lines. People visit ornamental parks for purposes 

 of pleasure and for their enjoyment of the beautiful in nature and art, but 

 most especially for the former purpose. They visit cemeteries for the purpose 

 of paying tribute to the memory of their departed dead. They go, in short, to 

 spend time; to indulge their tastes. Curved walks there not only increase the 

 distance and prolong the enjoyment, but if the objects to be viewed are arranged 

 in proper order there is at every step a change of view, giving time to examine 

 and individualize each tree, shrub, flower, fountain, bust or statue. 



There is perhaps no one thing that shows alack of taste more generally than 

 the selection and arrangement of trees for ornament and shade. An almost 

 universal error consists in having too many, a too studied regularity in their 

 arrangement, and too little variety. Wlien planted in the street they must of 

 necessity be in rows, and any deviation from a straight line there is a deformity, 

 but a change of variety and of natural form gives to each an individuality and 

 increases the pleasure of the beholder. ;Straight rows of one variety are only 

 beautiful in the distance as one object, while a diversity of form and foliage 

 multiplies the pleasure of a close inspection. 



I am often pained at the efforts to distort nature in the pruning and training 

 of ornamental trees and shrubs. Nature has her own form for every plant, 

 and though you may increase the fruitfulness of a tree or vine by your edged 

 tool manipulations, as merely a thing of beauty you cannot improve upon 

 nature's plans. Such is my own opinion of pruning and training for ornament. 

 You may shear off the ends of the limbs of a spruce or fir, and make it look 

 as though it had been turned in a lathe, the thick wall of its sides covering up 

 its branches, but it will always be too sharp at the top, and I would prefer 

 that it should stand behind the house as a specimen of what can be done in the 

 way of outraging nature. Such a tree is to one of nature's make what a wax 

 doll is to a real baby. It is true that accidents may happen in vegetation as 

 well as in other matters. If a tree is near a building or too near other trees, it 

 is liable to be misshapen, and its faults may often be corrected by pruning. A 

 branch may be broken, the wind may sway the top, or a rampant shoot may 

 start up ; in these cases we can assist nature with the pruning knife. In passing 

 a fine spruce tree to-day, with the leader broken off, I was reminded of an item 

 of my own experience some twenty-five years ago, when I had such a tree that 

 grew two or three years with a flat top of four or five branches of equal size. I 

 fastened one of these branches in an upright position, and in two years it was 

 larger than all the rest, and it soon mady a thrifty tree of most perfect symmetry . 



NEATNESS ABOUT THE HOME. 



No amount of money can be expended in the ornamentation of a home and 

 be successful without there exists about the premises an air of tidiness. The 

 Kural New Yorker touches upon this point very pleasantly in the following 

 editorial note : 



There is an old story to the effect that once upon a time there was a man in 

 search of a housekeeper, and as applicants for the position arrived he arranged 

 matters so that each one as she entered, found a broom lying on the floor in 

 lier way. All the women but one stepped over the broom and passed serenely 

 on. The one woman who stooped and picked it up secured the place of 

 housekeeper solely from that fact. It was her only recommendation, but her 



