THE FRONT YARD. 221 



Engrown, they add a shelf of limbs each year, are pyramidal in form, the 

 lateral branches extending as the main stem grows taller. I have known 

 $100 apiece to be refused for such trees as you might have. Then take a 

 pair of Rocky Mountain silver fir, the Concolor, there is one growing here 

 in York, the owner would not put a price on. There are some on those 

 princely estates in the East which money could not buy. In color they are 

 ermine and emerald. Their beauty increases with age. With trunks 

 straight as an arrow, with branches of the finest symmetry, perfect in 

 form, and adorned with that exquisite foliage which makes a tree of unmis- 

 takable attractiveness. It will grow for you. I have seen them doing well 

 in the sod, in a cemetery, out on the open prairie. In the Arnold Arbore- 

 tum, in Boston, there is a tree lilac, Syringa Japonica, it is thirty years 

 from seed. Time and again it has been photographed. Just think of a 

 tree, about a foot through, with the massive head one vast bouquet of 

 bloom. This, as well as the Chinese tree lilacs, do well on our Nebraska 

 prairies. From the window where I write I can see a group of Chinese 

 tree lilacs, ten years old, that are four inches through and fifteen to 

 eighteen feet tall. You see, they grow about as fast and as large as our 

 native ash. I do not suppose the one in the Arboretum could be bought at 

 any price. These trees would grow for you as well as anyone. With me 

 they do as well as ash or elms. Just think of these trees loaded with a 

 great mass of honey-scented, white flowers. There is that new shrub 

 which has recently been originated by Professor Hanson, a cross between 

 the purple plum and the sand cherry, giving a charming purple-leaved 

 shrub of marvelous beauty. It is not yet fully disseminated, but will be in 

 a few years. Such an ornamental bush would be almost priceless. Take 

 the great family of lilacs, at least 100 varieties will thrive in the West and 

 Northwest. They give you a wide diversity of form and foliage, while the 

 time of blooming reaches from early spring till the first of July. How 

 much of pleasure such a collection would afford. Then take the large 

 family of viburnums, or snowballs, at least six varieties do well on our 

 prairies, and are hardy in the North. There are many things which can 

 be used to beautify the home, which, though not expensive at first, will 

 grow into value. 



We are too much inclined to run everything into dollars and cents.and 

 if that kind of reduction can not be made, then things are discarded. As 

 well estimate one of the productions of Phidias by the marble there is in it, 

 or the value of one of the pictures of the old masters, by the worth of the 

 canvas. It would be too much like estimating a thoroughbred jersey of 

 the finest strain by the beef she would make. W^e can not price things 

 that way. As well try and put a cash value on a gorgeous sunset, when 

 the clouds are transformed into glowing mountains of gems as they stand 

 sentinel at the gates of the dying day. 



A SAFE INVESTMENT. 



Times have changed. It was not a great many years ago when we had 

 to pay 3 per cent a month, and a farm loan at 10 per cent was something 

 to be eagerly grabbed. There was a heavy crop of mortgages then, but 



