EVERGREENS— THEIR USE AND CULTURE. 



plant, might live and thrive under the fostering shelter of a group of evergreens, that 

 otherwise could not survive the cold of our northern seasons. 



In the grouping of trees in planting, nature, as in ever3thing else, should be our teach- 

 er, and our model. Nothing appears more awkward, and displeasing to the ej-e of taste, 

 than a stiff, straight row of deciduous or evergreen trees, standing in one rigid, uncompro- 

 mising line, like so many petrified grenadiers. If we turn our eyes to the fields and the 

 meadows, we shall observe the wild trees and shrubbery gathering themselves into charm- 

 ing companies, or single spreading trees, dotting irregularly here and there, the emerald 

 carpet of waving grass. And if we would produce an effect, cither lovely or picturesque, 

 we must follow beautiful nature, avoid all stiff, straiglit lines, all precise regularity and 

 uniformity, and dispose our trees in graceful groups, with here and there a single tree of 

 fine form and habit, resting its rich den.se foliage upon the green lawn. Evergreens have 

 a very natural and pleasing effect, planted upon a slope, or steep bank — especiall}^ if there 

 be mossy rocks— different shades of green being mingled by way of contrast; or, if we 

 wish to give the appearance of distance, to place those with lighter hue and finer foliage 

 in the back ground, with those of more sombre colors, such as the Fir and Black Spruce, 

 and the Pines with coarser foliage, in front. This, tliongh diffcult to manage, has the ef- 

 fect of perspective. Larches maj' be combined to advantage with the evergreens in the 

 back ground. A collection of beautiful evergreens, tastefullj' arranged, with an underwood 

 or bordering of Rhododendron, Kalmia, and our rich, green, trailing Yew, is one of the 

 most charming pictures that can meet the eye, in winter especially. There are certain 

 trees, however, we confess, that lose much of their beauty by being crowded in Mith oth- 

 ers, and only appear to their best advantage when .set alone. This is particularly true of 

 the Hemlock, and the Black and Norway Spruces, and the Aborvita?; at least they should 

 form the outside of a group, while the stiif, ungraceful Fir, gives the finest effect by thrust- 

 ing its tall spires through the masses of softer foliage, by which it should be surrounded. 

 Evergreens, however, when set alone, should be allowed to grow naturally, with their 

 lower branches leaning upon the lawn. Indeed, nothing is in worse taste than an ever- 

 green with its branches lopped off half way up. It is but half a tree. It resembles a 

 wretched man, who has undergone some surgical operation that has taken his arms off to 

 his shoulders; and we should as soon think of shaving off the wavy, silken tresses of a 

 fjiir girl — Chinese fashion — up to the crown of her head, as of mangling in this wa}' a 

 beautiful tree. The Black Spruce, "with its thick-tufted, and dense foliage, of sombre deep 

 sea-green, the Norway, with its fringed branches of bright gold-bronzy hue, and the 

 graceful feathery Hemlock, are objects of unwearied delight, wlien thus treated. If the 

 upper branches tend, when 3'oung, to overshadow the lower, they maj' be easily clipped, 

 so that those below may never suffer from the exclusion of sunlight and air. 



Culture. — The great objection that we meet with in urging our friends to j^lant ever- 

 greens to adorn the wintr^^ landscape, is, " That it is so hard to make evergreens live." 

 As we were admiring, the other daj^, two beautiful specimens of the Black Spruce, said the 

 lady of the house to us, " When they were given to me, I merely made a little hole just 

 large enough to crowd the roots in, and stuck them down, and they have grown finely." 

 We expressed, to her great surprise, our regrets that they lived at all. They ought to 

 have died. Whenever a tree is just " stuck doAvn" in that way, without any care or love 

 — with such a perfect indifference as to whether it lives or dies — I am always glad, from 

 the principle of the thing, to have it give up the ghost. But care in planting, is not the 

 thing to be considered, if you would have your evergreens live and thrive. It is of 

 y necessity, that the roots, ivhils out of ground, should be kept moist — that they 



