BO _.AflDEN, 



Vol. VI. 



82.00 A YEAR. 



24 Numbers. 



CHICAGO, MARCH 15, 1898. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



No. 133. 



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A CHICAGO STREET IN WINTER. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



ARE WINDBREAKS PROFITABLE? 



This question has been discussed pro 

 and con ever since people took interest in 

 tree planting; especially has it been dis- 

 cussed in the prairie countries, where a 

 large majority answer yes. The reason I 

 now mention it is on account of an artitle 

 against them from a Michigan fruit 

 grower and a postal card from Connecti- 

 cut in favor of them, both in reference to 

 peach orchards. The article goes on to 

 state that the row of trees nearest the 

 windbreak does not grow as large or as 

 fast as the rest of the orchards, and 

 further on mentions the high price that 

 peaches sold for last season, leading one 

 to believe he had a crop of them. The 

 writer of the postal card says: "I am 

 very much interested in evergreens as a 

 windbreak. In my opinion the peach 

 trees in this town that had a protection 



in some form or other were the ones that 

 bore full crops last year. I suppose there 

 are a great many who think differently; 

 I believe those things that I see." X. 



WINTER ENJOYMENT OF TREES. 



The glory of a tree is not always lost 

 with the falling of its leaves, and it even 

 displays in winter features and character- 

 istics which not only reveal the secrets ol 

 its summer beauty but are often in them- 

 selves as fascinating as the summer form 

 itself. There is not indeed the softness 

 and luxuriance that comes with the 

 warmer season, butthere is felt a strength 

 and majesty which summer does not 

 know. The warmth of color has disap- 

 peared, but in its place are the soft grays 

 which better unite the trees with their 

 winter surroundings. 



At first thought, a tree robbed of its 

 foliage seems only a skeleton whose sight 

 must be endured until it is clothed again 

 in spring. In reality, it is not a skeleton, 

 but is only passing through another 



stage of its existence. That its character 

 is as strong as ever is shown by the vigor 

 of its twigs and winter leaf-buds, which 

 are plainly not dead, but robust and full 

 of health. Each tree has a characteristic 

 arrangement and form of bud and branch, 

 even to the point that the acute observer 

 can distinguish different species by them 

 almost as readily as by the leaves. The 

 bark, too, has its characteristic texture 

 and color, and the whole assumes a habit 

 which is distinct and unmistakable. 



Notice two trees, the elm and the oak. 

 The elm no longer carries its weight of 

 foliage, but its limbs overhang in the 

 same graceful fashion as they earlier 

 assumed. More beautiful than the effect 

 of its leaves is the delicacy of its spray of 

 twigs. It seems like a slender net thrust 

 out to catch the frost work as it falls. 

 But with all its slenderness we feel that 

 there is a hidden force behind which holds 

 it in readiness for action. 



Even more forcible is the oak. Indeed 

 never does the oak display the strength 

 and vigor of which it is an emblem more 



