418 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



as before directed, keeping the ground with this circle well cultivated 

 for two or three years and then allowing it to grass over. 



Another excellent use for evergreens, especially suburban grounds, 

 is for the screen of unsightly objects, such as out-buildings, and the 

 unsightly back yards of adjacent lots. Here again the spruces are 

 excellent, and should be planted about the same distance apart, as 

 directed, for the shelter belt. 



One word of caution to those who are planting in lawns and small 

 grounds, and I will bring my paper on this subject to a close, and that 

 is to carefully take into consideration the ultimate size and spread to 

 which your trees will attain. Do not plant too thickly. A cluttered 

 lawn or yard is an abomination, both unsightly and unwholesome. Few 

 have the courage to take a tree out after they have grown it for years. 

 Plant sparingly, and seek to develop perfect specimens. 



W. D. BoYNTON, Wisconsin. 



Vines Near Dwellings. 



It is often a difficult task to get vines started which have been 

 planted near dwellings. The plants stand still for a long time in many 

 cases. It is frequently the case that the soil is poor in such locations. 

 Excavations for the cellar have been placed there, often of sand or 

 clay, in which no plant can thrive. This must be made right by dig- 

 ging out a barrowful or two of this rubbish and filling in with good 

 soil. Another, and perhaps a greater reason for this poor growth is 

 that the buildings keep away the rain from certain quarters, causing 

 the soil to become so dry that nothing can grow in it. When this is 

 the trouble it can be remedied to a great extent by procuring vines of 

 some length of stem, that they may be placed some distance away from 

 the wall. Let it be a Virginia creeper, for instance. Get a vine with 

 a stem two feet or more in length. Plant it two feet from the wall, 

 opening a trench from it to the wall in which the shoots are to be laid 

 and covered over with earth. This will bring the point of the vine 

 close to the wall, up which it will soon run. The roots being two feet 

 away from the wall will meet with more moisture than if closer to it, 

 and the shoots which have been carried along under ground will make 

 root in time, pushing along growth fast. In this way, with the roots in 

 good soil, many a vine has been given a good start, which otherwise 

 would have grown but little or have died out completely. It is an ex- 

 cellent plan, and one not often thought of. 



