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Nea THE USES OF EVERGREENS ABOUT THE HOME. 391 
- the foliage of an evergreen is of great benefit as a check to the 
rapid giving out of moisture to the drying winds. 
As has been hinted, many of the standard varieties of evergreens 
outgrow the places assigned them, but the nursery catalogues give 
us many kinds which are always dwarf in habit, while a visit to our 
northern woods may afford us specimens of the savin, juniper and 
yew, which may be safely used_in close proximity to the buildings 
and if so be that the house may show a considerable extent of stone 
foundations or, perchance, a rock-faced porch, so popular with some 
architects just now, some of these varieties close to the mason-work 
will screen it, as they do the rocky cliffs in their native wilds, and 
blend the artificial of the building with the natural of the lawn. 
While during the summer season our evergreen plantations add 
grace and beauty to the landscape, it is when shut in by snow and 
frost that we turn to them with the greatest satisfaction, and in a 
climate where, whatever the other vagaries of the season may be, 
winter never fails us,it is no slight recommendation to lend life and 
cheer to the wintry scene. 
For grouping with our ornamental evergreens and to add more 
vivid coloring, especially when seen against a frosty background 
we may introduce shrubs and small trees with bright tinted barks, 
as the white or yellow birch, golden willow and native red-barked 
dogwood, some specimens of which cannot be excelled by the most 
brilliant of imported varieties; or berry-bearing shrubs like the 
bush cranberry, the barberry, the winter-berry (Ilex verticillata), 
_and the well known climbing bitter-sweet, with its scarlet seeds. 
Such a group within view of the living room window would rob the 
blizzard and cold wave of half their terrors. 
In addition to the many species of the conifera family to which we 
have heretofore been referring, the dweller in more favored climates 
has at his disposal a class of plants known familiarly as “broad- 
leafed evergreens,” as rhododendrons, laurels, hollies, etc., which 
both in the season of snow and the season of flowers add greatly to 
the beauties of the shrubberies and lawns. 
We are at present presumably beyond the limits within which 
these species can be successfully grown, but it is pleasing to note 
that cultivation is developing hardy varieties which seem to be 
better fitted for the vicissitudes of ourclimate. Even the presence of 
lime in the soil may not be the evil that it has generally been con- 
sidered, for I have been informed that Messrs Olmsted & Olmsted, 
the well known landscape architects, have had careful analyses of 
various soils made, which showed that some soils in which these 
plants flourish really contained more of the salts of lime than 
others in which, for some unknown reason, they will not grow. 
Those whose circumstances permit them to indulge in exotic 
plants and who may wish to decorate their verandas and lawns in 
the summer time with shrubs of formal appearance, find in the half- 
hardy hollies, laurels, yews,etc., very attractive evergreens for this 
purpose. Planted in large tubs and wintered in any cellar which 
will safely serve as a store room for vegetables, they will live and 
thrive for years. 
