THE "ILLINOIS WAY" OF BEAUTIFYING THE FARM 



15 



45. Virginia creeper will keep a porch shady and cool 

 throughout the long, hot summers of the corn-belt. _On 

 brick and stone use Engelmarm's ivy, instead of Japan ivy. 

 It is a self-supporting woodbine. 



46. Crimson Rambler Rose at Princeton, 111. 



Let every house have a different set of vines. It is the best and cheapest way to make a house look "different" 

 better than meaningless ornamentation or gaudy paint. (Home of L. R. Bryant.) See page 10, paragraph on "Vines." 



lawn or pasture. Measure the circumference of the trunk three 

 feet above ground and reduce to inches. Multiply this cir- 

 cumference by itself and divide by 12.56 (which is 4x3.14), 

 and you will have the area in square inches, or the number of 

 dollars the tree is worth according to the Hartford standard. 

 Doubtless a farm tree will not add so much to the cash value 

 of property as a city tree, but, even if it is worth only half as 

 much, a tree six feet in circumference is worth 206.37 for beauty 

 alone. Make an inventory of your most valuable trees and, if 

 you sell any or all of your farm, see that you get their value ! 

 Surely, when you realize the value of old trees, you will not 

 let them die of neglect ! (See Figs. 57 and 58.) 



PLANT PERMANENT TREES NOT 

 "QUICK-GROWERS" 



We ought to be ashamed to plant only "quick-growers," 

 for they are merely temporary. The pioneers had a legitimate 

 excuse for planting box elder, silver maple, and poplars, for 



they needed windbreaks without delay. But quick-growers 

 are nearly always a bad bargain; they are soft- wooded, and 

 therefore easily broken by storms, after which they fall an easy 

 prey to insects and diseases. Quick-growers are the cheapest 

 at the start, but the dearest in the end, because they cost more 

 to maintain. Just when you need them most they fail you, 

 and the cost of cutting down big trees is very heavy. The pin, 

 the red, and the scarlet oaks will overtake most of these quick- 

 growers in twenty years, and they will last for centuries after 

 the quick-growers are dead. Temporary trees get less valuable 

 every year after they reach a good size, while permanent trees 

 grow more valuable. (See Figs. 59 and 60.) If you want the 

 greatest increase of value for your property, plant permanent 

 trees, like the tulip tree, the sugar maple, the sweet gum, the 

 white ash, and, above all, the oaks. Quick growers often kill 

 sales of property because prospective purchasers are getting 

 to hate temporary trees. In Cleveland, it is against the law to 

 plant poplars. Can't you solve your shade problem without 

 them, e.g., by means of a screened porch or summer-house? 



47. The deciduous bittersweet (Celastrus scandens), a twiner with red berries which 

 are attractive all winter. Native to Illinois. This one vine, planted by the million, would 

 change Illinois from an ugly country in winter to a beautiful one. Who will do it? 



48. The evergreen bittersweet (Euonymus radicans), the only hardy evergreen climber. 

 It succeeds where English ivy fails. The best variety is vegctus, which saves years of waiting 

 for the red berries that are attractive all winter. Grow it on stone or brick not wood. 



