22 



THE "ILLINOIS WAY" OF BEAUTIFYING THE FARM 



73. Japanese Barberry (Berberis Thunbergii) 74. Common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) 



Why not have a winter garden of shrubs with brightly colored berries or twigs which will make your place look cheer- 

 ful the year round instead of cold and bare? For $3 to $5 you can get a dozen kinds. You can propagate enough to trans- 

 form your property. See page 23, paragraph entitled "Winter Gardens for Illinois Farmers." 



to bring the hummingbirds within six feet of her knitting. 

 Southward, trumpet vine can be had for nothing from the 

 fence-rows. Five cents' worth of gourd seed will keep the child- 

 ren out of mischief, and make houses that will bring wrens to 

 the porch. A simple martin house, such as handy boys can 

 make, will do something to keep down malarial mosquitos 

 and typhoid flies. (See Fig. 65.) 



But the old ways of attracting friendly birds are not good 

 enough. The ordinary bird-house made by children leads only 

 to a tragedy, for the cats get the young birds. There must be 

 cat guards. And there is a new type of bird-house to perfect 

 which a German has spent thirty thousand dollars and thirty 

 years. To find out all about it, write to the National Associa- 

 tion of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, N. Y. Send them 

 fifty cents for the best book; viz., "How to Attract and Protect 

 the Wild Birds," by Hiesemann, and ask for the names of 

 manufacturers of scientific bird-houses. Write also to the U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture for reprints entitled "Does it Pay 

 the Farmer to Attract Birds?" and "Plants Useful to Attract 

 Birds and Protect Fruit." 



5. Wild Gardens for Illinois 

 Farmers 



Old-style flower-gardening is not 

 a sensible occupation for overworked 

 farmers. But there are three new 

 propositions that are practical for 

 Illinois farmers because they can pay 

 back their cost in real values, they 

 have no rush season, and they involve 

 no pottering with seeds. The first is 

 to fence a portion of the woodlot, and 

 make it a playground, picnic spot, 

 and wild garden. The average wood- 

 lot has some beauty, but not enough, 

 because the cows destroy the low 

 branches of the trees and the wild 

 flowers. (See Fig. 68.) Keep the cows 

 out and the charm will come back; 

 shrubs will grow up around the edges, 

 so that it will no longer be possible 

 to look right through the woods. And 

 you do not need to plant the wild 



flowers; the birds will bring the seeds. In four years the 

 ground will be carpeted again with hepaticas, bloodroot, tril- 

 liums, wild blue phlox (see Fig. 69), American bluebells (see 

 Fig. 67), shooting stars, wood asters, and many more. The 

 farmer himself need do nothing but build the fence, and the 

 only loss will be a bit of pasturage, say ten rods square. The 

 trees in the new wild garden will continue to grow more valu- 

 able every year for timber. Think of the corn-roasts and holi- 

 day celebrations in such a spot! Isn't it better than a hot, 

 dusty day at a distant "amusement park"? 



For every hundred flowers that you can raise by seed- 

 sowing you can have a thousand by using the axe. Cut out all 

 the crooked and spindling trees in woods like Fig. 69, and give 

 the largest and most permanent trees a chance to develop to 

 the utmost. Don't do this all at once, or you will let in too 

 much light and kill the big trees by "sunscald." Distribute 

 your cutting over four years, and aim to let in enough light to 

 encourage wild flowers but not enough to encourage grass. That 

 is the way to carpet the ground with acres of wild flowers, ten 

 thousand of a kind in a single colony. 



75. The Sort of Winter Garden Any Farmer Can Have 



Every countryman has one great advantage over the city man because he can grow 

 evergreens. Evergreens are sure to die in the smoky air of cities, but in the country, 

 they add to the value of a place every year, because they are beautiful the year round 

 ftnd make a better background for flowers and autumn colors than deciduous trees. Planted 

 singly on the prairies they are likely to die, but in thick groups, behind shelter-belts, they 

 are likely to succeed. See page 23, paragraph on "Winter Gardens." 



j6. The Illinois Rose for Your Shrubbery Border 



Garden roses, i.e. the large, double-flowered varieties, cannot thrive permanently in 

 a shrubbery border, and they look out of place. On the border of your lawn you want the 

 Illinois or prairie rose (Rosa setigera). In the rough and tumble of a hardy border the 

 Illinois rose can usually hold its own against foreign shrubs and weeds. And it arches over 

 so as to connect lawn and shrubbery. Nurserymen of Illinois will you specify one group 

 of Illinois rose in every border you plan or plant in this state? See page 26. 



