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THE "ILLINOIS WAY" OF BEAUTIFYING THE FARM 



99. Before Framing the Winter View with Hawthorns 



ke, river, and prairie view in Ill , 



the time. A cheap, practical, and permanent way to enliven it is shown in Fig. 100. 



Many a lake, river, and prairie view m Illinois is dull, monotonous, and cold much of Every farmer may practice the "religion of the prairie" by planting stratified trees 

 .. . 1: :* :_ _i : c:~ which repeat the lines of the prairie. (Same bank as Fig. 99, on M; 



100. After Framing the Winter View with Hawthorns 



planting st 



agnus place, Wmnetka.) 



101. The Old Way of Treating Water Views 



All vegetation on the banks was destroyed so as to get the widest view possible. No 

 cruder conception of art can be imagined than blank lawn, blank water, and blank sky. 

 Yet many people still fancy that trees are "unnecessary" by the ocean or lake shore. It 

 has never dawned upon them that a view needs a frame. Trees make it possible to break 

 up the broad views into many intimate pictures as seen from the house, without destroy- 

 ing the broad view, which is still visible from the best place, viz., the shore. (This photo- 

 graph actually shows a portion of the same lawn seen in Fig. 102.) On a gray winter day 

 one can hardly distinguish land, water, and clouds in such a view. 



dollars will usually buy all the shrubs necessary to surround 

 a country school, and ten dollars spent at the "dramatic spot" 

 will go farther than fifty dollars scattered over the lawn. 

 Fifty dollars may be necessary for a city school, but you can 

 raise the money by private subscription if you will show these 

 pictures to the right man. The results will be so satisfactory 

 that in three or four years, when the shrubs mature, your 

 community will consider getting a comprehensive plan for your 

 schools, which will make provision for playgrounds, school 

 gardens, planting, and all other outdoor features. 



Even if you have no technical knowledge and no money you 

 can do the foundation planting this spring. No plan is neces- 



102. The "Illinois Way" of Treating Water Views 



"I persuaded my neighbor to plant this tree to frame his views of Lake Michigan, and 

 to form a natural arbor? Isn't this better than a man-made arbor? From here he has an 

 unbroken view of the magnificent shore-line to the left. From the porch his lake view is no 

 longer cold, dull, and monotonous, but intimate and personal, because this stratified 

 hawthorn is silhoutted against water and sky, repeating on a smaller scale the great lines 

 of the landscape. Formerly, when a steamer went by it was lost in space; now it makes a 

 strong and stirring picture when seen between the hawthorn and the oak. T he dotted haw 

 (Crattegus punctata), we moved from the woods." (Signed) W. C. Egan, Highland Park, III. 



sary. All you need is the gumption to help the children dig 

 and fertilize the ground, to take them out on two or three 

 Saturday afternoon walks, and to bring home the common 

 bushes that grow wild within a mile or two of the school. 

 Surely, you can tell wild grape, Virginia creeper, wild clematis, 

 bittersweet, sumach, prairie rose, buckbush, or elderberry? 

 If not, any farmer can tell you some of them even in winter. 

 And even if only one kind is available that is better than 

 nothing. A schoolhouse surrounded by sumach or elder looks 

 twice as well as one that is absolutely bare. You can dig these 

 bushes in March or early April, before the buds begin to swell. 

 Then you can organize the children to protect the birds and 



103. A Road without Hawthorns 



A sure way to kill interest in country life is to cut down all hawthorns and crab apples, 

 and leave only weeds, poles, wires, and mud. Along the roadside we want thorny shrubs 



that will take care of tnemselves and not be overrun by animals. 



104. The Same Road with Hawthorns 



Illinois can excel tiie rest of the world in beauty only by planting everywhere the pecu- 

 liar trees and shrubs which Nature designed her to grow to perfection, especially stratified 

 hawthorns and crab apples. , 



