FARMS 181 



lings and sometimes acorns or nuts. Trees grow 

 faster than one thinks, and, with a multitude of 

 small trees placed not very far apart, a forest soon 

 develops. The advantages of this method are that 

 all the ground is occupied from the start and all is 

 covered with a mulching of leaves in the autumn 

 which will enrich the land. With such a plantation 

 of small trees, the strongest get the start so that the 

 future forest of large trees will be made up of healthy 

 strong individuals. Such a forest is also beautiful 

 from the beginning. The trees, to a large extent, 

 take care of each other so that the farmer need give 

 them but little attention. Squirrels and other ani- 

 mals would dig for acorns and nuts, so it is often an 

 advantage to plant year-old seedlings. 



In addition to planting about the house and other 

 buildings and the wood-lot, the farm has other fea- 

 tures that will count in the landscape. Usually, 

 the more or less undulating fields are beautiful. 

 There is beauty in the bare ground, finely pulverized 

 and well prepared to receive the seed for the next 

 crop ; in the young green blades, when first seen 

 against the dark earth, and later, when the grown 

 crop waves in the wind, it has something of the charm 

 of a large body of water. The mere mention of 



