ii 4 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



oranges and the honeysuckles that send their perfume 

 into the stables, but there is something humanizing 

 about these surroundings, not bad at all for the hired 

 men, just as there is something economic in having 

 grapevines that carry bushels of fine clusters on your 

 barn walls. I hate stables and outbuildings that are 

 divorced from the beautiful. I have a lingering be- 

 lief that the animals are happier when surrounded 

 with that which also pleases me. 



A good list of shrubs for you to study, but not 

 strictly to follow, would be, for April, daphne; for 

 May, the golden forsythia (not quite hardy), Japan 

 quinces in variety, prunus triloba, spireas in variety, 

 lilacs in variety, viburnums (including the old-fash- 

 ioned snowball only preferring the Japanese 

 sort), and Tartarian honeysuckle; for June, plant 

 lilacs in variety of the later sorts, deutzias in variety, 

 syringas in great variety, peonies in variety, vibur- 

 nums of a later sort, clematis for climbing, cornus 

 alba and the common elder, with rhododendrons 

 where the soil will permit; and for July and August, 

 besides a few spireas and clematis paniculata, plant 

 freely of altheas and hydrangeas. 



I have already suggested that in the planting of 

 shrubs we avoid the conventional. Never plant 

 them in rows, unless it be for wind-breaks, or border- 

 ing straight drives. Seek variety in all your group- 

 ing. Low-growing shrubs should be planted in front 

 of taller. Grow as a rule in the sod, of course 

 forking annually around each plant; I mean by this 



