MANUAL TRAINING 231 



them through a period of testing. You can collect 

 no end of these in your shrubbery, and when you are 

 accustomed to looking for them, you will find them 

 everywhere asking you to give them room and a 

 chance. These three plots of ground should con- 

 stitute a pet retreat for both work and study 

 especially in your old age. They will ultimately be 

 a source of considerable income, as well as of immense 

 pleasure. 



I do not think much of arbors, that is of wooden 

 affairs, conventionally set up to adorn the grounds, 

 but rarely used. Nature does much better with a 

 lot of thorn trees and grape vines that is living 

 arbors. You can yourself make a living arbor by 

 planting a circle of evergreens, rather closely to- 

 gether, with a diameter of about twenty feet. As 

 the evergreens grow, the interior limbs, interlock- 

 ing, will die out at the bottom, and must be re- 

 moved. Overhead they will lock together, and you 

 will have a most complete and shaded retreat. 



I can show you a living arbor with the roof fifty 

 feet above the floor and carpeted with several inches 

 of spruce needles. Squirrels like it, and a catbird 

 calls it home. Here you may swing a hammock 

 if you please, and the bird looking down through 

 the glinting shadows, will sing you any song that 

 you will whistle back to him. 



I am aware that I have not outlined for you a 

 country home that will suit the victims of conven- 

 tionalism, nor have I tried to do it. I have aimed 



