138 LAWN-PLANTING FOR WINTER EFFECT. 



both summer and winter, for the more delicate tints and 

 outlines of smaller evergreen and deciduous plants. For 

 this, indeed, is one of the peculiar features of our winter- 

 lawn : that it uses deciduous plants, plants devoid of foliage, 

 as freely as evergreens, in the winter picture. 



Nothing in the woods can surpass the sweeping grace of 

 fold on fold of snow swathing the dark, drooping branches 

 of the hardy spruces that make up the mass of the back- 

 ground. Pine and hemlock may alternate now and then 

 with Norway spruces, and vary the charm of this back- 

 ground with tho bright green or bluish tints of the former 

 and the peculiar light bluish-gray of the latter The pines, 

 especially those of the mug tins species, stand firm, rugged, 

 and strong, and the long blue needles of the white pine lend 

 just sufficient variety of tone to satisfy the eye. For grace 

 nothing can surpass the hemlock, which readily retains in 

 its folds sweeping wreaths of snow or diadems of icicles. 



Rich mass, firm outline, and evergreen tints of the 

 greatest variety characterize the view thus far considered 

 from the window. But we have only begun to analyze 

 the many possible and varied effects. Broad spaces of 

 grass slope up to the house in front, and, although not 

 green, serve to establish a sufficient distance to permit the 

 arrangement of a middle-ground as well as a foreground and 

 a background. This middle-ground is always to me the 

 most charming part of any section of the lawn. Elsewhere, 

 mass or extreme detail obscures one's best conception of 

 any beautiful plant. In the middle-ground, the really 

 choice plant offers itself to the eye with the most inviting 

 effect. Its weak points are thus somewhat hidden, and its 



