Planting Willows and Pines 



vive, a few of which are still leading a pre- 

 carious existence, while the greater part 

 are flourishing bravely, making a fine show 

 in winter against the snow. In summer 

 they shade so completely into the unkempt 

 green background of the hill that, unless 

 seen in profile, they are barely visible, even 

 when five feet high, and very bushy. Still Seeds an 



disappoint- 



farther back we have tried setting out very ?.. 

 small Pines, and have sown the ground in 

 autumn with countless Pine-seeds, and 

 nuts of all sorts, which come up satisfac- 

 torily enough, and do bravely for a month 

 or two, but suffer dreadfully in July and 

 August. They are a fruitful source of 

 anxiety and disappointment, because they 

 cannot make up their minds whether to live 

 or die. The young Oaks are especially 

 trying in this respect, for when we have 

 fairly given them up for lost, they thrust 

 out a feeble little leaf and make a fresh 

 effort at existence, but at this rate a mil- 

 lennium will be too short for them to get 

 their growth in. I have read somewhere 

 that an Oak grew from an acorn in this 

 commonwealth of Massachusetts, forty 

 feet in fourteen years, but if these hillside 

 21 



