HOME PLANTING AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 81 



our best effects will lack animation and charm without the 

 action and music of birds ; and to complete the whole, we must 

 have fragrance apple blossoms, lilacs and syringas of May, 

 roses and grapes of June, honeysuckle and moonflowers, 

 cinnamon vine and mignonette of summer, and the spicy, 

 health-giving aroma of pines, firs, and spruces all the year. 

 And finally, our pictures will grow from year to year, so that 

 when we plant trees we must imagine ahead ten, twenty, 

 fifty, one hundred years. 



Trees. Given the ground, the first thing to plan is the posi- 

 tion and grouping of the trees. In order to do this intelli- 

 gently we must know the biology of the different species 

 the soil in which each grows best, and, especially for our future 

 pictures, the height and spread and general form and color 

 of each. 



For outdoor laboratory work measure the height and spread 

 to scale and sketch the general form of ten specimen trees of 

 different kinds. These data will be needed in determining the 

 distances apart at which different trees are to be planted in 

 the following plans of residence lots, parks, and streets. Ar- 

 range, by committee of the class or otherwise, to have all the 

 trees of the district studied so that notes of the class may be 

 combined into a table like that on page 82, which shall give 

 the planting data for all the native and horticultural trees 

 available for the locality. 



We need to develop clear ideas of these dimensions in order 

 to avoid the common mistakes of planting trees too near the 

 house and too close together. In the one case the trees cause 

 dampness and decay about the home, and in the other they 

 grow into crowded jumbles rather than into beautiful pictures. 



After learning the individual trees we may next study 

 effective grouping as presented both in natural woodlands and 

 in specimens of artificial planting in the neighborhood. Select 

 some of the finest groups available and analyze into component 



