PINES — EVERGREENS. 433 



protected the young hickories, and trimmed them. This will 

 soon be a beautiful and valuable grove. 



THE PINES. 



Though we have been here but a short time, the pines 

 tower above the house, though the dwelling is quite a tall 

 building. The fierce winds are effectually held at bay through 

 their agency. In the long Summer these pines scent the air 

 with their balsamic odor, throwing their long, dark shadows 

 on the dewy grass at night. But in the Winter their real value 

 is seen most plainly. When the fierce winds howl through 

 the darkness like angry wolves, the dark pines and cedars seem 

 to say, " Halt ! ye winds." Then when the cold, wintry days 

 eome, the north winds roar among the naked maple limbs and 

 bend them like grass, but the sturdy pines stand like a pro- 

 tecting wall, while the cattle in the lee of them are the picture 

 of content and comfort. And gently the beautiful snow comes 

 down and the master and his stock sleep in peace, while the 

 good sentinels of pine and cedar, fir and spruce, stand guard. 



EVEEGREENS. 



I buy my evergreens by the thousand of some nurseryman, 

 usually at a cost of about $10 per thousand, when a foot high. 

 They reach me moist and in good order. I keep the roots wet 

 until I am ready to set them out in nursery rows, where I culti- 

 vate them four years, and then plant where I wish them to re- 

 main. I lose no greater proportion of them than I would of 

 Cottonwood or maple, by transplanting. All I find necessary 

 to success is to keep the roots from becoming the least dry for 

 even a moment. 



Were I to make a thousand farms I would plant at least a 

 thousand evergreens on each farm, and should I wish to sell 

 any one of the farms ten years later, I would receive ten dol- 

 lars for every one dollar whicli I had spent for evergreens. 

 Were any one to ask me what kind I prefer, I would answer 

 that I like them all, but the white pine I consider best. 



LAKES. 



I make little lakes on ray farm by building dams across 

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