454 



MECHANICAL. 



trees mainly on the south and west sides, 

 yet these shade trees should form only a 

 portion of groups, with an occasional iso- 

 lated single specimen tree; or, what is 

 still better, two trees of the same kind set 

 six to ten feet apart, so that when they 

 grow up they will give a distant appear- 

 ance as of a single tree, with the addi- 

 tional variety of aspect when closely 

 viewed. The paintings or groups should 

 be more extensive and massive on the in- 

 ner circle, around which the road will 

 curve, with frequent open vistas, looking 

 in upon the lawn. The width and length 

 of the road and extent of lawn will desig- 

 nate the size of the groups, and also sug- 

 gest the particular kinds of trees and 

 shrubs of which they are to be composed. 

 Shade trees may be thus introduced in 

 sufficient quantities, even on winding 

 roads, to answer the combined purposes 

 of shade and garniture, without produc- 

 ing an appearance of strained effort to 

 secure it. 



Where the road is wholly on the south- 

 ern side of the dwelling, deciduous trees 

 should be used in front or near the build- 

 ing. If the entrance and road are north 

 of the house, a straight avenue of ever- 

 green trees will form an admirable feature, 

 if ample space is allowed for both road 

 and trees. The Norway spruce is, per- 

 haps, the first choice of tree for such 

 planting. The hemlock spruce is the 

 more graceful, and the best adapted to 

 short roads or narrow grounds. The 

 Austrian, the Scotch, and the white pine 

 may be used where the grounds are ex- 

 tensive. Even when the Norway spruce 

 is used the parallel lines should be fifty 

 leet apart, not only to admit of sun and 

 winds to act directly on the roadway, 

 but also to give ample room for the 

 spread of the lower branches of the trees; 

 and in no case should they be planted 

 nearer than sixteen feet from the edge of 

 the road ; and when the larger and more 

 widely spreading pines are used, a space 

 of at least twenty feet should be given. 

 A very meagre effect will result from 

 planting close to roadways, narrowing 

 them into mere strips, which for at least 

 one-half of the year are seldom dry. 



BUILDINGS, Planting near.— A mis- 

 chievous error, and one too frequently 

 perpetrated, is that of placing trees close 

 to buildings. Although trees and shrubs 



are the chief decorative ornaments of a 

 place, they become not only disagreeable 

 but positively injurious to animal life,, 

 when closely massed around a habitation, 

 by shutting out light, and preventing the 

 rays of the sun and drying action of 

 winds from exerting their salutary influ- 

 ence on the walls, which, in consequence, 

 are constantly damp and unhealthy. 

 Where large trees are allowed to spread 

 and overhang the roofs, choking gutters 

 and water leaders, and causing a deposit, 

 of mold and other fungoid growths as far 

 as their influence extends, it is impossible 

 for the house to be dry, comfortable, or 

 healthy for human beings. Many of the 

 older houses throughout the -country are 

 rendered almost uninhabitable by the 

 dense surroundings of trees and shrub- 

 bery, and the evil is greatly aggravated 

 when the trees are of evergreen species. 

 Ventilation is produced by heat, and a 

 building shaded from the rays of the sun 

 by lofty trees, and sheltered from currents 

 of air by thickets of shrubbery, is de- 

 prived of the influences most conducive 

 to health, and is a fitting subject for the 

 attention of a sanitary commission. 



Plantings of the finer species of dwarf 

 flowering shrubs may be placed in mod- 

 erately large masses on the lawn near the 

 house, without any great injury, if not 

 too frequently repeated; but even the 

 smaller growing shrubbery, if planted in 

 continuous thickets near the building, in 

 any except a northerly direction, will 

 sensibly exclude the genial cool breezes 

 so grateful during summer. A house 

 nestling on the sunny side of an evergreen 

 plantation is suggestive of comfort, and 

 presents a cheerful, sheltered appearance 

 during winter. It is as economical as it 

 is attractive, as many persons can testify 

 who have had the foresight to plant 

 sheltering borders of evergreens in bleak 

 and treeless situations, and in consequence 

 are realizing a higher thermometric tem- 

 perature ; but even these, to be of great- 

 est benefit, should not approach within 

 one hundred feet of the house, at least 

 not in mass. Isolated specimens of rare,, 

 or otherwise specially interesting trees, 

 may be planted nearer, but only on the 

 northern sides of the house. 



A certain amount of shade is very 

 desirable in connection with a house, 

 especially in climates where, during a 



