388 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



house. One great objection to the conifers is that they keep 

 the yard littered the entire year by the falling cones, and the 

 most beautiful varieties are the worst in this respect. The 

 Scotch pine is one of our most beautiful evergreens, always keep- 

 ing a good shape and retaining its color perfectly the entire year ; 

 but the cones are a perennial nuisance. This and the American 

 spruce I would plant in clumps or thick rows, not less than one 

 hundred feet from the house to the north and west. For an 

 evergreen hedge I would use the red cedar, or American arbor vitae. 

 Either will bear close trimming, and can be made ornamental and 

 valuable as a protection. 



To secure rapid growth of shade-trees, thorough culture for 

 the first few years is absolutely essential. I planted in 1877 a 

 group of about thirty forest trees, half of which were set in 

 what had been a flower garden and the balance in a blue-grass 

 sod. The ground in the first-named part was cultivated more 

 or less for the next five years, and there the trees have made a 

 wonderful growth, and in three years were giving a good shade. 

 On the sod the growth has scarcely been perceptible, and after 

 seven years they afford but little shade. I have had the same 

 experience with elm-trees planted in my door yard. A fine,, 

 thrifty tree planted in the sod stood ten years before it was 

 large enough to afford valuable shade, while another planted ten 

 years later and cultivated is likely to outstrip the first in growth. 



If you wish a newly planted tree to grow rapidly, attend 

 personally to the transplanting. See that it is taken up with 

 as little mutilation of roots as possible, that it is planted in good 

 soil well mellowed, and that for three or four years a circle 

 around it not less than eight feet in diameter be kept clean and 

 mellow by cultivation or mulch. If in grading the surface soil 

 has been removed, it will pay to draw a load of good soil to put 

 in the hole to give the tree a start. Forest trees will grow on 

 almost any soil after they get a start and do not need coddling; 

 but where shade is wanted soon, it will pay to be at some 

 trouble and expense to give them the start needed. 



In no other way at so little expense and labor can the sur- 

 roundings of a house be made beautiful as by planting trees. In 



