64 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tice is already being extended to the cultivation of attractive 

 trees and shrul)s, and it only requires the encouragement of 

 good examples to develop it to a far greater degree. 



Good opportunity, too, is offered in our rural cemeteries 

 for planting a great variety of ornamental trees. There is 

 no place where they could l)e grown more appropriately ; 

 and yet there are but few^ cemeteries in our country towns 

 wdicrc much if any attention is paid to this matter, and in 

 some cases they are positively repulsive in appearance. 



Vast improvements have l)een made in the cemeteries in 

 the vicinity of cities during the last fifty years, but most of 

 the others are as j^et nothing more than modern graveyards, 

 which do not even possess the quiet attractiveness of those 

 of the earlier colonial period where, without the preten- 

 tiousness of modern " monuments," the inconspicuous slate 

 head stones, scattered among the trees, harmonize with the 

 scene. Tliere is room for much good work in this direction 

 by the village improvement associations, 



*' The new industry," as the increase of summer visitors 

 to the shore and country is now called, has a considerable 

 influence on the cultivation of ornamental trees throughout 

 the State. Those who establish summer homes on the sea 

 shore, or in the rural districts, are favorably disposed to the 

 trees ; and indeed, the vahie of many estates for this pur- 

 pose is in a great measure dependent on the condition and 

 position of the trees upon them. 



It is to this class of residents and their influence that we 

 are indebted for the greater beauty and liealthfulness of 

 many towns. This work of lieautifying country homes is 

 being so far extended, that some of our older villages in the 

 w(»stern part of the State are being transformed into charm- 

 ing parks and will in time vie with the much praised countr}'- 

 side of Old Eniiland. 



In a })aper read before this board in 18^0,* the subject of 

 suitable trees for ornamental plantations was fully considered 

 as based upon the study of the climatic conditions under 

 M'hich the trees best thrive. The conclusions dra^vn were 

 that, for Xew England (with few exceptions). New England 

 trees are the best ; that many additional species may be 



« Oniatuental Trees for Mass. Plant. Rep. St. Bd. Ag. 1880, p. 23. 



