WAY-SIDE HINTS 



ing of the limbs of some overgrowing- poplar ; 

 and next year— if need be— a lopping away of 

 the tree itself to expose a fresher beauty in the 

 shrubbery beneath. 



Most planters about a country home are 

 too much afraid of the axe; yet judicious cut- 

 ting is of as much importance as planting; 

 and I have seen charming thickets shoot up 

 into raw, lank assemblage of boles of trees 

 without grace or comeliness, for lack of cour- 

 age to cut trees at the root. For all good ef- 

 fects of foliage in landscape gardening — after 

 the fifth year— the axe is quite as important 

 an implement as the spade. Even young trees 

 of eight or ten years growth which stool freely 

 — (such as the soft maple, birch, chestnut, and 

 locust,) when planted upon declivities, may 

 often be cut away entirely, with the assurance 

 that the young sprouts, within a season, will 

 more than supply their efficiency. Due care, 

 however, should be taken that such trees be 

 cut either in winter or in early spring, in or- 

 der to insure free stooling, or (as we say) 

 sprouting. The black birch, which I have 

 named, and which is a very beautiful tree — not 

 as yet, I think, fairly appreciated by our land- 

 scapists — will not stool with vigor, if cut after 

 it has attained considerable size; but the sap- 



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