HOMESTEAD LANDSCAPES. 165 



distinguishing forms. If evergreens are planted, they should not 

 be trimmed up from the ground, but allowed to branch throughout 

 their entire length of stem. The same may be said of weeping 

 trees, and of most of the birches. 



In planting trees for landscape effect on actual farming ground, 

 a good deal of thought is necessary in order to avoid encroaching 

 upon tillable lands, and to occupy such only as are unfitted for 

 profitable cultivation ; and also to so place the trees as not to 

 produce the formal effect of lines or blocks. If, however, there is 

 no outlying spot which can be thus occupied, and made to break 

 up an undesirable regularit}', a similar effect can be secured by 

 making a careful selection of varieties, and so interspersing them 

 as to give an irregular sky line with a broken border line and con- 

 trasted colors. 



Formality is always to be avoided, and 3'et there will be much 

 that must be regular. For instance, many wind-breaks must of 

 necessity be so placed as to give a straight outline. Here and 

 there, however, according to the nature and value of the land, the 

 trees can be placed in irregular groups, composed of a number of 

 varieties, thus affording a pleasing park-like effect. 



In developing a homestead landscape, there is one thought that 

 should always be kept in mind. We must remember that we are 

 not merely creating a park, but are looking for profit as well as 

 pleasure. We are aiming to conduct our farming according to 

 business principles, and, while gratifying a taste for beauty, we 

 have a need for dollars and must plant accordingly. Therefore 

 our varieties cannot always be the most ornamental, but must 

 consist largely of those most in demand for timber. Our plan 

 contemplates that in due time the thinning out, and the occasional 

 clearing off of well grown spots, will aflford a cash income, besides 

 providing fuel for household needs. 



To go gradually and complete!}' over an ordinary farm, in the 

 manner described, utilizing its waste places and bringing beauty 

 as well as profit out of deformity', will require not only much time 

 and labor, but also a large amount of nursery stock. On the first 

 mental calculation of the capital necessary, it might seem, to a 

 poor man, to amount in itself to a prohibition. So it would if all 

 the money had to be expended at once, and all the trees had to be 

 purchased of the nurseryman, but as the plan is to be advanced 

 gradually, and to be carried out mainly by one's self, there will be 



