WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 93 



Planting for winter is too much overlooked 

 that is, planting our grounds in such a way that they 

 will be cheerful and warmer to the eye. But it is 

 one of the most important matters in the country 

 to warm up the landscape during cheerless months. 

 I have before spoken of the use of the red-bark dog- 

 wood. The high-bush cranberry is also admirable, 

 although as it gets older its tallest stalks are liable 

 to get topheavy and split down. The barberry, in 

 its several varieties, makes a charming plant for this 

 purpose. It is a delightful winter bush. The 

 Euonymus is a bush that for early winter cannot 

 be surpassed. Its growth is irregular and its form 

 uncertain. I cannot recommend either this or the 

 high-bush cranberry, excepting as they are inter- 

 spaced with other bushes, as good for either hedges 

 or windbreaks. However, the man who studies 

 nature will find that he can use all of this class of 

 trees and shrubs for beauty and utility alike. 



One of my nooks, made up in part of hemlock 

 hedges and in part of these warm winter shrubs, I 

 call my Sunlight Catcher. It catches the full rays 

 of the winter's suns, and has complete protection 

 from the northern and western winds. It is often 

 a delightful spot during November and December, 

 and in the spring there are March days when it is an 

 invigorating retreat. I can find a few spears of 

 grass or a dandelion blossom almost in midwinter, 

 when a single one is worth more than an acre of 

 them in June. The hedge itself is eight feet high, 

 curved completely around toward the northwest, 

 while to the south at a distance of twenty-five feet 

 is another windbreak. But now note the need of 



