WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 97 



It is winter as I write these words. The snow 

 covers the ground and is piled deep in every direc- 

 tion. But as I look out of my window I see pine 

 grosbeaks on my barberry bushes and high-bush 

 cranberries ; and there are dozens of chickadees, nut- 

 hatches and woodpeckers working at bones which 

 my children have tied to the trees near the doors. 

 These birds add much to the good cheer of life, and 

 to feed them inculcates the very noblest sentiment 

 of sympathy with God and God's world of life. I 

 am sure that no girl brought up in this manner would 

 ever wear a dead bird on her hat, or even the wing of 

 one. I am farther sure that my children will appre- 

 ciate better the relations of things; love free nature 

 better, and be students of that horticulture which 

 includes all life. I should indeed be sorry if they 

 looked upon horticulture as covering only the grow- 

 ing of corn and fruit all things which cannot sing 

 and cannot express gratitude. The end of land cul- 

 ture is noble men, not merely potatoes and parsnips. 

 Put these things together, and you will see that you 

 have not planted your hedges and made beauty and 

 comfort for yourself alone, but for all that is 

 animate. 



The birds must be fed ; this is our first duty and 

 relation to them, to make our places just as fully 

 theirs as our own. But our policy is also to feed 

 them at the least possible cost to ourselves. A Tar- 

 tarian honeysuckle hedge or windbreak of five rods' 

 length will feed all the robins and catbirds that will 

 come to any household, and will do it just when it is 

 desirable to attract them away from the raspberry 

 gardens and from the blackberries. The crop of red 

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