IIO HEDGES, WINDBREAKS, SHELTERS, ETC. 



them. By the way, it was Thoreau who said, "The 

 forms of beauty fall naturally around the path of 

 him who is in the performance of his natural work, 

 as the curled shaving drops from the plane, and 

 borings cluster around the augur. Trees make an 

 admirable fence to a landscape. Art can never 

 match the luxury and superfluity of nature." In 

 another mood, he says, "Men nowhere lead a natural 

 life, round which the vines cling and which the elm 

 willingly shadows. Man will desecrate nature with 

 his touch, and so the beauty of the world remains 

 veiled to him." If you are doing the most wonder- 

 ful thing in the world, that is, making a home, let it 

 be your home the home or house of you not of 

 the ubiquitous, everlasting and universal Mr. They. 



If you will go about the country and think of 

 it you will be surprised at the vast variety of the wild 

 plants, and their combinations, and the novelty of 

 every form and shade. There are nowhere two 

 groups just alike, rarely two trees that resemble each 

 other. I do not remember anywhere anything beau- 

 tiful in the wild state that had repetition, except, 

 possibly, white pine trees. These sometimes occur 

 along the mountain sides in absolute profusion and 

 much alike, both in grouping, and in color, and In 

 form. Still, even here, nature manages to give us 

 a flush of novelty at every rod. Sumac bushes blis- 

 ter the sides of the hills with fiery crimson, but no 

 two bunchings of these bushes are alike, not even 

 in color. 



It will not be out of line with the purport of this 

 chapter to call attention to the neglected values of 

 stone on our stony farms. A stone wall, ten or 



