TREE-PLANTING. 31 



grounds. Aim to start the little trees under the 

 same conditions in which you found them in 

 Nature. If taken from a shady spot, they should 

 be shaded for a season or two, until they become 

 accustomed to sunlight. This can easily be ac- 

 complished by four crotched stakes supporting a 

 light scaffolding, on which is placed during the hot 

 months a few evergreen boughs. 



Very pretty and useful purposes can often be 

 served by the employment of certain kinds of 

 evergreens as hedges. I do not like the arbitrary 

 and stiff divisions of a small place which I have 

 often seen. They take away the sense of roomi- 

 ness, and destroy the possibility of pretty little 

 vistas; but when used judiciously as screens they 

 combine much beauty with utility. As part of 

 line fences they are often eminently satisfactory, 

 shutting out prying eyes and inclosing the home 

 within walls of living green. The strong-growing 

 pines and Norway spruce are better adapted to 

 large estates than to the area of an acre. There- 

 fore we would advise the employment of the 

 American arbor vitae and of hemlock. The hedge 

 of the latter evergreen on Mr. Fuller's place formed 

 one of the most beautiful and symmetrical walls 

 I have ever seen. It was so smooth, even, and 

 impervious that in the distance it appeared like 

 solid emerald. 



