TREE-PLANTING. 1 3 



aim is merely to subdue and clean the land as 

 quickly as possible, nothing is better than buck- 

 wheat, sown thickly and ploughed under just as it 

 conies into blossom. It is the nature of this ram- 

 pant-growing grain to kill out everything else and 

 leave the soil light and mellow. If the ground is 

 encumbered with many stones and rocks, the ques- 

 tion of clearing it is more complicated. They can 

 be used, and often sold to advantage, for building 

 purposes. In some instances I have seen laboring- 

 men clear the most unpromising plots of ground 

 by burying all rocks and stones deeply beneath the 

 surface, men, too, who had no other time for the 

 task except the brief hours before and after their 

 daily toil. 



I shall give no distinct plan for laying out the 

 ground. The taste of the owner, or more proba- 

 bly that of his wife, will now come into play. 

 Their ideas also will be modified by many local 

 circumstances, as, for instance, the undulations of 

 the land, if there are any ; proximity to neighbors, 

 etc. If little besides shade and lawn is desired, 

 this fact will have a controlling influence ; if, on the 

 other hand, the proprietor wishes to make his acre 

 as productive as possible, the house will be built 

 nearer the street, wider open space will be left for 

 the garden, and fruit-trees will predominate over 

 those grown merely for shade and beauty. There 



