60 THE FOREST TREE CULTURIST. 
other kinds which will also make an excellent screen, but I 
can not name them all in this place. 
To make a screen that will not occupy more than ten 
feet wide only, a single row should be planted. The trees 
should be at least three feet apart for a healthy growth, 
and if they remain in the nursery until they are four to six 
feet high, they should be planted four to six feet apart. If 
planted upon very dry soil, it is well to mulch the surface 
of the soil for three or four feet wide on each side the row; 
or, in place of this, keep the surface of the soil loose and 
free of weeds with a hoe for two or three years, or until 
the lower branches spread sufficiently to shade the ground. 
Always plant when the soil is moist, but not wet, and take 
up the trees with as much soil adhering to the roots as pos- — 
sible. Late spring, after the ground has become settled, is 
the best time to transplant evergreen trees at the North. 
Some persons trim their evergreen trees, when planted 
in belts, so as to give them a hedge-like appearance. 
This is a matter of taste; but for my part I prefer an 
undulating, irregular appearance to that of a stiff, mo- 
notonous one, which is often seen displayed where we 
would least expect it. A hedge is one thing, and a belt 
of trees for protection is quite another. Two or three rows 
‘of trees are much better, when the land can be spared, 
than a single row; besides, it gives a more solid and noble 
appearance to the place which it surrounds. 
When two or more rows are planted, the trees may be 
planted farther apart, and alternately, as shown in diagram, 
-* . * . * 45 or when three or more rows are used, fol- 
lowing the same plan, thus giving an equal space to each 
