120 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING. 



which they give when mingled with other 

 trees, while also so valuable for constructive 

 purposes, that their cultivation is very desir- 

 able. They are, in a special sense also, the 

 home trees, or trees to be planted near or 

 within sight of our dwellings, particularly in 

 the northern portions of the country, where 

 winter reigns throughout so large a part of 

 the year and the snow lies like a winding- 

 sheet upon the face of the earth. In such 

 places how cheerful, how like the presence of 

 friends, is that of these trees in their livery of 

 perpetual green, mocking at the death-like tor- 

 pidity around, making the very snows them- 

 selves to take on the aspect of life and beauty, 

 as they catch them in their extended fingers 

 and wreath them in graceful folds, or wrap 

 themselves in them as in a mantle of ermine ! 

 How grateful the presence of these trees also 

 when a belt of them is interposed between 

 one's dwelling and the cutting blasts which 

 pour down from the north! What a perfect 

 screen also they furnish with which to shut 

 off any disagreeable or unsightly object near 

 the dwelling or within the range of vision! 



