360 MASSACHUSETTS AC4RICULTURE. 



never considered finished or fitted for a residence until shade 

 trees were provided, or an old house were considered defective 

 until tree-planting were attended to, its owner would find how 

 much dearer his home would become to him year by year. It 

 is time to do away with our strict, puritanical notions of utility, 

 and to do away witli habits of thought and of practice, which are 

 better suited to a century ago than to the present day. A man 

 will have none the less potatoes because he has a maple or two 

 on his avenues, nor need he abridge his field crops because he 

 chooses to raise artificially a few acres of pines. The idle com- 

 plaint of want of time to make these experiments is altogether too 

 idle for excuse ; for we have all the time there is, and it will 

 be found enough to fulfil whatever our hands find to do, if 

 interest and prudent calculation are in the right place. And 

 then, too, who does not know the influence the female part of 

 the family exerts ? Who so churlish as to refuse to gratify a wife 

 or daughter by a little extra work to make their homes more 

 agreeable ? I have been acquainted with wives in farm houses 

 whose hands " were never weary in well doing," and who were 

 ever diligent in houshold cares, yet finding time for rearing a 

 tulip bed, for tending a flower patch, or pruning the shrubbery 

 of a few choice roses or the like. And it may be set down as 

 a truism, that uniformly the most industriously employed are 

 the very ones who have at their command the most time for 

 whatever improves or benefits themselves or others. What 

 flowers and shrubs are to the women, the trees are to the men. 

 Trees are but flowers of a larger growth, and which pay back 

 larger dividends of profits. A fine avenue, such as any one 

 might justly bo proud of, will soon grow ; a few years may 

 make great changes and greater improvements in looks, com- 

 fort and utility even. I can recall some splendid elms which 

 have made an otherwise unpleasant site one of the most cosy 

 and pleasant places in the village ; and a line of elms, ashes, 

 &c., which really make celebrated a sandy public road, other- 

 wise avoided if possible, but now sought for its beauty in the 

 drive or ride. Many were the thoughtless jeers at the expense 

 of those who undertook the thankless labor of love and " good 

 will to man ;" but now double the thanks to the memory of 

 those who, dead, yet speak in their deeds. 



A great many folks, and it is not confined to the farming 



