112 Notes and Gleanijtgs. 



above all, for screens and wind-breaks ; for these are the "great want of the 

 prairies," and it is here that tree-planting will be prosecuted with the greatest 

 zeal and most telling effect. And, for beauty and protection, the evergreen stands 

 unrivalled, especially through the bleak and dreary winter ; for, while it has a 

 multitude of uses in common with deciduous trees, it seems peculiarly fitted to 

 form protective barriers against the fierce and desolating winds. Standing 

 to the leeward of a " rank and file " of these sturdy life-guards, we may laugh to 

 scorn the rage and fury of the Storm-King ; for his shafts of death are met, and 

 beaten into spray, and his terrific roaring passes as unharmed over our heads as 

 the whispering zephyr. I have often thought, that, if evergreens had no other 

 use than that of protection and beauty in Nature's great arboretum, God's 

 wisdom and goodness would be vindicated. 



While deciduous trees and vines, in common with evergreens, are beautiful, 

 many exquisitely delicate and graceful, as well as noble and majestic, yet their 

 greatest charm — their beautiful foliage — lasts but half the year: a few attacks 

 of the Frost-Angel impart the hectic flush of death, and, in a brief space, dis- 

 robe it of its lovely habiliments, bedecking the ground with a gorgeous carpet 

 of crimson and gold, — a very suitable covering for the delicate roots of the gen- 

 erous tree which gives so much, and receives so little in return except ill usage. 

 But, for the want of the protection of our friend the evergreen, these leaves are 

 scattered, like friends in adversity ; and our trees are left unprotected in root 

 and branch, while the leafless branches remind us forcibly that Winter is once 

 more upon his throne. 



If we but turn our eyes upon the unchanged and full-foliaged, cheerful ever- 

 green, we shall realize that his reign is but half complete. When the ground is 

 covered with snow as with a mantle, how cheery and comfortable looks the noble 

 Norway in his habit of dark green, and the rugged Scotch and majestic Austrian 

 pines, or the balsam with its recurved leaves of metallic lustre, and the hemlock, 

 one of the most graceful in the whole family, with its pendent branches of feath- 

 ery, delicate spray ! We cannot stop even to name the many desirable varieties 

 wliose ever-present foliage of many hues would cheer us through the bleak 

 months of winter. 



We will imagine, for a few moments, every Western and Northern roadside 

 set with double or triple rows of evergreens ; every ten, twenty, and forty acre 

 lot, every orchard, barnyard, and garden, protected on the exposed sides ; our 

 own dwellings surrounded by ornamental grounds, planted with many of the rich 

 and beautiful hardy kinds, in groups and belts, and single specimens, in some 

 places standing alone, and in others intermingled with and surrounding decidu- 

 ous trees and vines. Thus our vineyards, orchards, fields of grain, and all our 

 domestic animals, protected from the terrible winds, excessive cold and heat, 

 excessive rains and floods, excessive droughts and frosts, controlled, our domes- 

 tic animals would thrive and improve more, our grain-crops would increase, our 

 orchards and vineyards would yield us more and better fruit ; and it is not too 

 much to say that many kinds of fruits, of shade and ornamental trees, and vines 

 that are now entirely too tender here, would be hardy under the changed condi- 

 tion of things. How inspiring even the vision, in prospect, of almost boundless 



