THE COUNTRY HOME [chapter 



off well-loaded fruit limbs, and breaks down petted 

 lawn trees. 



Among the best large trees for windbreaks, on 

 or around the country home, are the lindens; be- 

 cause, while close-growing and big-leaved, they also 

 furnish vast stores of honey for the bees. I fre- 

 quently recommend this tree, especially our com- 

 mon native basswood, to my friends, because of its 

 honey value alone. As we shall see in Chapter 

 Thirteen, bees are essential to fruit growing, be- 

 sides furnishing to us a very important share of 

 wholesome food. A row of twenty or thirty lindens 

 will give these active friends the best of all pastures. 

 The foliage of the linden is delightful for beauty 

 and for shade ; and the tree is absolutely hardy and 

 healthy. Beech trees are also very stout and very 

 compact, so much so that nothing can be better for 

 windbreaks. They grow more slowly than lindens, 

 but when they are grown, they also contribute for 

 our pleasure a liberal supply of nuts. I have a 

 warm affection for a beech tree. I wish I might 

 see them planted as freely as they once grew wild 

 in the days of my childhood. Norway maples 

 make a superb windbreak, and sugar maples also 

 make a fine stand against storms, if they are kept 



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