^BEAUTY AND SHELTER. 17 



it will continually increase your privacy and shade, 

 providing ibr the comforts of your old age, by sub- 

 stituting for the bleakness of December the gayeties 

 of June, and give you the happiness of leaving the 

 world better than you found it. Neither is it all 

 the while a petty low shrubbery that you rejoice in. 

 Amidst the shining hollys may stand the flowering 

 lime, with its accompaniment of bees the moun- 

 tain ash, bending under its vermilion clusters 

 the shady plane, with its chattering magpies the 

 early-budding poplar, giving notice of the spring 

 the walnut, of sweet-scented leaves, and whatever 

 else may please your fancy, all rising to the ma- 

 jestic; whilst all within and beneath is closely 

 covered, and always green, and full of birds fight- 

 ing in song. It is not meant that the holly is the 

 only tree that will grow in the shade, or that 

 nothing else should be planted as underwood ; pri- 

 vet, common laurel, and some others, may aid the 

 variety; but the holly must be your sheet anchor. 

 Every one of the fir tribes may have a place at the 

 first, serving early to give a clothed appearance; 

 but still it is the holly, always improving as all 

 other things decline, which alone can make the pro- 

 gress of shelter keep pace with the progress of time. 

 To ensure the success of a design so interesting, 

 as well as to make its advantages more generally 

 available, it will be proper to offer a few remarks 

 both as to the first formation of a sheltering strip, 

 and the amending of one which, having been reared 

 in the common way, has become next to useless. 



B 



