34 GARDEN GUIDE 



Dutch house beneath it. Specimen Beeches, which are branched 

 to the soil, though usually very formal in shape, are yet grace- 

 ful. All persons progressive enough to read garden books, of 

 course, would never spoil the beauty of the lawn trees by removing 

 the lower limbs. It is peculiar, but many persons have not realized that 

 if they prune off the limbs of a young tree it is very difficult ever to 

 get new branches to start out from below again. The white Birch is 

 graceful and girlish, but it is being attacked by a borer to such an 

 extent that it is best not to advise planting it. 



Besides the large trees, there are a great number of very useful 

 smaller growing trees. There are several Grab Apples which are most 

 excellent; one ol the prettiest with double pink flowers is Bechtel's 

 Grab, and a very handsome variety of Japanese Grab has deep red 

 buds which on opening become white or a blush pink. The beauty of 

 this tree in bloom is overpowering. Many of the Thorn Apples are 

 handsome. They require a great deal of water and should not be 

 planted where they can rob the perennials. A tree known but little 

 and valued because of its very superior Autumn tints, is the Sorrel tree 

 (Oxydendron). For Autumn effect, some Japanese Maples are ex- 

 cellent, as also is the Sweet Gum. One must avoid great spots of color in 

 trees, for too great an abundance of purple Plums and Beeches, Japan- 

 ese Maples and variegated yellow forms will destroy the dignified 

 beauty of your garden. 



EVERGREENS. We have not spoken a word about the evergreens. 

 They are ever beautiful and ever graceful as well as evergreen. To no 

 other trees does the injunction to let the lower limbs grow apply so 

 much as to the evergreens. How much different are our tastes I In 

 the evergreens some of us enjoy the informal, look-as-though-they- 

 were-weather-beaten sorts. We enjoy Pines which have had some 

 accident when young and have four or five trunks instead of one. We 

 admire the Austrian Pine at any stage of its growth; the Pitch Pine 

 when it becomes old and picturesque, with its sturdy short branches, 

 and persistent globular cones, and the long, heavy foliage of the Red 

 Pine. Others will much prefer the conical Firs and Spruces. The 

 greatest beauty is seen in a perfect specimen of Norway or Oriental 

 Spruce, branching to the soil and hiing with huge cones; or perhaps the 

 blue-green or grayish-green foliage of the Silver Fir is a great attrac- 

 tion, for this is one of the best beautiful trees of this type which can 

 be grown. The latter is prettier than the Colorado Blue Spruce, which 

 is planted far too much; it is a trifle too bright and has such stiff foliage 

 that, in the minds of many, it does not compare with the softer and 

 more graceful foliage of the Silver Fir. 



Among the smaller growing evergreens we have the Japanese 



