Trees 135 



breezes; but many a house that is bleak and draughty in winter 

 might be made quite comfortable, and with an actual saving of 

 fuel, if evergreens suited to the conditions were planted on the 

 north and east exposures or wherever the keenest blasts come from. 

 And if they make for comfortable living indoors in winter, how 

 much more enjoyment may be had out in the home grounds where 

 they are freely planted! Some day we shall be wise enough to 

 use evergreens as wind-breaks even for our cow and poultry yards, 

 that the stock may live more comfortably and healthfully in the 

 open air. 



In the lee of a group of evergreens the superb large flowered 

 magnolia of the South has attained great size so far north as 

 Long Island, but it becomes deciduous there. The late Charles 

 A. Dana grew to perfection at Dosoris many rare and beautiful 

 exotics that would certainly have been winter-killed without the 

 protection of evergreen guardians. No plant, however hardy, can 

 attain its best if whipped and lashed by the wind. Even a veg- 

 etable garden will bear almost a fortnight earlier if an evergreen 

 hedge surrounds it. Tall spruce, hemlock, arborvitae, juniper or 

 other evergreen hedges serve best to partition off an out-of-door 

 living-room open to the zenith, into which sunshine pours, and 

 the purest air, made actually warmer because of the trees, 

 circulates to every corner without causing a draught. The 

 comfort of such a cosy enclosure would astonish one who had 

 never tested it. Now that the fresh air cure is being prescribed 

 for most of the ills that flesh is heir to, worn and weary people 

 will enjoy more and more the seclusion and comfort and fragrant 

 purity of such living-rooms. They are ideal playgrounds for 

 children. The baby that spends most of the time between sunrise 

 and sunset in the open air, snugly sheltered from wind and cold, 



