TREES 269 



sible for this indiscriminate practice, for they 

 no sooner learn tliat an unimproved lot has been 

 purchased by a prospective home-builder than 

 they besiege him. In glowing terms they de- 

 scribe the various sorts they offer and in the 

 end usually triumph by closing a contract for 

 enough stock of the kind to plant an entire 

 acre. 



The simple truth is that we buy trees and 

 plant trees without giving due thought to 

 •either the purchase or the planting. We set 

 them out because they are trees and not be- 

 cause they will lend beauty to the yard. While 

 this statement is made deliberately, it is not to 

 be understood as decrying in any sense the 

 ornamental value of the tree. The intention, 

 on the contrary, is to impress the planter with 

 the idea that indiscriminate planting is to be 

 avoided and that if the full value of the decora- 

 tive quality of the tree is to be realized, it must 

 be given not a haphazard setting but one in 

 which it can show to best advantage and in 

 which it will harmonize most gracefully with 

 all its surroundings. There is ample- reason 

 for objection to the planting of tall-growing 

 trees on ordinary city lots where the valuable 



