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 havea 
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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