IN THE LANDSCAPE 13 



condition, the trunk often rises only a foot or two before 

 it is lost in the branches ; at other times it may be four 

 or six feet high. Under cultivation, the lowest branches 

 are usually removed when the tree begins to grow, and 

 an evident clean trunk is produced. In Europe and the 

 Eastern States, it has been the practice to trim the trunk 

 clean to the height of four or six feet ; but in hotter and 

 drier regions the trunk is kept short to insure against 

 sun-scald ; and with the better tillage implements of the 

 present day it may not be necessary to train the heads so 

 high. 



In old hill pastures, in many parts of the North, one 

 sees curious umbrella forms and other shapes of apple- 

 trees, due to browsing by cattle. A little tree gets a start 

 in the pasture. When cattle are turned in, they browse 

 the tender terminal growth. The plant spreads at the 

 base, in a horizontal direction. With the repeated brows- 

 ing on top, the tree becomes a dense conical mound. 

 Eventually, the leader may get a strong headway, and 

 grows beyond the reach of the browsers. As it rises out 

 of grasp, it sends off its side shoots, forming a head. The 

 cattle browse the under side of this head, as far as they 

 are able to reach, causing the tree to assume a grotesque 

 hour-glass shape, flat on the under part of the head, with 

 a cone of green herbage at the ground. Sometimes pas- 

 tures are full of little hummocks of trees that have not 

 yet been able to overtop the grazers. 



The winter apple-tree in the free is a reassuring object. 

 It has none of the sleekness of many horticultural forms, 

 nor the fragility of peaches, sour cherries and plums. It 

 stands boldly against the sky, with its elbows at all angles 

 and its scaly bark holding the snow. Against evergreens 



