64 
NEIGHBORING 1 31 P R 0 V E M E N T S . 
leave them as open and sunny as possible. If, however, B.’s 
bare lot stood unflanked by old trees or old places, then his aim 
should be materially changed, and a few large trees, and some 
shrubbery, would enter into his designs for planting. Though 
farther on we shall endeavor to impress again the necessity of re- 
straint in choosing but few among the thousands of trees, shrubs, 
and flowers that are offered to every planter, it is appropriate that, 
in this chapter on Neighboring Improvements, we should also sug- 
gest to planters how very few of all the sylvan and floral treasures 
that beautify the surface of the globe, each one’s half acre or five 
acres can comfortably accommodate. As every city has its hun- 
dreds or thousands of good and charming people, whose acquaint- 
ance we may never have time to make, w'e very sensibly confine 
our companionship to a few congenial families, in whose intimate 
friendliness we have much more pleasure than if we were to 
“spread too thin” in efforts to embrace an entire community. 
Just so with the populous best society in the community of trees, 
to whose members the citizen is about to be introduced. He had 
better abandon the idea of domesticating them all into his home 
circle. He may even leave scores of the best families out entirely, 
and still have all that he can well entertain and cultivate. But by 
means of neighborhood association in improvements, the neighbor- 
hood, as a whole, may furnish examples of almost every kind of 
vegetable beauty that the climate admits of. Suppose, for instance, 
that a dozen neighbors, known as A. to L. respectively, have each 
an acre to devote to decorative planting. Laid out in the old way, 
with the stereotype allowance of evergreens, deciduous trees, and 
shrubs, they would, as plantations, have but little more interest 
after one was seen than duplicate copies of a book that we have 
done with. But if A. shall conclude to make the pines and birches 
his specialty, and procure all the varieties that are pleasing to the 
eye, which grow well in our climate, and arrange them around his 
home under the direction of some intelligent planter who knows 
the best locations for each, he will find, at the end of ten years, 
that his place will be a distinguished one. He will have about 
fifty varieties of hardy pines to choose from, among which from ten 
to twenty are trees of great beauty ; and the beautiful birches will 
