PARK AND CEMETERY 
197 
Lights and Shadows on the Lawn. 
By H. A. Caparn. 
This is a picture of a natural lawn ; that is, a lawn 
whose contours were practically those left by the con- 
dition of alluvial deposit ages ago. Hollows have 
been filled and bumps smoothed 
down and the whole surface re- 
claimed and displayed by the 
plow, the harrow, the rake and 
the roller ; but nature made the 
original sketch and her lines 
have been merely filled in and 
shaded off. In this lies the prin- 
ciple of informal gardening ; and 
this is the way to make a natural 
lawn as opposed to the artificial 
lawn of the formal garden, which 
is a thing of entirely different 
feeling. 
The picture will show some of 
the peculiar beauties of a natural 
lawn. No flat surface could 
ever carve such shadows out of 
the sunlight as this piece of turf. 
No flat piece of ground could 
add such variety and inter- 
est to a frame of irregular planting as this one, 
nor unfold such endless and mutable curves of surface 
from every new point of view. The composition is not 
altogether complete and consistent. There is a fence 
(surmounted by a nearly invisible cat) and a drying 
machine which would be better screened, and the 
Wier’s maple to the right should not have been so far 
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF A NATURAL LAWN. 
in front of the house. But the general effect is har- 
monious and fascinating, and is a simple kind of thing 
that can be realized much oftener than one who sees 
the ordinary suburban home would suppose. 
Roadside Trees. 
Mr. C. M. Loring, of Minneapolis, president of the 
Minnesota State Forestry Association, in his annual 
report commended the work of the State Forestry 
Board, which has taken up the work of the association 
in so far as it relates to the preservation of the forests 
and the reforesting of the cut-over lands. The work 
for the association, he said, is in encouraging the plant- 
ing and preserving of roadside trees, in disseminating 
instruction in farm forestry and arboriculture as an 
embellishment of the farm and village home. 
Mr. Loring spoke as follows of the value and charm 
of Roadside Trees: “It is surprising how rapidly 
trees grow. There are elms eight to ten inches in 
diameter, growing on the streets surrounding two of 
the parks of Minneapolis which I raised from seedlings 
after I had been told by a neighbor who saw me plant- 
ing the trees, that I was foolish to go to so much trou- 
ble, as I would never derive any benefit from them, for 
I would be too old to enjoy them when they were large 
enough to cast shade. 
“Nearly all of the town and country roads in this 
state are laid out four rods wide, and I have frequently 
seen the entire width cleared of every tree and shrub, 
leaving a wide, dusty roadway with a border filled with 
noxious weeds. A roadway twenty feet is broad enough 
for any country road ; the remaining forty feet should 
have a natural border of trees and shrubs. Where 
there are no natural trees they should he planted, as 
our New England forefathers planted them fifty and 
one hundred years ago. The charm of New England 
today is its country roads and shaded lanes leading 
to the farm-houses. Roadside trees in many instances 
could be made to serve as shelter from the sun for 
cattle in pastures, and they are always a source of de- 
light to those who drive over the roads. 
"On a recent visit to a New England town there was 
great excitement because a road-master had mowed 
great excitement because a road-master had mowed 
an indignation meeting .was held, and the offending 
officer was severely reprimanded. 
“We are rapidly learning to ‘lift our eyes’ above the 
mere routine of animal necessities and to see more of 
the beautiful objects which surround us. Where can 
one find more natural beauty than in the country ? And 
beauty needs no other excuse than its own and, as I 
have endeavored to demonstrate, farm-forestry, beauty, 
utility and common sense join in an appeal for an ad- 
vanced place in the program of our daily lives. 
