114 SUBURBAN GARDENS 
trees can give, for shutters admit every 
vagrant breeze, however indolent and languid 
it may be, while leafy branches deflect and 
break up even valiant attempts of the wind to 
a considerable degree. The right position for 
a tree is far enough from the house to admit 
the air therefore, but near enough to shade the 
ground about it where otherwise the sun would 
beat with its fiercest heat during the hottest 
hours of the day — a position which is best 
determined usually out of doors, on the ground 
itself, at midday, rather than on a plan. 
Almost any upright object will serve as a 
guide to the shadow’s direction, which is the 
main thing to know. One’s own shadow will 
show this, of course, but as it is sometimes 
necessary to get some distance away in order 
to calculate various phases of the effect, it will 
be found more expeditious to use a stake five 
feet or more long, instead of to rely on this. 
Such a stake, representing the bole or main 
trunk of a tree, will give the middle of its 
shadow and will at the same time show the 
tree’s position definitely in its perspective rela- 
tion to windows and the house generally, thus 
indicating its possible effect on air currents. 
The maximum heat of the day during the 
heated period is usually between noon and 
