1817, 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
275 
cap and mittens, and step outside his dwelling to a suf¬ 
ficient distance to make an accurate observation on 
his domestic flue. J. R. W. 
P. S.—My authorities are Rees’ & Brewster’s Ency¬ 
clopedias, Dr. Ure, Watt, Dr. Black, Rennie, and 
Lavoisier. Taking no account of the heat given out 
by the steam in its passage through 40 feet of stove¬ 
pipe, which is nevertheless something considerable, the 
account will stand thus:— 
Dry Wood. 
Fuel wood, birch, beech, and 
maple—cut and dry stowed for 
18 months,.100 lbs. 
Deduct 11 per cent, for 
water retained,. 11 
80 
Green Wood. 
Fuel wood, as other side, fresh 
cut,.100 lbs. 
Deduct 33 per cent, wa¬ 
ter retained,.33 
Also, necessrry quan¬ 
tity of green wood 
to heat said 33 lbs. to 
212°, 2 ibs.—to eva¬ 
porate, 7 lbs.,. 9 
— 42 
53 
LAWNS AND SHADE TREES. 
There are two great defects in rural improvements, 
so far as the beauty of the country and the comforts of 
home are concerned, pamely, expending too much in 
building, and too little in planting trees. The great 
desire is to have a fine house—large, two-story—amply 
supplied with parlors and drawing-rooms, with their 
costly furniture—while- outside, a single half-acre can 
hardly be devoted to respectable appearance or com¬ 
fortable shade. The stately dwelling stands alone like 
a castle in the wilderness, with Brussels carpets and 
mahogany sofas within, and a hog-pen, calf-pasture, 
common rail fences, and perhaps two row's of pie- 
cherries, to grace the scenery without. Or, perhaps, 
a picket fence is made on the side next the road, of a 
length precisely equal to that of the house; and a few 
lilacs and rose bushes, planted in straight lines in the 
front yard, add much to the appearance, provided the 
traveller shuts his eyes, until at a point precisely at 
right angles to the front door of the dwelling. 
Now, every farmer who owns fifty or a hundred acres 
of land, all paid for, and has any other shrine than 
u Dollar,” at which to worship,—should devote two or 
three, or at the very least, one acre, to a snug little 
plantation of trees or shrubbery, to encircle his house, 
and to render it attractive and comfortable to all the 
members of his family. And in order that he may be 
“able” to do this, if he has not yet built, deduct one 
quarter from the size and cost of his house. It is bet¬ 
ter to have smaller rooms or fewer of them, with rich 
green trees and blooming shrubs in sight from every 
window, back as well as front, than to occupy a stately 
castle, with bare fences and rough grounds without. 
But even this sacrifice, in building, need not always 
be made, for planting costs but comparatively little; 
and, as Willis says, “ nature lets the tree grow and the 
flower expand for man, without reference to his ac¬ 
count at the bank.” The man who does not like the 
trouble or expense of keeping in order beds of orna¬ 
mental plants and flowering shrubs cut in the turf, 
may surround his house with large, rich, massive shade 
trees, distributed singly and in groups, which, after once 
under way, need no further attention than to keep the 
green grass closely shaved with the scythe beneath 
them. This mode of planting is unquestionably the 
one for farmers in general. Even the gravel walks 
may be entirely dispensed with. For it Would cost 
more to keep them in the best order than to keep the 
two or three acres closely shaven to within an inch of 
the ground; and a neglected walk is quite as bad in 
appearance as a neglected beard on a man’s f&ce. 
Those who have only seen handsome plantings, com¬ 
posed entirely of maples, or entirely of elms, can form 
but a poor idea of the rich and varied beauty resulting 
from a tasteful combination of majestic oaks, graceful 
elms, broad chestnuts, intermingled with the feathery 
plumes of the ash and the acacia, and the heavy green 
masses of the black and sugar maple, with the occa¬ 
sional silvery 'flashes from the abele and red maple; 
while the spiny .ops of the dark evergreens will give a 
character to the whole. 
It is impossible to form a good combination of this 
kind without some taste—and taste must be improved 
and cultivated. There is, perhaps, no better way to 
do this than to observe living specimens—every man 
who rides through the country with his eyes open, may, 
at the present season of the year, see frequent instan¬ 
ces of fine trees and natural groupings, from which he 
may derive many valuable hints for practice. To 
those who are thus studying nature, and preparing to 
plant, a list of some of our finest forest trees may be 
useful. 
Elm. —The common American elm, ( Ulmus ameri- 
cana ,) is a tree greatly admired for its combination of 
the graceful and magnificent. Its enormous rounded 
head of foliage in soft rolling masses, and the luxuri¬ 
ance of its pendant branches, present a most striking 
appearance. Trees taken from the woods are difficult 
to transplant successfully; the best are raised from seed. 
Such will usually soon outgrow those from the woods. 
A gentleman near Albany, who plants many from seed, 
has had them twenty-one inches in circumferance when 
only eleven years old. 
Oak. —Downing justly remarks, that u the oak is 
not only one of the grandest and most picturesque ob¬ 
jects as a single tree upon a lawn, but is equally un¬ 
rivalled for groups and masses. There is a breadth 
about the lights and shadows reflected and embosomed 
in its foliage, a singular freedom and boldness in its 
outline, and a pleasing richness and intricacy in its 
huge ramification of branch and limb, that render it 
highly adapted to these purposes. Some trees, though 
pleasing singly, are monotonous to the last degree 
when planted in quantities. Not so, however, with 
the oak.” There are many species of the oak, which, 
though varying considerable in external appearance 
from each other, all possess the peculiar characteris¬ 
tics described above. 
Black Walnut. —One of the finest of all shade trees, 
when large, possessing a fine combination of majesty 
and grace. Though of a light plumy foliage, it has in 
size and outline, much of the dignity of the oak. 
Tulip tree. —Belonging to the same natural order as 
the magnolia, and remarkable for its rich glossy foli¬ 
age, and the majestic form which it assumes when 
large. 
Maple. —There are three very fine species which 
attain the size of large trees. The sugar-maple, re¬ 
markable for its round head, and very dense, deep, 
clear green foliage; the black maple, possessing softer, 
richer, and more rounded masses of foliage, and fully 
equal, if not Superior, to the other for luxuriance and 
denseness of growth; and the red or scarlet-flowering 
maple, brilliant when in flower early in spring, and re¬ 
markable for the silvery flushes of light it presents, 
