April, 1916 
23 
YOUR WOODLAND ANNEX 
Co-operate with Nature to Restore Its Greatest Charm and Develop Its Latent Attractiveness—The Prob¬ 
lems of Replanting, Locating Paths and Drives, and the Application of Intelligent Forestry Methods 
SAMUEL J. RECORD 
M ANY owners 
of beautiful 
timberlands find 
their profit not in 
the value of the 
timber produced 
but in the joy of 
possession. Full 
possession m eans 
more than owner¬ 
ship ; it involves 
appreciation of the 
natural beauties 
and the delight of 
intimate acquaint¬ 
ance with wild life 
in its various 
forms. But only 
when the woods 
are at their best 
does the greatest 
enjoyment come. 
Different forests 
and different parts 
of the same forest 
convey distinct im¬ 
pressions ; there is 
a different atmos¬ 
phere or spirit that 
pervades them. 
The wide-spread¬ 
ing tree in the 
glade invites ■ lazy 
repose in its shade 
or conjures up vis¬ 
ions of a picnic. 
The open broad- 
leaf stands with 
their abundant 
flowering shrubs, 
and the vines with 
their bird and bee 
and butterfly asso¬ 
ciates have an air 
of cheerfulness and 
industry. The ma¬ 
ture r hardwoods 
impress with their 
grandeur and quiet 
gladness. The tow- 
ering pines, 
spruces, firs and hemlocks are more somber and silent; there 
is a general absence of birds and other wild life. 
Work in Sympathy with Nature 
But too many of the woodlands in this country are mere 
tattered remnants of the virgin forest which have survived 
the woodsman’s axe and the ravages of fire and flood. Left 
alone and unhindered, Nature would in time restore her handi¬ 
work. For those who can wait, this method is the simplest. 
But even then fire must be prevented, grazing and browsing 
animals excluded, and vandals warned away. 
Nature left to her own designs is slow and prodigal. It 
is here that opportunity is afforded man to assist, to direct 
the natural energies in such a way 
that delightful results can be quickly 
attained. The better the final result 
the less will it reveal the guiding 
hand, the less the appearance of 
artificiality and formality. 
If you would restore to your 
woodland its lost beauty or develop 
to the full its latent possibilities you 
must work in sym¬ 
pathy with Nature, 
must make ac¬ 
quaintance with 
her material and 
her methods. The 
materials are at 
hand in the native 
flowers, shrubs, 
vines and trees. 
Reserve the ex¬ 
otics for the lawn 
and home garden, 
if you will, but 
keep them out of 
the wild garden if 
you would not 
spoil its natural¬ 
ness. There is no 
need to seek afar 
for materials, for 
indigenous to 
every region is a 
wealth of forest 
flora that requires 
only selection and 
adaptation to site, 
and surroundings 
to produce splen¬ 
did results. 
Selections for 
Replanting 
Proper selection 
involves acquaint¬ 
ance with the char¬ 
acteristics and re¬ 
quirements of each 
plant to be used. 
If you do not al¬ 
ready know these 
traits, careful ob¬ 
servation for a 
season will reveal 
them to you. One 
does not need to be 
a botanist or even 
to know the names 
of the different 
plants in order to 
see their beauties 
and learn their whims. You will find that some shrubs and 
trees are distinctive because of their mass of springtime bloom. 
Such are the flowering dogwood, the shadbush, hawthorns, 
wild plums, elders, rhododendron, buckeye, catalpa, and the 
black and clammy locusts. Others like the wahoo or burning- 
bush, some of the dogwoods, the sumacs, mountain ash, part¬ 
ridge-berry, wintergreen, and the clambering bitter-sweet 
are prized because of the fruit which adorns them in the fall 
and winter. The witch-hazel is interesting on account of its 
autumn flowering, and the pussy willow because its catkins 
are harbingers of spring. Many owe their charm to the color 
of their foliage during the growing season as well as in autumn. 
Still others command attention because of the striking beauty 
of their stems or bark or the peculiar 
pattern of their branches. 
It is important to know well the 
shrubs, the vines, and the small trees, 
for they are plastic materials out of 
which delightful effects can be 
molded. It is not enough, however, 
to know merely how they look; one 
must seek further and find what 
If you would develop all your woodland's latent possibilities, you must ivorlc in harmony 
with nature. The materials are at hand in the native flowers, shrubs and trees, as 
here in this California forest where lupines throng beneath the towering evergreens 
O N JANUARY 3rd a subscriber to House & Garden 
wrote to us asking for information on how he 
could beautify his woods. He had several hun¬ 
dred acres at Lenox, Mass., with a large staff of men 
to take care of it. But he wrote us. We referred the 
letter to Mr. Record of the Yale Forestry School. The 
answer is this article. It applies to one acre of woods 
as well as to this subscriber’s hundreds. It also is an 
example of the House & Garden Readers’ Service. 
Have you ever put your individual problems up to 
House & Garden? Why not give it a try? 
