30 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
January, 1911 
house, regular coursed ashlar of native stone was used, while the 
Atlantic coast and Pacific States, as well as in a large part of the 
Prairie States. Within easy reach of my present home, I can 
find wild cherries, haws, nuts, Judas trees, euonymus, barberry, 
viburnums and elders; and, among the evergreens, hemlocks, 
pines and arbor vitae. 
this list scarcely touches the beautiful things that Nature has 
scattered along our creeks and in our glens, such as the soft 
maple. These trees are curiously broken up into varieties, and 
one of the most superbly variegated sorts is the swamp maple 
which grows wherever there is a moist dell. If young specimens 
are selected they do admirably well on our lawns. This is true 
also of our native elms, which grow in such profusion that there 
is ample opportunity to select those that are specially adapted to 
your needs. Besides this, the Kentucky coffee tree can easily 
be secured, and anywhere in the Northern States it proves hardy. 
The female grows very upright, while the male tree is exactly 
the opposite, with its broad spreading and weeping limbs bearing 
spicy flowers in June. The native persimmon is hardy as far 
north as Canada, and makes one of the most beautiful small 
lawn trees. My purpose is not to suggest, by any means, a com¬ 
plete list, but to draw attention to the fact that our most common 
and overlooked trees and shrubs are most beautiful on the lawn. 
Somewhere about our older settlements there is sure to be a 
large variety of naturalized foreign shrubs and trees. Among 
the most common that I find are English and Russian barberries, 
Tartarian honeysuckles and mock oranges in great variety; while 
the Siberian maple has already begun to sow itself somewhat 
freely. Occasionally a very choice and rare evergreen may be 
found by a little hunting in the wild glens, and the pastures will 
always reveal something very interesting to transfer to your 
home. Cross-breeds grown in shrubbery soon scatter seed, and 
start new sorts. Winds and birds contribute to multiply these, 
and carry them over the country. 
A delightful lawn may consist wholly, or almost wholly, of 
fruit trees. An apple grove is both ornamental and a source of 
pleasure. In it the house may be placed appropriately and eco¬ 
nomically ; but this requires discretion in the selection of sorts 
that grow without too much sprawling. Apple trees need not 
grow in rows, in order to bear well. In former times the Indians 
grew them in great groves, of fifteen hundred trees. Pear trees 
are peculiarly well fitted for tree lawns, and the dwarf varieties 
for shrubberies. There is hardly anything more beautiful than 
a cherry tree, either in blossom or in fruit. This is true not only 
of the round-headed, sour varieties, but of the tall and superb 
sweet varieties, like Rockport, Bigareau, Windsor and Gov. 
Wood. The Northern Spy also makes a capital lawn tree, if care 
is taken about its branching. The Astrachan, with its load of 
scarlet fruit, bears earlier, but I like late sorts better for lawns. 
In arranging the lawn it is well to mingle fruit trees of an erect- 
growing sort, like the Buffum pear tree, with evergreens. Mag¬ 
nolia acuminata is hardy everywhere, and is a native. Its shaft, 
straight as an arrow, carries superb foliage. The tulip tree is 
also native, and our lindens can be found everywhere from Maine 
to Florida. For a quiet homestead you may even confine your 
planting to half a dozen trees like lindens, maples, butternuts 
and white ash. A linden grove constitutes just the place for a 
few hives of bees. This tree, in common vocabulary the bass¬ 
wood, is one of the finest trees in the world for lawns, for groves 
or on street sides. 
The shrubbery, I have said, should, if possible, be a plot by 
itself, and associated with your drives. I have already named a 
few of our common native sorts. Add to these altheas and hyd¬ 
rangeas for late blooming, and then never omit those varieties 
which only make their beauty known in latest autumn or in win¬ 
ter. One special object is to plant our lawns so that they can be 
made to brighten our homes during the coldest weather. For 
winter beauty and warmth of color be sure to have barberries, 
and plenty of the high-bush cranberries, and the red-barked dog¬ 
woods. This last has fiery red bark all winter, which turns green 
in spring. Near the house, and serving as a windbreak, should 
be an abundance of mountain ash. This tree takes but little room, 
and is loaded with bird food. I should never consider a country 
(Continued on page 52) 
The Best Trees for the Central West 
by Frank C. Pellett 
Photographs by the author 
I N riding across the States of Illinois, Iowa or Nebraska, on 
any of the great railroad lines, one must be impressed with 
the evident poverty of trees. In a section where the rural popu¬ 
lation is the richest in the world, the farmhouses, in many cases, 
are set upon a bleak plain, 
with no protection from the 
cutting northwest winds 
that sweep across the prai¬ 
rie in winter. Neither is 
there shade to shelter the 
live-stock from the piercing 
heat of the summer sun. 
Most of the older home¬ 
steads are surrounded with 
a small grove of such 
quick-growing trees as cot¬ 
tonwood, willow or soft 
maple. The man, starting 
his home upon the prairies, 
who looked ahead and 
dreamed of fine shade trees, 
windbreaks and woodlots. 
was the exception and not the rule. The few that have realized such 
dreams, however, show magnificent possibilities in that direction. 
There is no single element that will contribute so much to the 
beauty and value of a homestead as an appropriatesettingof trees. 
REWARDS OF TREE PLANTING 
Here and there a farm 
home is to be found, whose 
owner realized the value of 
trees, and who, after a 
generation spent in one 
spot, has developed some¬ 
thing of value aside from 
the cash income from the 
farm. The pictures illus¬ 
trating this article were all 
taken on one farm. The 
owner, it will at once be 
seen, has planted hundreds 
of forest trees, and now, 
after nearly forty years, is 
surrounded by specimens as 
An Iowa farm home that is an exception to the rule; few of them have the 
setting of fine old trees 
