HARRISON’S NURSERIES, BERLIN, MD. 
EVERGREENS 
We will note briefly the chief uses of evergreens, and tell 
why it pays to plant them. One or several of the following 
kinds are adapted to making windbreaks, hedges, shelter- 
groups, ground-covers, borders and beds, and are also fine 
for specimen planting. 
Windbreaks are a modern necessity since we have come to 
understand how they protect our houses and our barns from 
cold, from strong winds, from snow-drifts, from fire and from 
hot sun—how they save paint, protect stock in pastures 
from cold, heat, hail, wind and rain, prevent spring frosts 
and winter freezing in gardens, orchards and fields, save fruit 
from blowing off, and lessen evaporation of moisture from 
land within a couple of hundred yards in their lee. Spruces 
and Pines are the best trees for windbreaks, unless you are 
after appearance more than service, when Arborvitaes and 
Firs can be used. Mix the different kinds. 
Evergreen hedges make stronger fences than locust posts 
and woven wire, and very much more durable ones. These 
hedges are very striking and beautiful. No other kind of 
planting will add more to the looks of a place. Hemlock is 
the best of all evergreens for hedges—makes the best-looking 
ones, the strongest and most permanent. American Arbor- 
vitae and Norway Spruce come next—the former for low hedges 
and the latter for higher, broader ones. 
Shelter-groups come in the same class as windbreaks, both 
as regards use and beauty, and kinds of evergreens to select. 
Close to your home or barn they will protect and shade it. 
In pastures they will mean many dollars to you because of 
protection they give stock in all kinds of weather. Many 
farmers are enlarging their shelter-groups and making timber- 
blocks of them, at the same time producing a valuable product 
and using waste land. The timber will grow at the rate of 
$10 an acre per year. There is no mistake about this. For 
this purpose the three Pines and Norway and Douglas 
Spruces are the best trees. Mix in some oak and ash seedlings. 
When it comes to planting about a home, some wonder¬ 
fully fine effects can be made with the two or three dozen 
different evergreens. There are kinds that reach 75 feet 
high, with pointed tops, like Douglas Spruce, or the Firs, 
Hemlock, etc.; others are just as high, but have round or 
irregular heads, like the Pines, some of the Spruces and the 
Cedars. Most of these tall trees are very dark green. Large 
spaces are required for these trees, and in smaller yards and 
lawns medium-sized evergreens are needed. White Fir, 
White Spruce, Blue Spruce, and some of the Arborvitaes are 
adapted to such planting. Hemlock, again, will do well here, 
and is not less beautiful than when given plenty of room. 
In smaller yards and lawns as well as in larger ones, there 
are opportunities for lining paths and making borders and 
beds of evergreens. No other kind of planting is more at¬ 
tractive to you, who live in the home, than a lot of little 
evergreens in a row, or a clump. A conifer bed 10 by 30 feet 
is a wonderfully attractive thing. In it you can plant a half- 
dozen of each different kind of evergreen—the Golden Arbor¬ 
vitaes, Retinosporas, Junipers, the bluish tinged Spruces, 
Firs and Cedars, the dark and light green Spruces and Pines 
and Firs, all contrasting splendidly with each other and with 
their surroundings. For the best effect less of the brilliant 
yellow foliage is required than of the dark green, so it is a 
good plan to put a border of the common kinds around the 
bed, then set the unusual colored trees in the center. All the 
year round such a bed will attract attention. 
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