300 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
care; these, with a small assortment of roses, a few bulbs, 
dahlias, and a sprinkling of annuals from Yick or Bliss, will 
make the dower garden an object of beauty from early spring 
to late in autumn. In the orchard, the better varieties of Si¬ 
berian crabs are worthy of a place, because of their early and 
constant bearing, and the excellence of their fruit for preserv 
ing, etc. If practicable, let apples, pears, plums, and cherries 
be planted in separate blocks, so that each may receive the pe¬ 
culiar care which its wants require. 
What shall we plant for shade and timber? I answer, plant 
largely of evergreens, particularly of Norway spruce and white 
and Scotch pines. At least one hundred of these should be 
growing on every farm. The European larch is now receiving 
much attention, and I believe it is worthy of all the praise it 
gets. It is very rapid, growing, in ten to twelve years, to 
twenty-five feet high and one foot in diameter; it is also very 
durable. Young plants are abundant and cheap, and those 
needing timber cannot do better than to plant them largely. 
Wet soil does not suit them, but they thrive on dry, and even 
poor land. Three feet each way is the distance recommended 
by the Illinois planters, thinning out ultimately to twelve feet 
each way. Our native maples and elms are, perhaps, our very 
best street trees. Black walnut and white ash are valuable 
and rather free growing timber trees ; if nothing else is acces¬ 
sible, cottonwood, poplars and willow r s can readily be grown 
from cuttings, and will be far better than none. 
In this brief essay I have not aimed to treat anything fully. 
To give all a fair showing would require a volume ; my only 
hope is to awaken in some minds an interest, which shall lead 
them to think and read upon the subject. If once fairly in¬ 
terested, they will put the knowledge they gain into practice; 
and tree planting once earnestly begun, is not soon given up. 
If some should become so interested as to form tree-planting 
associations, embracing neighborhoods, or even whole town¬ 
ships, and offering premiums for the most extensive and suc¬ 
cessful planting, great good would result; and the trees so 
