The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-09-17
Tree Planting.

New England Farmer.
Evergreens should be placed on the cold, windy
sides OF buildings, and not too near. We too
often forget, when planting out small trees that
feet in every direction.
We also often plant too thickly, or neglect to
trim and thin out as the trees increase in size
and fill up the room with their wide-spreading
branches. Let the trees to be planted on the
sunny sides of the house be deciduous, SO thew
will give shade only in summer when shade is
desirable. In winter we need all the sunshine
we can have.
Cattle barns pie pens and poultry yards
should all bet provided with suitable shade in
summer, and belts of evergreens to break the
winds and give sunny corners for animals to
bask in the sunshine in winter.
Shade trees properly planted upon the high
grounds in cattle pastures are much benefit both
to stock and to the pasture, as the 0roppings are
then left where they most needed, besides
cattle and sheep always select high ground to
lie on when otherwise it is equally suitable.
Not few have made the mistake of planting
foreign varieties of trees which are inferior to
some of our best natives, while others have
confined their selection to too few species Our
American elm and sugar maple are very
desirable trees, but they not the only natives
that worthy of being planted
One of the most desirable trees for planting in
localities not too far north is the American
chestnut castanea vesca, beautiful when in
bloom, and particularly attractive to the young
folks when the fruit is ready to gather. AS we
see the chestnut in the forest it is TALL stately
tree, with its foliage mostly near the top, but
set singly on the lawn, or IN any open field where
it can have ABUNDANT room to spread its branches,
it takes a hemispherical form, and in good
soil presents ball of the most luxuriant dark
green foliage, tipped in July with its wealth. of
bloom, and in October with its prickly burrs so
anxiously sought by squirrels and boys. The
chestnut is not difficult tree to raise. The
seed may be planted where it is to grow, or the
young trees may be transported if taken when
quite young. Mr.. Henry Grew, of Hyde Park
has a considerable number of chestnut trees of
large size, and in bearing which he has planted
with his own hands in suitable situations upon
his extensive farm lawn, and an occasional speci-
men may be found In many suburban locality
near this city, both on private grounds and by
the roadside.
Another very desirable tree for setting on the
street or on the lawn is the red oak Quercus
rubra, a tree that Emerson says is common in all
New England, Middle, and Southern States as
far as Georgia, but. like the elm, comes to its
greatest perfection in Massachusetts, 1t is not
valuable tree for fuel or timber, as it is slow to
season, and, therefore, not very combustible
but what it lacks in comparative usefulness it
makes up in beauty of form and color of foliage
Emerson says, mo other oak fourishes so read
lily in every situation; no other is of SO rapid
growth; no other surpasses it in beauty of foliage
and of trunk; no oak attains in this climate to
more magnificent dimensions, and no tree, ex-
cept the white oak gives us so noble an idea of
strength" On our own grounds and en- the
street near by are many varieties of shade trees,
but among them all we find none that surpasses
in attraetiveness the several species Of the red
oak.