decided improvement upon the place. Larger trees from two to seven feet high and cut back to the ground are sold at slightly advanced rates. These may be planted in the nursery, or in permanent locations. They will throw out strong new shoots, and soon surprise us by their tree-like form.

I cannot close this paper without making some allusion to our native shrubs, many of them rivalling those imported from more favored climes. A lawn decorated with such shrubs can be made exceedingly attractive, and with only the cost of transplanting. Such are the common barberry, may apple, clethra, elderberry, thorn apple, the beautiful laurels, and the brilliant black alder, the various viburnums and cornels, and the clematis, bitter-sweet, and woodbine, so attractive for covering stone walls and fences as well as our houses. Surely, with such resources at hand, no one can make any excuse for living in a barren unattractive home. I have transplanted many fine specimens from the roadsides; discovering them when in full flower, stopping then not only long enough to admire them, but to mark them, by fastening a few inches of surgical bandaging material to branch or stem, and making a note in my memorandum book, which enabled me to identify the locality in the fall, after the leaves had fallen, and when they could be more safely removed.

Land in New England is cheap-lower than in many parts of the West; but it will not always remain so. The West will fill up and a check will be placed upon emigration. A reaction will follow in this as in everything else. These older states will hereafter sustain more than double the populations that they now do. There will come a rise in land values, which in turn will impel us to more thorough tillage; and with the general advance in taste and culture, which in our democratic country can never be confined to one class, a corresponding impression will be stamped upon even these rocky hills, making them artistically beautiful as well as abundantly productive. These transformations will do much to change the wandering instinct, now so prominent a characteristic of our people, into that better trait called inhabitiveness or love of home, which is the direct outcome of civilization, and the best index of its advancement.

DISCUSSION.

William C. Strong said that all would agree that the paper which had been read contained many valuable suggestions. He was pleased with its tone, and with the idea that every man might become his own landscape gardener. Planting trees so as to bring out their individual characteristics is very desirable when it is possible, but sometimes we must have groups of trees for shelter, or rows for wind-breaks, where individual characteristics are lost. He liked the idea of planting vines to keep houses dry. The Kenilworth and English ivies are not suited to our climate; but we have a wealth of material in our native vines. The woodbine is more graceful than either of the two just mentioned. We want sunlight, and must take care not to make our houses damp by planting trees too near. He had seen cases where he would have put the axe to trees, because they were too near the house. He liked the elm for a roadside tree or to grow near a house, because it is not dense like the maples, but lofty and open so as to admit air beneath.

Dr. Bowen said that he was not a professional landscape gard

ener.

His idea is that even the simplest country dweller, living in the humblest home, can render his abode as attractive as any of the cottage homes of England, of whose beauty so much has been said; and this would not be expensive, for the materials are near at hand.

John G. Barker said that the suggestions of the essayist are such as we shall all agree to. He lives in a brick house covered with Ampelopsis Veitchii, which is better than paint. He did not know that the vines made any perceptible difference in the dampness, but they improved the appearance very much. The remarks made in regard to planting trees near houses reminded him of a plan made for improving the grounds around his house, which included a clump of white pines on the northeast side, that would have shut off the view from the dining room and sitting room windows. He made a yard which it was desired to hide from view, and here a trellis was built, in front of which were planted lilacs, Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, Paul's scarlet thorn and other shrubs; and, in front of these, herbaceous plants, some of which are in flower from early spring to autumn. He can sit at the sec

ond story window and look over the tops of the shrubs.

We are too apt to do what others say and not to look round and work out plans for ourselves. A friend in the country had a stone wall, which he thought it best to remove and put a picket fence in its place; but there was plenty of woodbine round, and he was advised to plant this and clematis against the wall and let them run over it; he did so and was much pleased with the results. In the cemetery which the speaker has charge of, he was obliged to build a piece of stone wall, and this was covered in the same way with excellent effect. The woodbine needs a little pruning to keep it within bounds.

He agreed with Mr. Strong in regard to trees; there is nothing better than the American weeping elm, especially for broad streets. For streets, they are better than maples, but the latter are proper for lawns. There are some tulip trees in East Saugus, which are very beautiful, especially when in flower. Their upright growth adapts them for narrow streets. The superintendent of tree planting in Lynn has come to the conclusion that young trees are better than large ones cut down. The trouble with many people is that their faculty of adaptation is never developed. The speaker advised any one who is thinking of planting trees to take the catalogue of some nurseryman who has a good variety, and go to the nursery and make notes of what is best adapted to the purpose in view; or, better still, to go to the Arnold Arboretum. It is astonishing what an amount of valuable information we are to have from that source for the mere trouble of going and getting it, or, indeed, how much can now be obtained. He felt grateful to the Committee for having brought the subject of the essay before the Society.

Col. Henry W. Wilson said that the whole genius of our age is against planting trees, on account of the slow returns from them. The black walnut and white pine do not reach perfection for lumber until they are over a hundred years old. Men cut down pine trees as soon as they will bring eight dollars per thousand for box boards. Our people are possessed by the spirit of unrest; when they plant corn they want to see it up the day after to-morrow.

The question is how to show, to men who want trees for ornament, some means of getting large handsome trees speedily. A man does not generally feel justified in making a country residence before he is fifty years old, and then his expectation of life is only twenty years. Fine trees are often destroyed in laying out streets,

or can be found in pastures of a size ordinarily considered too large to be transplanted, but with sufficient care they might be safely removed, and would produce an immediate effect. The speaker had often transplanted large trees with success. It is a beautiful thing to take a tree six, eight, or ten inches in diameter, which would perhaps otherwise be destroyed, and put it where it is wanted, and do the work in such a manner that in a year it would not be known that it had been transplanted. The late Hon. Josiah Quincy planted an orchard in his old age, and lived to eat of the fruit for twenty-five years. It is important in planting trees to attend to the location and condition of the soil; they love moisture, and evergreens are often supposed to have been winter-killed when in reality they have died of drought. But they must have drainage, for a superfluity of moisture is equally deleterious. If, after the holes are dug, they are found full of water, another location should be selected, for no tree will grow in stagnant water. One must either be familiar with these points or procure the services of a competent person.

Col. Wilson advised the planting of trees that will bear nuts; he loves to go nutting still. He would plant grafted trees of some fine variety of chestnut or other nuts, rather than to raise them from seed, and then he would be sure of getting fine nuts. There are many places in New England where the black walnut will flourish.

There are many estates that require wind-breaks. People plant grape vines in exposed places and the leaves are broken by winds, and also evaporate more water than they would in a sheltered place, and are attacked by mildew. Grapes cannot be brought to the highest perfection except in still air. In encouraging the planting and growth of trees will be found the hope of establishing homes. Our cities ought to own the lands upon which rainfall is gathered for their water supply, and keep them covered with forest trees, thus preventing pollution at the source. The money that has been spent by the city of Boston in other directions to secure the purity of the water supply, would have bought a hundred thousand acres of land.

Notice was given that on the next Saturday John G. Barker would read a paper on "The Care and Embellishment of Cemeteries."

BUSINESS MEETING.

SATURDAY, March 20, 1886.

An adjourned meeting of the Society was holden at 11 o'clock, the President, HENRY P. WALCOTT, in the chair.

No business being brought before the meeting, it adjourned to Saturday, March 27.

MEETING FOR DISCUSSION.

THE CARE AND EMBELLISHMENT OF CEMETERIES.

By JOHN G. BARKER, Superintendent of Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn.*

In approaching the subject assigned for our consideration today, it will not be out of place to look first of all at some of the cemeteries in foreign lands, and glance very briefly at the history of their origin; especially as this Society is recognized as the originator in the first "garden cemetery" in this country. It is admitted, however, that the idea had been already carried into effect in other countries, some time prior to the establishment of Mount Auburn.

Mr. Loudon, in his "Encyclopedia of Gardening," says: "The cemeteries of the Jews may be considered as a species of garden. We find that Abraham, when Sarah died, purchased from the children of Heth a 'field, and all the trees which were within its limits, or on its borders' as a place of burial. It appears, from Abraham having declined the choice of any of the sepulchres of Heth, and fixed on a spot ornamented with trees, that burialplaces in those days were considered scenes of beauty, as well as of mournful associations. The idea is confirmed by the circumstance of the sepulchre in which our Saviour was laid being in a garden."

It is also said in the work above quoted that, in the Netherlands, cemetery gardens were first commenced by the emperor Joseph; but they did not for a long time become common, though trees were frequently planted in churchyards.

No one, I suppose, who has ever been in Paris, or ever read of it, is without some knowledge of Père la Chaise; which was set apart as a cemetery, after an act had been passed by the French

Since this paper was read Mr. Barker has been appointed Superintendent of Forest Hills Cemetery, Boston.