April is the time for planting trees. Too much cannot be said to
induce people to fill their villages, and the great roads between
village and village, with fine shade trees, and private grounds with
the choicer kinds. To write a good hymn or plant a good tree makes one
a benefactor to his generation.
It is hardly to be expected that the old men, hard-working, and with
enough to do at any rate, will trouble themselves to plant trees along
public roads. But we may hope for such service from enterprising young
men, and even more from the public spirit of young women. Several
instances have come to our knowledge in which women have formed
associations for beautifying towns and villages by tree-planting, and
in a few years have transformed the places. Nor is it unworthy of
mention that this has been done by the influence of articles in the
_New York Ledger_. A tree-planting week might be made a festival week;
or persons might agree to secure a given number during the season.
And here it may be well to say, that, although spring and fall are the
best seasons for transplanting, yet trees may be moved in any month in
the year,—in the middle of August, if need be. A long row of
maples, in Peekskill, were moved—in consequence of grading and
fence-building—during the month of July, and only two of them
experienced any permanent injury.
But it should be borne in mind that only _small_ trees should be
removed in hot months, and after the foliage is expanded, unless one
has a mind to go to great expense. But trees six or eight feet high,
if taken with ample roots, and especially if moved in damp or wet
weather, may be safely transplanted in midsummer. Of course, it will
require twice the care and labor which the same tree would need in
spring, to produce the same result.
The three or four trees usually planted in grounds are maples, elms,
horse-chestnuts, and locusts. These are very well. But there are many
kinds of maple seldom seen that deserve a place; such as the English
field maple (_Acer compestre_), and notably the American red maple,
called swamp maple (_Acer rubrum_), the former for its finely cut
leaves, and the latter for early blossoms and for the exquisite
scarlet autumn hues of its leaves.
The cut-leaf or fern-leaf white birch is now common in nurseries. It
grows rapidly, is extremely graceful, has leaves delicate as a fern,
and in winter throws against the sky a tracery of twigs which is
beautiful to look upon. It ought to be in every small collection. The
_liquidomen_ has a very beautiful leaf, star-like, and changes in
autumn to a purplish bronze, quite distinct from all other leaves. If
one can get the _tupelo_, which abounds in New England, and may be
found in some nurseries, he will secure a tree much neglected, but
which ought to be universally diffused.
Few people know how beautiful is the sassafras-tree, when well grown.
In the woods it is hardly more than a shrub, or scrawny tree; but when
planted young in an open space, and in good soil, it has a peculiar
beauty of its own which is not repeated in any other tree.
Why are magnolias so seldom planted? They are as hardy as maples—some
of them at least. The _M. conspicua_, the _M. soulangiana_, _M.
glanca_, and _M. tripetala_ are easily had, are fine all summer, and
are the glory of the spring when their flowers expand.
The American and the English beech, and also the purple beech, should
be more often planted. An old beech-tree, grown on good soil, in an
open field, and not mutilated, has nothing to fear when standing among
all the kings of trees. No trees that we saw in England impressed us
as did the beeches at Warwick Castle.
In street planting, and along roadsides, nothing could be finer than
the tulip-tree, which grows rapidly, is clean, and bears fine blossoms
in early summer. They should be transplanted when small, as they
easily die off if moved when large. The same is true of chestnuts,
walnuts, and pecan-nuts.
Of evergreens I shall not speak, as they deserve a separate mention.
But do not plant them in the city, nor in any close yard. They do not
thrive, and become disfigurements rather than ornaments.