for a willow. Don't group trees together which look awkward. I never
should have Peter and Myron march together in school. Why? Because they
look wretchedly together. Myron makes Peter look short and Peter causes
Myron to look overgrown. So it is with trees. A long-looking poplar does
not go with a nice rather rounded little tulip tree. A juniper, so neat
and prim, would look silly beside a spreading chestnut. One must keep
proportion and suitability in mind.

"I'd never advise the planting of a group of evergreens close to a
house, and in the front yard. The effect is very gloomy indeed. Houses
thus surrounded are overcapped by such trees and are not only gloomy to
live in, but truly unhealthful. The chief requisite inside a house is
sunlight and plenty of it.

"There are no shrubs on the school grounds. You had spoken of doing that
but bulbs took up the attention of the girls this fall. And as for you
boys--you were attending to your own crops. Shrubbery is very pleasing
if properly placed. It is just the thing to fill in corners near
buildings, to help define the turns in walks, and to use as hedges.
Usually one shrub standing by itself is not nearly so pleasing as one
tree by itself. It has a squatty and isolated appearance. There is a
corner close by the school building where shrubs should go. Why?
Because the place looks bare and staring, and the building is very ugly
at that point; the shrubs would fill in the space, and make the building
look much better.

"As trees are chosen because of certain good points, so shrubs should
be. In a clump I should wish some which bloomed early, some which
bloomed late, some for the beauty of their fall foliage, some for the
colour of their bark and others for the fruit. Some spireas and the