There are few things better calculated to attach us to our homes than rural embellishments. This is true, whether we apply the term to our neighborhood or individual abode. The public grounds about the great cities of Europe, some of which comprise an area of five hundred acres, are the theme of general admiration, the theatre of healthful exercise and recreation, and sources of high intellectual enjoyment The lesser towns and villages of our own country, owe more of their charms and interest to the trees and shrubs which embellish their grounds, squares, and streets, in the eye of the man of taste, than to any ostentatious, showy brick and mortar - more to the beauties of nature than to the works of man. Nay, the highest efforts of the human intellect are in vain put in requisition to imitate the handiworks of the Creator. And when we come down to the suburban residence, and even to the unostentatious abode of the farmer, how are their beauties heightened, and their value advanced by a screen of ornamental trees.

The great objection to planting is, that one may not live to enjoy the fruit or the shade of the trees which one plants. Such an objection is unworthy of the age, which should, if it does not, have regard to the interests of the human family, and of posterity; and is, besides, affecting to hold a shorter term of life than all of us hope for, and most of us expect. "Twenty years ago," said the late Jesse Buel, " at forty years of age, we commenced the cultivation of what was termed a barren, untenable common, not an acre of which, neither a tree nor shrub, had ever been planted by the hand of man. We have now growing in our court yard, comprising about half an acre, and in the highway in front of it, fifty species of forest and ornamental trees, many of which are from forty to fifty feet high; more than fifty species of ornamental shrubs, not including the rose, which in all the variety and hue of foliage, many be embraced in a single view from the piazza. We feel grateful to God for these rich and abundant blessings, and for the impulse which prompted our labor. We have adduced our own example, not in a spirit of vaunting, but to convince the young and the middle aged that there is abundant reason for them to plant with the hope of enjoying the fruit of their labor.

The old should plant as an obligation they owe to society, and for the requital of which they have but a short period allowed them".

"Many a dreary and barren prospect," said the late A. J. Downing, "may be rendered interesting - many a natural and artificial deformity hidden, and the effects of almost every landscape may be improved, simply by the judicious employment of trees. The most fertile countries would appear but a desert without them, and the most picturesque scenery in every part of the globe has owed to them its brightest charm".

We claim it to be the duty of every man who is a farmer, to beautify his grounds and yards, so as to give his habitation as Eden-like an appearance as possible. Should our farmers be true to themselves, and dutiful to nature, then, with truth, of our country it may be said in the language of the poet, 'tis " The land of the myrtle, the cypress, and vine, Where all but the spirit of man is divine,"

The Oak

The Oak, termed by excellence the "King of trees," is remarkable for its sugges-tiveness of power, and consequent expression of grandeur. It is attired with the romance of early history; it is celebrated by its connection with the religion and religious rites of the Druids; with the customs of the Romans, who formed of its green leaves the civic crown for their heroes, and who planted it to overshadow the Temple of Jupiter; and many ancient superstitions give the name a peculiar significance to the poet and the antiquary. From its timber marine architecture has derived the most important aid, and it has thereby become associated with the grandeur of commerce and the exploits of a gallant navy, and is regarded as an emblem of naval powers. The Oak, therefore, to the majority of the human race, is, beyond all other trees, fraught with romantic interest, and invested with classic and historical dignity.

The American continent contains a numerous genus, comprising about sixty species, and many varieties, forty of which are said to be natives of the continent of America and Mexico. Of these the White Oak bears the most resemblance to the classical tree, in its general appearance, in the contorted growth of its branches, and the edible quality of its fruit. It exceeds all other trees, not only in its actua strength, but also in that outward appearance by which this quality is manifested. Hence it is regarded as the monarch of trees, surpassing all in those qualities that indicate nobleness and capacity. It is the emblem of strength, dignity, and grandeur: the severest hurricane can not overthrow it, and by destroying some of its branches, leaves it only with more wonderful proofs of its resistance.

Of deciduous Oaks, natives of North America, two require particular attention. They are, The Champion Oak, ( Quercus rubra,) and the Scarlet Oak, (Quercus coccinea.) These trees are beautiful objects. Planted singly, with taste and judgment, upon a spacious lawn or park, within view, at different points from the mansion, they claim admiration. Their figure is light and graceful, their foliage remarkable; and whether as mere shrubs six feet high, or as trees forty or fifty feet high, these oaks stand preeminent. Loudon says, Q. coccinea is one of the handsomest of the American oaks. The leaves, which are six inches long, change in autumn to a beautiful scarlet color; and unless very hard frost comes on early, they do not fall off the trees till Christmas, or later. Both are highly worthy a place in every lawn.

American Shade Trees #1

The associations with the beauty of trees about our country homes enter deeply into the very best elements of our own character; and we hope that what we have written may induce some of our readers to plant trees for the purpose of increasing the comfort and beauty of the quiet homes of their wives and children.

There is nothing which so agreeably impresses us as the evident partiality for trees and flowers which marks the progress of improvement, clearly indicating the existence of good taste on the part of the inhabitants, while it manifests the general growth of refinement. The object of these communications is to awaken a deeper sense of the blessings by which they are surrounded, and lead them, or any of them, to resolve to preserve the old and plant new trees.

" It is not easy," says a writer, " to measure the influence which a few individuals in any town or neighborhood may exercise in disseminating a partiality for such adornments of the mansion and surrounding grounds. And of all the productions of the organic world, what so grand as trees? What so sweet as flowers? so beautiful as birds? " and may we not add, what country has Providence so bountifully supplied with all these as the Americas? The variety and magnificence of our autumnal scenery have extorted admiration, even when beheld by the jaundiced eyes of tourists, as ready to find fault where none exists, as to express the many which candor must not allow us to repudiate.

No element of beauty is so completely managed as trees; and our resources in that respect are surprisingly great. Situated in the middle of the temperate zone, we have all the best of deciduous trees of the temperate regions, together with the finest of the evergreens of a more northern climate. Each tree has its own color, or rather its own class of color - tints and shades which belong to it, and to it alone. Early autumn becomes gay with the vivid crimson of the Tupelo and the Sumach. A little later come out the rich orange and yellow of the Sugar Maple, with the gold and scarlet of the red-flowering Maple. The olive tints of the Ash, the warm browns of the Hickory, the buffs and yellows of the Birches, give place at last to the full scarlets, yellows, and browns of the Oaks, many of whose leaves remain adhering through the snows of winter. These and forty other trees, and twice as many shrubs, furnish an inexhaustible storehouse of colors, as they do of foliage. It would be endless to speak of the adjuncts of trees, the climbing shrubs, the Virginia Creeper, so remarkable for its richness of fading colors, the Ivy, the Bittersweet with its orange-colored flowers and the climbers which naturally attach themselves to our trees, and which may be trained upon them in cultivation.

All these are studies, and their daily observation will add immeasurably to the pleasure of the contemplative man, 'who dwells in or traverses the country in autumn with the eye of the painter, and the feelings of a poet, or with those of a worshipper of the Author of these beauties.

There are many species of trees and shrubs found in our own woods and fields, far more beautiful than a large proportion of the exotic kinds, which are carefully and extensively cultivated for ornamental purposes. Indigenous shrubs have been employed to a limited extent for embellishment; but their merits are more appreciated as they become better known and better understood. Some of the most splendid knds have been transplanted from the forest to pleasure grounds, lawns, etc., and are much admired and highly prized.

It is surprising how small is the number of trees necessary to produce a striking effect. Ten or twelve trees, fortunately or skillfully disposed on the sides or , brow of a hill, are often sufficient to give an air of richness harmonizing perfectly with a highly cultivated country. The happy effect of three or four trees on an island, gives an agreeable relief to the eye. A single tree by a farmer's house protects it, and gives it a desirable air of seclusion and rest, as it must be the residence of contentment. One almost covets a house so pleasantly situated. While an unprotected, solitary house seems cheerless, and to shiver in the north wind, and we involuntarily wish for the inhabitants a more cheerful home. Why should not at least one tree be found near the dwelling of every man, even the poorest and the humblest 1