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: IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS 
Selection of Trees.—The planting of trees is an important 
part of improvement projects. It is desirable to plant trees with 
the idea of permanence, but for quick results plant cottonwood, 
poplar, soft maple, and willow. A few trees that are less temporary 
and that give fairly quick results are black walnut, butternut, 
hardy catalpa, and true mulberry. Trees that are slower in growth 
and live for many years are American elm, sugar maple, basswood, 
oaks, and ash. Good evergreens are Norway spruce, white spruce, 
white pine, Austrian pine, Scotch pine, arbor vite, and hemlock. 
Hedge Plants.—There are hedge plants suitable for various 
situations. California privet is adapted to the central states and 
as far north as New York. Amoor or Chinese privet is evergreen 
in the southern states and nearly so as far north as the Ohio river. 
[ts leaves are finer and the effect better than when California 
privet is used. Japanese barberry is suited to all regions except 
the drier climates. After the leaves fall the hedge shows a fine 
display of red berries which attract winter birds.’ Japanese quince 
is a beautiful flowering hedge in the northern states, but is severely 
attacked by scale insects and must be sprayed each winter. Osage 
orange thrives fairly well in all states, even in the drier states as 
far west as Nebraska. It must be pruned severely to produce good 
effects. Arbor vile may be used as an evergreen hedge and trimmed 
to any height desired. T'rifoliate orange forms a beautiful thorny 
hedge, suited to the South Atlantic and Gulf states. 
All hedge plants require considerable attention and constant 
pruning throughout the growing season to attain the effects desired. 
Other plants often used for hedges are box-wood, certain roses, 
and spruces. 
Perennial flowering plants are best located in borders or in 
front of shrubbery plantings. Have a bed of them six or eight 
feet wide along the side of the garden next to the lawn. Careful 
study should be given to the arrangement and the selection of 
varieties. Color schemes, heights, season of flowering and all other 
plans may be worked out to suit the owner and give pleasing 
effects. Nursery catalogues will greatly aid in working out the 
final design. Most perennials are readily propagated by root 
division and supplies of roots may often be obtained from old 
plantations of relatives or friends who want their beds renewed by 
digging” and division of plants. A good time for doing this work 
is in the fall, while the old flower stalks are still standing and the 
roots can be readily located. Prepare the bed by digging the soil 
deeply and supplying plenty of rotted compost,