Hon. E. H. Hyde, Vice-President of the Connecticut State Board of Agriculture, planted a number of small evergreens in a circular form around some pear trees, simply for ornament, intending to keep them down in the front of a hedge, and to allow the pear trees, "for effect," to appear above them. The plan was neglected after a while - as many such plans are - and the evergreens soon outstripped the dwarfs, and towered up above and nearly encircled them. It came to be noticed after a while that while the pear trees away from the evergreens were irregular bearers of rather inferior fruit, those within the circle were almost invariably prolific, and the fruit was of superior quality. There was no other apparent cause for this result than the influence of the evergreens, hence the inference in favor of protection would seem to be a just one.

This discovery, however, is not a new one. The influence of shelter belts on fruit trees, as well as on farm crops, has long been known and taught by enterprising horticulturists, but like other improvements not yielding immediate revenues, people have been slow to adopt the plan. There is not a particle of doubt as to their good effects both for sheltor and for beauty. An orchard of any kind interspersed with them would, without doubt, yield better returns, even with one-quarter or one-third the space given to evergreens. Their pyramidal shape makes the shade they cast comparatively small, hence that is a slight objection. If inclined to occupy space at the expense of necessary convenience, they can be clipped, headed back or sheared into almost any form, and their density of foliage only be increased thereby. If largely planted over the country as screens, shelter belts, or only interspersed here and there through orchards and farms, they would not only exert a special protection on adjacent orchards, and vastly beautify the landscape, but would effect a general amelioration of the climate, which would be a universal benefit.

The culture of evergreens is only in its infancy as yet, and every fact or incident tending to promote taste or inquiry in that direction may justly be regarded as a public benefit.