A judicious planting of Virginia creeper helps the appearance of buildings both good and bad. I should surely plant it about the main building and the outbuildings and fences, if the patrons of the school did not object. The probabilities are that when the vines have begun to cover some of the deformities of the place, some finicky resident of the district will cut them out on the plea that they promote decay of the weather-beaten clap-boards; but do not be discouraged by such a possibility. Vines, too, usually interfere with the painting of a building. Although they may be taken down and put back after the painters are through, the first effect is not regained unless the process of putting back has been done with unusual care. Do not make the mistake of planting too much. A small lawn can be overdressed as is sometimes the case with women. Lilac, Japan quince, syringa, hydrangea, and like common shrubs, could be planted if the opportunities of space seem to warrant. I hope it will be your taste to allow the limbs of the trees to start low and those of the shrubs to begin as near the ground as possible. I am aware that among country people it is the practice to tolerate only the higher limbs. I can give a reason for this only on the supposition that they must do something in pruning, and the lower limbs are the most convenient to reach. I know a man who came into possession of a place having a fine lot of evergreens with the lower branches at the ground. By way of proclaiming a change of ownership he cut away the lower branches, leaving a bare trunk of about five feet. Before he touched them they were beautiful green cones and when passing the place I always turned my face in their direction to enjoy the beauty. When he was through they were standing on one leg, and a wooden leg at that. I have never felt kindly toward the man since. In the matter of planting I know of no better method than that of the experienced orchardist. As a rule he buys his trees of a nurseryman. They are often dug in the fall, and are planted the following spring. During the interval they are stored in specially constructed cellars, and at no time are the roots permitted to become dry. When packed for shipment damp moss is placed about the roots. When the orchardist removes them from the packing box he "heels" them in, which is a kind of probationary planting in shallow furrows where they stand until ready to be set out permanently. When that time comes the trees are taken from the trench and the roots plunged in a tub of thin mud or doused with water and covered with a blanket. An orchardist counts a tree lost if the roots have been allowed to remain in the sun until the small rootlets have so dried that they have a gray appearance.