group or mass of foliage (Fig. 32), as a promontory, adding zest and
spirit to the border; it then has relation with the place.

[Illustration: Fig 32. A weeping tree at one side of the grounds and
supported by a background.]

This leads me to speak of the planting of the Lombardy poplar, which may
be taken as a type of the formal tree, and as an illustration of what I
mean to express. Its chief merits to the average planter are the
quickness of its growth and the readiness with which it multiplies by
sprouts. But in the North it is likely to be a short-lived tree, it
suffers from storms, and it has few really useful qualities. It may be
used to some advantage in windbreaks for peach orchards and other
short-lived plantations; but after a few years a screen of Lombardies
begins to fail, and the habit of suckering from the root adds to its
undesirable features. For shade it has little merit, and for timber
none. Persons like it because it is striking, and this, in an artistic
sense, is its gravest fault. It is unlike anything else in our
landscape, and does not fit into our scenery well. A row of Lombardies
along a roadside is like a row of exclamation points!

[Illustration: IV. Subtropical bedding against a building. Caladiums,
cannas, abutilons, permanent rhododendrons, and other large stuff, with
tuberous begonias and balsams between.]

But the Lombardy can often be used to good effect as one factor in a
group of trees, where its spire-like shape, towering above the
surrounding foliage, may lend a spirited charm to the landscape. It
combines well in such groups if it stands in visual nearness to chimneys
or other tall formal objects. Then it gives a sort of architectural