often the prettiest thing in the whole neighborhood. The fence at the Jamestown Exposition was 8 feet high and completely covered with honeysuckle and clematis. The fragrance could be perceived for several rods, and it was admired by all. It grew within a year or two.

TREES.

If a school ground is to be much used in the late spring and summer, in most parts of this country it must have shade. In some parts this is true for nearly the entire year. Trees also add greatly to the attractiveness, if they are well selected and properly placed; but it is also possible to destroy a school playground by planting in it half a dozen trees in the wrong places. If the first tree is planted on the home plate, the second tree in the pitcher's box, and the third tree on first base, and so on around, it will not take very many trees to spoil the available space in most school yards. A large part of the trees that have been planted thus far should be cut out. I have known a small yard to be ruined by planting three trees. In most grounds all trees within the play space should be eliminated. The playground needs shade, but it also needs space. The trees should be planted around the playground at the edge and not within the ground itself. In larger grounds there may also be trees around special features, such as the baseball diamond or the basket-ball or volley-ball court, or along the walks, or along the running track at the side of the ground, but trees should never be planted at random, without a definite plan for the yard and a definite purpose for the trees.

One row of trees should be set around the school ground just outside the sidewalk, and a second row just inside or just outside the fence, according to the size of the ground and the width of the space between the sidewalk and the fence. The rule of tree experts is that shade trees should be planted from 25 to 40 feet apart. It is a good rule to plant alternately cottonwoods and hard maples, or hard and soft maples. Then the soft maples will grow up rapidly and begin to furnish shade very soon, while the hard maples will come on more slowly. As soon as the hard maples develop enough to give sufficient shade, the cottonwoods or soft maples should be cut out and all the space given to the slower-growing but more beautiful trees. If this method is followed, the trees should be planted from 15 to 20 feet apart, so that they will be 30 or 40 feet apart when the soft trees are cut out. It might be well also to plant a different kind of tree in the inside row from those in the outside row. Paulonia japonica, common in New York City, looks like a catalpa with the blossoms of wisteria upon it, and is very attractive. The catalpa

itself is a beautiful tree, both in the spring, when it is in blossom, and in the fall, when it carries its long drooping pods. Some of the streets of Washington that are bordered with horse chestnuts are very beautiful in the spring, when the trees are in blossom. Even our common basswood or linden is fragrant and attractive in April and May. In the South the magnolia can be used effectively, and in California the beautiful pepper trees are very decorative. Any of these trees will make of the school yard a great bouquet in the springtime worth coming a long way to see. It might be well at times to select nut trees instead of flowering trees. The hickory turns a rich yellow in the fall; and hickory, walnut, and butternut furnish good shade. Such trees offer an opportunity for nutting festivals in the fall, though it might be that the temptations the nuts would offer to climbing might not be good for the trees. In Porto Rico they say that they can not have mango trees in the school yards, because the children break them down in climbing for the fruit. The Japanese ginkgo, a tree much used in the streets of Washington, is a beautiful tree, but it is little known outside of Washington.

Very many trees that are planted in school yards die. The most common cause is probably that the trees are not really planted. A tree is often dug or torn up from somewhere, a hole is cut in the school yard, the tree is stuck in, earth is thrown on the roots, and the tree is considered to be ready to grow. It is needless to say that such methods are without result. Trees should be planted late in the fall or early in the spring. If a good many of the roots have been broken, a proportional part of the top should be cut off, for there will not be enough roots to feed a large amount of foliage. A tree can not be planted in the sterile subsoil of a school yard with reasonable expectation that it will live. A space from 4 to 8 feet square and 2 or more feet deep should be excavated and filled in with good, rich earth. The whole should be well packed and watered down, and the tree should be boxed. The estimated cost of planting trees in Washington was $4 a tree. This price was for the planting and boxing alone, as the trees were furnished by the city nursery. This may seem expensive, but it is scarcely 1 per cent of what a wellplaced tree is worth to a school yard.

It is a good thing to have benches around a number of the trees, in order that the children may sit in the shade when they are tired or when they are eating their luncheon. Wherever it is possible the games and play should be so planned inside the yard as to keep a grass border 8 or 10 feet wide under the trees and along the fence. This adds greatly to the attractiveness of the yard and serves as a pleasant place to sit or lie in the shade when tired.