Among all the materials at our disposal for the adornment of country residences, none are at once so highly ornamental, so indispensable, and so easily and completely manageable as trees; and our resources in that respect are surprisingly great. We introduce them into the landscape - in the foreground as well as in the distance, on the tops of the hills, and in the valleys. They are, indeed, like the drapery which covers a somewhat ungainly figure, which, while it conceals its defects, communicates to it new interest and expression.

Trees, in their many forms, are one of the greatest sources of interest and character in landscapes. Variety, as a source of beauty, is created in a wonderful degree by a natural arrangement of trees. Airy and delicate in its youth, luxuriant and majestic in its prime, venerable in its old age, the tree constitutes in its various forms, sizes, and developments, the greatest charm and beauty on the earth in all countries.

Nothing is so attractive to the traveler as fine country residences; and how much might be added to the appearance of many, indeed most of our farms, if proper attention were paid to the planting of shade trees in their appropriate places. They are something for the eye to feast upon; they please the imagination, cheer the heart, and bring with them all the associations of happiness. Sociality, refinement, and learning follow in the train of rural improvement. Nothing contributes, in our estimation, so much to the pleasantness of a place as the presence of trees; and surely no luxury of half their value can be procured for the same price. Springside owes a great share of its beauty and attractiveness to its shade trees.

No person claiming any pretensions for the beautiful in nature, could fail to notice, on visiting the beautiful village of Pittsfield, Mass., the tall, majestic elm, the-monarch of the forest, the pride of the inhabitants, (who almost worship it,) standing in the center of the square, lifting its umbral branches on a trunk sixty feet to the first limb, and can be plainly distinguished for miles, towering above buildings and highest trees, surrounded by mountains and lofty hills, on a plain stretching from north to south, as far as the eye can reach, and from east to west to the mountains, situated in opposite directions; these hills and mountains are covered with deciduous trees, while on the plain itself, which is watered by the bright, sparkling Housatonic, the sycamore, the maple, and elm flourish in great abundance.

The country house that has its shade trees, its shrubbery, and flowers, has hallowed memories to win back the hearts of its wanderers, and brighten its gloomiest hours. The woman who fails to have a green spot and shade at her door, fails in one part of her mission! Her house will not be so endeared to its inmates as it otherwise would be! True, the outside decorations should chiefly belong to man's labor; but very many, we are constrained to say, will not plant a tree or shrub, who could be taught to love them, and add to them, if some one would begin. So, boys, go ahead; plant trees. Do it at once, or, at least, during the proper season. Do not delay it from year to year. Do not procrastinate until you have no time to plant a tree, shrub, or vine. Make a resolve, and carry the resolution into effect, that two trees at least shall be planted every year for each man, woman, and child on the farm. Recollect that handsome trees, judiciously planted, not only advance the beauty, but add greatly to the value of farms.

Take, for instance, two farms of equal sue and quality; let one have shade tree* well located, while the other is bare of all these glories; put them up at public sale, and our word for it, the one with ornamental shade trees will command an advance of more than five times the cost of planting and attending to the trees.

A writer in a late number of the Rural New-Yorker sets forth our views so truthfully, we can not resist copying it: " Indiscriminate destruction of trees and shrubbery has generally characterized the clearings of our woodland pioneers. Many ' old settlers,' who once classed wolves and trees in the same category of extermination, have lived to mourn for their unwise course, and to endeavor to atone for their early folly by planting trees and shrubbery to supply future generations with the shade and ornament which might have been preserved while clearing around the house and farm.

"The comfort and value of a homestead and farm embellished with trees and shrubbery, contrasted with the desolate appearance of premises without such embellishments, furnish lessons that should not be neglected while clearing land. In the mere dollar-and cent aspect of the case, few things will ' pay' better than attention to this matter".

No element of beauty is so completely manageable as trees; and when judiciously planted, not only advance the beauty, but add greatly to the value of the farm; they give a beautiful aspect to the homestead, and furnish, without direct expense, for the feathered minstrels a summer orchestra, cheering the heart, and delighting the ear of the lover of birds' songs.

Situated as we are, in the middle of the temperate zone, we have the best of the deciduous trees - the Oaks, the Elms, the Maples, the Beeches, the Birches, the Ashes, the Hickories, the Walnuts, the Cherries, the Chestnut, the Linden, Sycamore, and many others, of the temperate regions; together with the finest evergreens - the Pines, the Firs, the Spruces, the Hemlock, the, Hackmatack, the Cedars, the Larch, and the Arbor Vitae. Each one of these trees has its own peculiar and distinctly marked character, recognizable at a distance, and producing an effect which needs not to be mistaken for that. of any other. Each has its own cycle of change, its own time of flowering, and of perfecting its fruit, and of opening, maturing, changing, and casting its foliage. Each has its own shape and its own color, distinguishing it from every other tree, even of the species most nearly allied. Hence the endless variety of forest scenery.

The numerous trees, and still more numerous flowering shrubs, which belong to our forests, all capable of being made to flourish freely in every part of the state, give the planter who is studious of the effects of landscape, inexhaustible resources. Some of the trees grow habitually to the height of only thirty or forty feet; others rise to seventy or a hundred. Judiciously grouped in planting, they are capable of giving to a level lawn or plain the appearance of any desired inequality of surface. The tall Pines, Elms, Lindens, and Locusts at a distance will seem to occupy a hill; the Maples and Hickories, broad Oaks and spreading Beeches, will form the grandest descent to the plain. ' Among these, a winding path leading under or near the largest trees and behind thickets, may give to a few acres all the advantages of variety of a large forest.

It is surprising how small is the number of trees necessary to produce a striking effect Ten or twelve trees, fortunately or skillfully disposed on the sides of a hill, are often sufficient to give an air of richness, harmonizing perfectly with a highly cultivated country. The happy effect of three or four trees on an island gives an agreeable relief to the eye. A single tree by a farmer's house protects it, and gives it a desirable air of seclusion and rest - as it must be the residence of contentment. One almost covets a house so pleasantly sheltered; while an unprotected, solitary house, seems to shiver in the north wind, and we involuntarily wish for its inhabitants a more cheerful home. Why should not at least one tree be found growing near the dwelling of every man, even the poorest and the humblest?

In a country so much exposed as ours is, in consequence of the remarkable clearness of the atmosphere, to the burning heat of the sun, the use of trees for shade is not one of the least important. This use is closely allied to the last. A tree which furnishes a cool shade to the inhabitants of a house, is at the same time, and on that account, its best ornament. At the season when men travel for pleasure, a plain, low, modest house, with open grass plot in front before it, shaded by an Oak, Elm, or Linden, speaks more for the feelings, and is more beautiful than the showiest house unprotected from the sun. The traveler in a hot day welcomes every tree on the roadside. Even a thin fringe of white birches looks pleasant; and he remembers thankfully the kindness or good taste which has spared or planted a tree with a head broad and thick enough for him to rest under and cool himself.