136 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Here is a Swiss mountain road some 3000 feet above Geneva. 

 Incidentally we see the way in which many of the peasants 

 transport their supplies to and from their mountain homes. 

 This view is of a road which is not used for vehicles, but by 

 pedestrians who acquire the habit of carrying loads on the back 

 very easily. Again, in their constructive work there was an 

 element of the artistic in the old remains, particularly in the 

 Renaissance period, the period after the dark ages. 



We have this quality in the view of a Roman bridge built 

 across a little stream. Notice the attractive features in that 

 arch, not as beautiful as many you see, but after all. curves you 

 know are always more beautiful than straight lines. W'e are apt 

 to deal in rectangles in this present work-a-day world ; we are 

 prone to overlook the aesthetic in out-door life too much 

 altogether. 



SWISS ROADS. 



Another view — the last view was in Italy — this is in Switzer- 

 land, showing how well kept or well maintained these mountain 

 roads are. We are making progress in road making in this 

 country, but one of the defects of our system is that no adequate 

 provision is made for maintenance, and many of the good roads 

 which were constructed only a few years ago are now showing 

 serious signs of wear and tear. They are not being properly 

 maintained. 



Another view of a road cut along side of a cliff in Southern 

 Italy; note the strong stone retaining wall. The only point 

 about this which I wish to bring forward is the attempt at 

 introducing the aesthetic into an otherwise bare and rather harsh 

 landscape. Small openings are made into the embankment 

 through this stone work, and into these holes grape vines are 

 planted. The grape vines are supported by a little trellis which 

 is more or less invisible in this hastily taken picture, but which 

 supports the vine, keeps it away from the stones, and actually 

 enables a crop of grapes to be harvested — a combination of the 

 economic and aesthetic. One of the most attractive roads that 

 I have seen anywhere, about one of the best from the engineer- 

 ing standpoint, carved right out of the bare rock, is on the Island 

 of Capri, off the Bay of Naples. The roads wind around these 

 points which are often occupied by monasteries and other 



