106 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



are homes in the best sense of the word, and the people who inhabit 

 them do not live in their trunks five months of the year, as do all good 

 New Yorkers. Yet the route I have indicated is only one in all direc- 

 tions and equally charming. Each time I visit Boston and its suburbs 

 I am more convinced than ever of the fact that at least its middle and 

 higher classes get more enjoyment and comfort out of life than do 

 people of corresponding classes of this city, and at an expenditure of 

 one quarter of the money." 



My own observation while visiting Boston and witnessing the 

 suburbans alluded to by the writer will lead me to mention Boston 

 Commons as a model sample of neatness and beauty rarely met with in 

 the way of a park or pleasure resort, especially do we admire the many 

 ancient and native shade trees. The people of Missouri may learn a 

 lesson and seek desireable homesteads and public grounds adjacent to 

 our rising cities ere it is too late to preserve and retain some of these 

 noble specimens that have been growing for centuries. 



In looking over the programme for this meeting I find that our 

 secretary has assigned to me Landscape Gardening on Public Eoads. 

 It may be that he intended as well streets and public grounds, in the 

 way of trees for shade and ornament. If so, while this is a very desir- 

 able improvement, but one that will be hard to reduce to landscape 

 from the fact that our public roads are generally laid out on straight 

 lines, without affording sufficient variation and variety to command the 

 admiration of the aesthetic observer. Y'et nature comes to our aid, and 

 what may be seen from my window as I write may compare with thous- 

 ands of other localities. By looking down and across the great Mis- 

 souri river the valley is lovely, and as farms rise gradually on the other 

 side amid promentories and clumps of timber and prairie alternating 

 with cleared fields and these valleys with cities and thriving vilages give 

 to the landscape a very pleasing perspective. 



Before streets and public grounds and roads can be brought to be 

 ornamental, some legislation, either municipal or State, may be neces- 

 sary to secure uniformity. And before any great reform in this way 

 can be expected, the public must be educated through precept or ex- 

 ample. Some cities and some State Horticultural Societies are agitat- 

 ing this question and furnish commendable examples. 



There seems to be frequent inquiries as to the best kinds of trees 

 to be used for streets and ornament. I have in former articles 

 attempted to give a partial list, yet the subject is one that requires time 

 and observation to test those that may succeed best in different locali- 

 ties I can only speak of those mainly that I have tested. For streets 



