242 ANNUAL REPORT. 



owe their existence to no caprice of their owners, but to the super- 

 vision of some authority of law, that directed their planting, and 

 that protects them from harm. In Germany, these trees are often 

 apple trees, and their fruit which is sold annually at auction upon 

 the trees, goes toward paying for the expenses of these highways. 

 In northcirn Italy such plantations are often of the mulberry, and 

 the foliage is fed to silk worms. In some districts the tops on the 

 side branches are allowed to be taken off for fuel, and in all of them 

 the old and decaying trees are taken out before they have ceased to 

 be of value for the wood, and their places are supplied by other 

 trees. 



I need not urge the importance of plantations of this kind in a 

 treeless region like the western part of your state. Aside from the 

 protection which they would afford as wind-breaks, they would 

 serve to mark the route of the road, when the country is covered 

 w^ith deep snows in winter, or to those obliged to travel by night 

 at any season of the year. They would encourage the increase of 

 insectivorous birds, by affording them shelter, and above all they 

 would impart an amenity and beauty to the country that could 

 not fail to render it more agreeable for residence. To those who 

 can hear no other word, it may be said, that it would make their 

 farms worth more money. 



In suggesting this legislation, it need not be assumed that it will 

 prove burdensome. The planting might be limited to a certain 

 number every year, so that the work would extend, say through ten 

 or a dozen years. It would be just to charge the expenses upon the 

 property of the towns, in the same manner as highway taxes, and 

 those owning land along a highway should be allowed to do their 

 own planting, subject to such general rules as might be prescribed 

 by law, and to the acceptance of the authorities having the high- 

 ways in charge. If these owners failed to plant, the work should 

 be done at their expense. There will always be some, who having 

 no land along a highway, would be required to pay their tree-tax 

 in money, and thus the means would be at hand for paying the 

 expenses, and the money raised would all be expended near home. 



Such plantations would be failures, without adequate means for 

 their protection from the injury that might happen from cattle, or 

 from fires and casualties, and proper penalties should be enacted 

 against wilful injury, or improper neglect. 



In cities and villages, it is now an accepted rule, that all the 

 trees upon any street should be of the same kind. There may be a 

 diversity upon different streets, and a certain degree of grouping 



