Country Roads and Roadside Improvements 129 



Fruit-trees along Roadways 



As a matter of economy fruit-trees along the roadsides 

 are advisable, for they generally grow with great luxuriance 

 with little care, produce large crops of fruit, and, in a measure, 

 serve the purpose of ornamentation, but they do not give 

 the desired shade, such as is produced by the elm, maple, 

 oak, and other tall-growing ornamental trees, and which is 

 one of the main objects of roadside tree-planting. 



Planting Avenues 



In almost every section of our countr}^- we find beautiful 

 avenues of shade-trees along the roadsides which have been 

 planted by public-spirited citizens, and such avenues are 

 grander monuments to their memory than stone or marble; 

 but the amount of roadway thus decorated is very small as 

 compared with that which is bare and possessed of little or 

 no beauty. Village improvement societies, Arbor-day plant- 

 ing, planting-bees, etc., are doing much to encourage and 

 increase the good work. The expense of the trees is very 

 small, and it requires but an hour or two to obtain and 

 plant a tree, and every landowner will find a few hours 

 spent each year in thus adding to the beauty of his sur- 

 roundings often the most profitable hours of his life, adding 

 to the value of his property and building a monument 

 that shall stand long after his face has been forgotten. 



Ornamental Shrubs and Flowering Plants along 

 the Roadsides 



The great variety of ornamental shrubs, vines, and 

 plants that we find growing along our country roads, 



