278 ORKAMEKTAL GARDEKIKG. 



form of ornament. Otherwise provision could be made 

 for some roof and veranda gardens. What can go farther 

 towards making a hotel attractive to the guests, than to 

 have the dining-room and other windows opening upon 

 a garden filled with neatly kept grass, bright flowers, 

 and beautiful shrubs, together with walks, and perhaps 

 vine-covered seats or arbors. The refreshing beauty and 

 comfort of such a spot would be appreciated by the trav- 

 elling public, and no doubt in many instances would 

 serve to make a hotel a favorite over rivals not having 

 these attractions. 



The enterprise manifested by some of the great rail- 

 roads in the way of improved stations and station gar- 

 dens, may be considered as a beginning in the right di- 

 rection in what may be called ''Railroad Gardening," 

 and an example that must sooner or later be followed 

 by all our railroad companies. The manner of keeping 

 up lands along railroad lines and about stations in Eng- 

 land, and elsewhere in Europe, is in marked contrast 

 with this country. There nearly all railroad lands at 

 the side of the tracks are made even, and whether level 

 or sloping are well finished, put into grass and mown 

 like a park. Masses and lines of trees are introduced in 

 some places. What abundant chances for improvement 

 in this direction are afforded by the American railroads 

 generally. One may travel thousands of miles in the 

 Atlantic States and see little besides weeds, thistles, and 

 brambles scattered over a rough surface, and through 

 unshapely ditches, with boulders and stumps along the 

 tracks. It would cost something to bring the lands into 

 proper shape for grass, but in the long run, improvements 

 of this kind would pay, aside from the increased attrac- 

 tiveness of the road to travellers, for it would require 

 less expense to keep the surface mowed occasionally (the 

 grass yielded ought to pay for this) than is now required 

 in the occasional hacking away of weeds and brush, be- 



