D 



CHAPTER VII. 



ROADSIDE PLANTING OF TREES 



WELLERS in towns and cities have no monopoly 

 of the duty to plant shade trees. Rural communities 

 also have a responsibility in this respect a responsibility 

 no less urgent than that of people living in centers of pop 

 ulation. Shade is necessary on country roads as well as 

 on city streets. Man's gifts from the trees in beauty and 

 in health are as valuable to the owner of farming prop 

 erty as to him whose residence is on a city thoroughfare. 



Trees are at home in the country. In regions uncrowd- 

 ed by the habitations of man they have room to attain 

 their fullest growth and development, thereby lending 

 picturesqueness and charm to the countryside. The rural 

 district which is lacking in trees is as desolate as the town 

 or city likewise unblessed. It should be a matter of pride 

 for the dweller in rural regions to do all he can to prove that 

 the city man has none the better of him in appreciation of 

 shade trees and in growing them successfully. 



The success of the American farmer in raising the 

 crops that feed the nation and a large part of the outer 

 world shows where he stands in ability to produce; and, 

 as for appreciation of beauty, we have every reason to 

 know that this is confined to no class nor environment. 



If the rural dwellers of America have failed to make 

 the most of their opportunities in the planting of shade 

 trees, it must be granted that the reason is the same that 

 exists as to the people in our towns and cities a lack of 

 stimulus. The interest now current in roadside tree 

 planting is giving the stimulus that was needed, and there 



is good ground for confidence that the result will be a 

 90 



