212 LANDSCAPE-GARDENING 



third road extends directly north from a prairie town 

 through a country that is almost level, a treeless 

 region with very large farms. What can be done to 

 make such a road interesting ? The land stretches 

 in every direction to the sky excepting where the 

 farmers have built homes or planted wood-lots. It 

 may be taken for granted, as one starts out on this 

 road, that it has been built for a long time and the 

 farmers are "old settlers." As this road emerges 

 from town, it leaves a street lined with elm trees 

 which frame in the more open spaces of the country 

 ahead. The roadway itself is a little higher than 

 the adjoining prairie land. It is sixteen feet in 

 width and has a nearly level shoulder on each side. 

 Beyond the shoulder is a depression for surface drain- 

 age and beyond the depression near the fence on each 

 side is a path worn by pedestrians. Before reaching 

 the large farms, there are cottages with truck-gar- 

 dens and a few fruit-trees. Beyond these, in the 

 ^egion of the large farms, planting has added to the 

 beauty and comfort of the thoroughfare. There 

 is a continual growth of low vegetation between the 

 paths on either side and the edge of the roadway. 

 This includes grass, extensive areas of wild roses, 

 aromatic sumach, wild grapes, Virginia creepers, 



