246 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



tilings. I take pleasure in introducing to you Mr. Harrison. 

 He is a gentleman who has been interested in the preserva- 

 tion and protection of woodlands and forests as public reser- 

 vations for the good of the people of New England. 



Mr. Harrison. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

 A few weeks ago I was in the town of Manchester and over 

 in the town of Essex, and I found a feature of the roads of 

 that region which was very interesting to me. An arrange- 

 ment was made some years ago by which a plat of land on 

 each side of the road from Manchester to Essex was pur- 

 chased, largely by the efforts of some public-spirited women 

 in the neighborhood, and the deeds of the land deposited in 

 the office of the town clerk. The title is in the town. 

 These ladies, driving frequently along the road between 

 Manchester and Essex some years ago, found that much of 

 the beauty of the roadsides was in danger of being destroyed 

 by cutting away the shrubs and bushes on each side of the 

 road. They thought about it and conferred with each other 

 until it seemed to them a very important thing for the sum- 

 mer visitors to that region, and for the young people who 

 were growing up in that neighborhood, that the growth of 

 trees and shrubbery at the sides of that roadway should be 

 preserved. They talked about it and thought about it and 

 wrote about it, until they effected an arrangement by which 

 the necessary funds were provided and this strip of land on 

 each side of that highway was purchased ; and, the title 

 being in the town, it seems a very effectual accomplishment 

 in that direction. Everything indicates that the scenery 

 there will be preserved permanently, and that that road, at 

 least, is likely to be for a long time, or for all time, a beauti- 

 ful place, a drive attractive to everybody with any sense of 

 natural beauty ; and I learned that so great is the interest in 

 and satisfaction with the road that it is exerting a very favor- 

 able influence upon the price of land along it, and the general 

 attractiveness of the region causes the land to be more and 

 more in request. 



I do not know that that example can be very generally 

 or widely followed, but certainly it is something that 

 deserves an intelligent and respectful recognition that we 

 have here such an example ; and it is interesting to observe, 



