WAY-SIDE HINTS 



ROADS AND SHADE 



I LEAVE potatoes and their culture for a fur- 

 ther consideration of the more striking con- 

 trasts between European and American land- 

 scape. Not the least noticeable of these con- 

 trasts springs from the vast difference in the 

 outlay and treatment of the public roads. A 

 neat and well-ordered public road in any of the 

 rural districts of America is altogether ex- 

 ceptional. Throughout Great Britain a slat- 

 ternly and ill-kept one is most rare. There is 

 no particular reason why a cross-country road 

 for farm traffic only, should have the width 

 of a village street; yet one uniform turnpike 

 rule of breadth seems to have prevailed in the 

 laying down of all country thoroughfares in 

 America: of course, did the disposition exist, 

 it would by no means be so easy a matter to 

 keep a rambling highway of forty or fifty 

 feet in width, in such orderly condition as a 

 narrower one which would amply suffice for 

 the traffic. Neither towns nor turnpike com- 

 panies, who mostly have American roads in 

 charge, have any system in their management 

 or any regard for appearances. Exception is 

 to be made in favor of a few public-spirited 



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