AESTHETICS IN AGRICULTURE. 39 



mow dowu the weeds on the roadsides by some of his neighbors' 

 grounds. He has an estate in Dorcliester which was very much 

 cut up by fences ; these he cleared all away, thereby improving 

 the grounds very much. At his former estate, of half an acre, 

 on Bellevue Avenue, Newport, R. I., he carted off ten loads of 

 shrubbery and removed thirty trees and his example has been 

 followed by others. 



E. W. Wood said he agreed with the general tone of the paper 

 which had been read, but the subject had been presented by the 

 essayist in such a way as to give him the advantage. We all felt 

 a little touched by his strictures on the want of neatness 

 among farmers in regard to their grounds, buildings, and road- 

 sides. From his own experience in farm life the speaker felt 

 much sympathy with farmers, who are hardworked and find little 

 time to cultivate aisthetics — not but that the essay would be a 

 good lesson which they might profitably take to heart. No people 

 have so few small fruits — or, indeed, large ones — as farmers, 

 though there is no food that can be placed upon their tables so 

 cheaply, or for which they can get so much money. In going 

 about the State he found the farmers said they have no time for 

 these things. 



The removal of fences is going on rapidly in the suburbs of 

 Boston ; among other places, in Newton, where he resides. There 

 are, however, difficulties in the way of doing this in streets where 

 droves of cattle pass through. It may be done in side streets, 

 but the idea cannot be carried out in the main streets. Grass 

 cannot be grown on the roadsides if the soil is gravel ; it must 

 have loam, and in the spring heavy teams will turn out of the 

 roadway and cut it up. 



Mr. Strong believed that much time would be saved by placing 

 vehicles, machines, tools, etc., in propec places. Many of the 

 farmers in New England are open to grave criticism for the 

 appearance of their homes. To one who has been abroad things 

 look crude when he comes home. In regard to belts of grass 

 by roadsides he thought that in Newton the roadbeds were made 

 unnecessarily wide, and that the expense of keeping up the streets 

 with these belts of grass would be less than if the roadway 

 extended from one sidewalk to the other. We wander over roads 

 of which no part is good. He lives in rather a rural part of 

 Newton, and keeps a quarter of a mile of the road b}- his grounds 



