?o8 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Aug. 



/■"or the Neto England Farmer. 

 AUTOCRATS OF THE HIGHWAY. 



Mr. Brown : — You -will gratify many of the 

 readers of your widely circulated Farmer, by em- 

 ploying your editorial powers for the suspension 

 of abuses, ])ractised by persons annually "clothed 

 in a little brief authority," who are called Road- 

 Surveyors, and who declare war to the knife, pick 

 and axe, against all the works of the Creator be- 

 longing to the vegetable world and coming with- 

 in the range of their destructive powers. In- 

 deed, their wanton ravages would seem incredi- 

 ble without proof, and I must give you a few in- 

 stances. Within five miles of your home there 

 is about half a m-ile of highway, leading to the 

 railroad station, which, till a year ago last road- 

 mending season, was most richly bordered on 

 both sides by a living hedge-row of birches, eld- 

 ers, wild roses, profusely blooming, tall black- 

 berry bushes loaded with fruit in their season, 

 ground-nut-vines, ornamenting and perfuming 

 the whole region, grape-vines, climbing wher- 

 ever their tendrils could reach, and loaded with 

 blossoms, fragrant as the mignonette, whose seeds 

 are imported from France, or grapes, sweet and 

 refreshing in their season, with many other liv- 

 ing and growing ornaments of the earth, which 

 the Creator's bountiful hand formed and placed 

 there, for the service and delight of man. 



At this shady and fragrant spot the sun- 

 scorched traveller could pause and rest on his 

 journey ; children, on their way to school might 

 set down their little dinner-pails for a few mo- 

 ments, to pick the ripe berries or gather a bou- 

 quet for their teacher ; and here all who love the 

 works of God better than the destruction caused 

 by man, could send up their thanks to Him who 

 made the world so beautiful ! 



But, Mr. Editor, last June, a year ago, the re- 

 pairers came to this pleasant spot and began 

 their devastations, right and left. One of the 

 inhabitants, hearing what was going on, wrote a 

 respectful note to the overseer, requesting him 

 to spare as much of the shade as he could, con- 

 sistently with his duties, as it was a great com- 

 fort to those who were obliged to walk to the de- 

 pot. But still the destruction went on unflinch- 

 ingly. Every birch, every vine, every fruitful 

 shrub, every forir of vegetable beauty, fresh from 

 the hand of the bountiful Creator, was swept 

 awaj\ Nor could any plea be set up that this 

 waste of God's gifts was for the improvement of 

 the highway, for in no case were these trees and 

 shrubs levelled with the ground, but still stand, 

 their dead stumps a foot or two high, making 

 the sides of the road as useless as they were be- 

 fore this havock. The ruins of the hedge-rows 

 were tossed over the wall, upon the shrubs and 

 vines on the other side, thus transforming both 

 from rows of sweet and beautiful vegetation to 

 heaps of rubbish and bristling dead stumps. A 

 little farther toward Concord the road was shaded 

 by a succession of young locust trees, rich in 

 their bright and varied green, or loaded in their 

 season, with sweet blossoms, from which the bees 

 delighted to draw their stores ; these, also, were 

 destroyed, every one, and the spot where they 

 waved and blossomed is bare and desolate. Still 

 nearer Concord, was a thick hedge-row of such 

 plants as delight in a moist, alluvial soil ; they 



grew and bloomed and gave out their odors, shel- 

 tering the traveller from the sun, and protecting 

 him from the cold blasts which sweep over the 

 level plains. They were all destroyed — not only 

 cut down but burned, lest their roots might spring 

 up again ; and the fire has also killed all the 

 young elms and other trees near the spot, leaving 

 the road bare and destitute of shade, as if it ran 

 through the deserts of Sahara. In another part 

 of the same town, the side of the road for some 

 distance was ornamented with wild roses, which, 

 finding the soil congenial, grew uncommonly tall 

 and prolific ; the roses were very large, abundant 

 and fragrant, making the spot so inviting that 

 persons directed their drivers that way, for their 

 sake, but the road-surveyors had all the stones 

 which were collected in their improving process 

 tipped upon this bed of roses and it is extin- 

 guished ; instead of it we see along heap of loose 

 stones and rubbish. 



Now, Mr. Editor, you can do much toward put- 

 ting down this disgraceful abuse of power. Tell 

 the readers of your valuable magazine, that there 

 is profit in every thing which is made by our 

 good Father in Heaven. The wild roses are 

 good to make conserves for colds and rose-water 

 for cooking and sore eyes. It will always sell. 

 The elder-fiowers are good for babies, and the 

 berries make good wine and syrup. High-bush 

 blackberries will bring a good price, and so will 

 other berries. Wild grape's will meet a ready 

 market among the wine-makers, or will sell well 

 to housewives who wish to make jelly, and birch 

 trees are good for them to climb on, so that the 

 grapes may come to the sun, but dead stumps 

 and heaps of stone and dirt by the roadside will 

 never make them or their children richer or bet- 

 ter. 



Hoping, sir, you will speak to some purpose, 

 to these destroyers, before they commence their 

 ravages this year, I remain with much respect, 

 A Reader of the Farmer. 



Remarks. — The autocrats of the highway have 

 not got through yet, we observe, with mending the 

 ways which were made dangerous by spring frosts 

 and floods. We are not surprised at the com- 

 plaints of our correspondent. Many of these 

 road-makers are utterly incompetent to discharge 

 the duties assigned them. Road-making is a 

 science that requires observation and study, and 

 includes some important principles. We can 

 point to a piece of road to-day, where money has 

 been liberally expended for more than a dozen 

 yeai's without effecting any good results, from a 

 want of the application of the true principles of 

 drainage alone ! It is preposterous to think of 

 improving a road by covering up the gushing 

 springs or water-courses which underlie it — they 

 must be cut off and led away from the road, and 

 then it becomes dry and compact. The mere 

 moving of gravel from one point to another will 

 seldom make a good road, alone. These auto- 

 crats flatter themselves that they act under the 

 shield of the law. But does the law sanction 

 such ravages as our correspondent describes, or 



