436 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ON THE FLATTING OF TEEES 



By the Koadside, axd in the Enclosures of 



OUR Dwellings. 



BY WILSON FLAGG. 



Many objections have been made to the plant- 

 ing of shade trees near our dwellings, and in some 

 cases by the roadside, on account of the damp- 

 ness generated by them when they occupy our en- 

 closures, and on account of the injury they do by 

 shading the fields, when planted by the roadside. 

 Tree planting in these situations may undoubtedly 

 be carried to excess, and it is well to consider a few 

 of those rules by which we should be governed in 

 this matter. The roadside, the enclosures of our 

 dwelling houses and public grounds are not the 

 only places which ought to be planted with trees. 

 I have seen men diligently employed in setting out 

 trees on the highway, when I have thought they 

 would be more wisely employed, if they neglected 

 the highway, and used their influence to prevent 

 the sacrifice of a beautiful knoll of trees and shrub- 

 bery, in close proximity to the road, which another 

 party was felling for fuel. Our tree associations 

 should avoid giving their exclusive attention to the 

 planting of trees by the roadside, and look out for 

 the saving of many picturesque groups of wood 

 and shrubbery that already exist, or for securing a 

 new growth in those elevated spots M'hich are beau- 

 tiful when covered with trees, and unsightly when 

 they are without them, and which are unsuitable 

 either for tillage or pasture. 



With regard to roadside planting, I believe it 

 has been usual to plant indiscriminately on both 

 sides of the road, and in all situations, without con- 

 sidering that both sides of a road do not always 

 equally require the protection of trees, and that 

 certain kinds of soils and situations are not suita- 

 ble for all trees. One of the objections to road- 

 side trees is that they shade the land which is con- 

 tiguous to them. But if the road runs east and 

 west, the trees on the south side of it would not 

 shade the fields, and those on the north side would 

 not shade the road. In this case the trees should 

 be confined to the south side of the road, since on 

 this side only would they afford any advantage to 

 travellers, and on the other side only would they 

 occasion any injury to tillage by their shade. 



If the road runs north and south, trees might 

 be planted indifierently on either side ; but as the 

 majority of our roads are not straight, and are 

 constantly changing their course, we might follow 

 this rule of planting, and find in the end as many 

 trees on our left as on our right hand, m a journey 

 of a few miles. When the road runs north and 

 south, plant trees on each side ; when it runs east 

 and west, plant them only on the south side. But 

 these are not the only rules which should govern 

 our planting. There are but few individuals who 

 would refuse their consent to allow any part of 

 their lands adjoining the street to be planted with 

 trees at a society's expense, provided the spots se- 

 lected for this purpose v/ere not valuable for tillage 

 or pasture. As we are journeying through the 

 country, a regular and uniform row of trees by the 

 roadsides would be exceedingly tiresome, not only 

 on account of their uniformity but from cutting off 

 the prospect. Our roadsides, however, are in no 

 cases planted so extensively as to cause any such 

 annoyance. We are not liable to go to an extreme 



in the general planting of trees; but we may go 

 to an extreme in planting them in particular situa- 

 tions. It may be a question whether the public 

 has a right to shade a man's grounds injuriously 

 by roadside trees, and also whether a ])rivate indi- 

 vidual has a right to destroy a noble tree on his 

 own premises, which has for many years beautified 

 the landscape and shaded the highway. These 

 points are to be considered when we are employed 

 either in planting or in cutting down trees near 

 the public road. 



There are situations where plantations of trees 

 might be made near the road, which would be fa- 

 vorable to the beauty of the landscape and valua- 

 ble for shade. Such are those points where the 

 road takes a turn round a swell of land comprising 

 perhaps half an acre, and rising several feet above 

 the level of the road. This may be a rocky de- 

 clivity, or a gravelly hill; but if it be destitute of 

 trees, it is a spot that deserves planting, and it 

 would be better to neglect the roadside than such 

 places as this. There is no comparison between 

 the beauty of one such spot which is well wooded 

 and another that is destitute of trees. A traveller 

 maybe annoyed by trees on the highway, that con- 

 ceal the prospect, and tire him by their uniformity ; 

 but whatever might be his taste, he would not fail 

 to be delighted with a wood on one of these con- 

 spicuous elevations, and almost painfully affected 

 by the want of it. All such places, if they are 

 destitute of trees should be immediately planted, 

 and if wooded, they should be protected. A hun- 

 dred trees grouped on such a spot are more orna- 

 mental to the landscape than the same number of 

 trees by the roadside ; but each want should be 

 properly and judiciously supplied. 



There is still more to be said with regard to 

 roadside planting. In some of our old roads, 

 groups of trees have come up spontaneously, in 

 many situations, along with their undergrowth. 

 Sometimes for a mile along one of these roads — 

 though there is no appearance of a single tree that 

 was planted by human hands — birches, pines, ma- 

 ples, and several other trees, appear, sometimes sing- 

 ly, sometimes in groups, and sometimes in a sort of 

 broken row. The appearance of these trees, thus 

 irregularly grouped, and of the accompanying shrub- 

 bery that decorates and half conceals the old stone- 

 walls, is exceedingly delightful to the traveller. 

 Yet in some instances these picturesque groups of 

 trees and shrubbery have been cut down by the 

 very persons who should protect them, to make 

 room for a finer row of maples or elms, at proper 

 distances apart and at proper distances from the 

 fence. This sort of work may be necessary to a 

 certain extent when one of these old roads becomes 

 a thickly settled street in a village. Until such a 

 necessity arrives, I should like to see every tree 

 blasted that is planted at the expense of these 

 beautiful groups,whichatrue lover of nature would 

 preserve with the greatest care, though he were 

 preparing to build a palace almost under their 

 shade ; and if I were about to remove a stone wall to 

 substitute some more desirable fence, it should be 

 removed without injuring the trees and shrubbery, 

 which had come up on each side of it. In many 

 of the enterprises for rural improvement which 

 have been made in the country, those very objects 

 have been destroyed which it is most important to 

 preserve. 



When we are about to make one of these plan- 



