46 HAND-BOOK OF TREE-PLANTING. 



of residence. The whole tone of society would 

 be perceptibly improved in a few years, as, fol- 

 lowing the appearance of the trees, one change 

 after another would come in for the better. 



But why should not the highways that lead 

 from village to village and from town to town 

 have pleasant borders of trees as well as the 

 village streets? How pleasant would be their 

 screen from sun and wind oftentimes ! What a 

 preventive of the annoyance of dust, and how 

 grateful to the sight their varied forms of grace 

 and beauty ! In some European countries the 

 planting of trees by the road-side is made ob- 

 ligatory by law. 



Usefulness is combined with beauty also, by 

 choosing fruit-bearing trees for road-side plant- 

 ing. We might well follow the example of 

 those countries in both these respects. What 

 beautiful forms do many of our fruit-bearing 

 trees have, as, for instance, the cherry and the 

 pear, or the hickory and chestnut ! And let us 

 not suppose that, if trees of this class were made 

 thus abundant, so that the passer-by might be 

 free to help himself for his present satisfaction, 

 our people would not be as easily restrained 



