24 FLORA OF MICHIGAN. 



fail and become unsightly. In this regard, if we try natives of our own 

 region there is scarcely any risk. 



Doubtless the time will come, when the officers of at least some of our 

 rural highways will learn that it is next to vandalism to remove the last 

 .vestige of every shrub or small tree along the roadside. They often leave 

 a tree here and there, but these are frequently damaged by the trimming. 

 Groups or thickets of native shrubbery, including vines, untouched by ax 

 or bush-hook, are a great source of delight to a well- trained person, as he 

 views them while passing along the road. As a rule, at present, all bushes 

 and shrubs are considered by the average pathmaster as entirely out of 

 place and not to be tolerated in any well regulated neighborhood. There 

 never was a greater mistake, and the more we talk about it, the sooner we 

 may look for much needed reforms. 



"Many of the most attractive highways in the State owe their beauty to 

 the shiftlessness of the pioneers, who allowed a mass of bushes to grow up 

 in the corners of the old worm fences undisturbed for a generation; after- 

 ward to be utilized by more thrifty successors in the embellishment of the 

 roadsides. No plantations formed by man are equal in beauty to these 

 irregular masses of trees that are of Nature's planting. 



"Occasionally I note an example of the workings of some man's mathe- 

 matical mind, who has tried to clear out one of these rows, leaving a tree 

 once in so many feet, and thus ruining the effect for all time." C. W. 

 Garfield, in Garden and Forest, 1888, p. 149. 



" The Thorns and Dogwoods and Viburnums, the thickets of Elder and 

 Hazel, the Bitter-sweet and Clematis and Moonseed climbing over all 

 the flora of the world has no more beautiful plants than these and a hun- 

 dred more which spring up of themselves and flourish until some one with 

 a zeal for * trimming up ' attacks them with grubbing-hoe and brush-hook. 

 And when the vines are stripped from the fences, and the brush all cut, 

 gathered and burned, the roadsides are thoroughly cleared, it is true, but 

 a desolation of rocks and ashes is all that is left in exchange for the 

 fragrance of flowers, the beauty and coolness of green leaves, and the 

 melody of the birds among them. 



" It is a comfort to note that road borders of native shrubs are being 

 used more and more in the best park work. Every one of these shrubs 

 would grace a palace garden, and yet when they modestly appear along a 

 rural highway they are mowed down to ' improve the appearance ' of the 

 country." Garden and Forest, 1889, p. 337. 



PLANTING A GROVE. 



Without discussing at present the utility of planting trees for growing 

 timber in Michigan, we can mos heartily encourage every farmer who has 

 the least inclination that way, to plant on some acre, more or less, one or 

 many specimens of native trees and shrubs of as many kinds as be can 

 secure. When properly attended to, such a piece will prove to be an addi- 

 tional attraction for home. If properly located, it will serve to check the 

 fierce winds which chill the animals in the barn, drift the snows in winter, 

 shake the apples from the trees in summer or lodge the grain before it is 

 ripe. 



A part of this acre, or even more, could be planted to chestnuts, hickory 

 nuts, black walnuts, butternuts and hazelnuts. 



