RURAL ART 251 



important of these are (a) roads and streets, including bridges, 

 street railways and street trees; (b) all public grounds such as 

 parks, picnic grounds, commons, lakes, water fronts, school 

 grounds, cemeteries; (c) all public and semi-public buildings such 

 as schoolhouses, libraries, churches; (d) public recreation facili- 

 ties, especially playgrounds; (e) all public service utilities, such 

 as telephone lines, electric light lines, railway stations and station 

 grounds. All these items of the material equipment of the coun- 

 try should be improved in beauty and in usefulness. Such civic 

 improvement is greatly to be desired in the country as well as in 

 the city and constitutes one of the large fields of rural art. 



As art deals essentially with what is beautiful, rural art strives 

 to conserve and increase the stock of rural beauty on every hand. 

 It is easy to see that there is a great deal of beauty in the coun- 

 try and to determine what some of the main features are. For 

 example, the country roads are extremely beautiful. They are 

 in a good and important sense the best kind of public parks. 

 Everybody enjoys them whether a-foot or driving, or even tour- 

 ing in an automobile (though this last is the poorest way of all). 

 Much can be done to preserve and even develop the beauty of the 

 country roads. It hardly needs to be added that very little has 

 thus far been done. Any local improvement organization could 

 hardly attempt a better line of work or one in which success is 

 more likely than in this line of preserving the beauties of the 

 country lanes. These country roads are beautiful for their trees 

 and for the wild shrubbery and ferns and flowers which border 

 them. Such native growth, within reason, ought to be preserved ; 

 and it would be an excellent plan to use favorable strips of coun- 

 try road as special preserves for wild plants. There are many 

 parts of the country, especially where agriculture is highly suc- 

 cessful, where the wild plants are in imminent danger of extinc- 

 tion. Hundreds of the native species are already almost eradi- 

 cated. No better public place could be found for making a col- 

 lection of these for general instruction and enjoyment than along 

 suitable strips of country road. 



Many persons are also giving serious thought to the preserva- 

 tion of native birds, fish and small animals. To some extent 

 these objects can be accomplished, especially the protection of the 

 birds, in connection with these roadside plant preserves. 



