ISO OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



" Pardon " again ; the station-master (it was only 

 an out of the way country station) has sold enough 

 of bouquets to passing travellers to establish his boy 

 at a pension: he hopes everything for his boy. The 

 story gave a new fragrance to the roses, and to the 

 Marguerites which he handed me. 



Now, I am afraid our station-masters, whether in 

 Massachusetts or along the Hudson, will not be ca- 

 pable of making themselves good florists at a bound; 

 but yet the hint has its value. What objection can 

 there possibly be to the careful culture of such strips 

 of land as come within the jurisdiction of every sta- 

 tion-master upon our iron roads ? In not infrequent 

 instances he has the lea of some deep cutting for 

 shelter ; he has the eyes of an observing crowd (who 

 are debarred from pilfering) for an incentive ; he may 

 have his thousand customers for floral offerings every 

 summer's day. Could not the townsfolk aid, with 

 prudent foresight, in any such diversion of the waste 

 strips of railway lauds ? The area in gross is not 

 small ; miles upon miles of bank cutting, of marsh 

 land, of embankment, of green level, each one of 

 which will grow its own crop after methods which a 

 wealthy and intelligent railway corporation might 

 surely direct. Osiers upon the low lands, shrubs 

 upon the raw cuttings (binding them against wash), 

 grasses upon the verdant lands, a flame of flowera 



