152 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



memorial is but some jotting down upon a foreign 

 note-book, followed by a scant pencilling of the actual 

 adjustment, so far as the brief stay allowed of tran- 

 script. 



The chemists tell us that the air of cities and their 

 neighborhood is richer in available nitrogen (in shape 

 of ammonia or nitric acid) than the air of the country, 

 by reason of the outpourings from so many chimney- 

 tops, and the attendant processes of combustion. May 

 not the cinders and the fine ash and the gases 

 evolved from a great higlnvay of engines always 

 puffing and smoking in the lower strata of the atmo- 

 sphere contribute somewhat, and that not inconsider- 

 ably, to the plants found along the lines of such high- 

 way ? I am not aware that experiment has as yet 

 determined anything on this score ; and whatever 

 such determination might be, it is certain that abund- 

 ant sources of fertilization might be secured at every 

 country station, sufficient amply to equip an invest- 

 ing garden. Upon the oldest roads very much could 

 be done still in way of this charming investiture, and 

 in way of the adjoining bowling-green, under encour- 

 agement of the town, or of neighboring property- 

 holders ; and upon all new lines of raihvay, wherever 

 new stations are established, everything could be 

 done. To make a township attractive, the approach 

 to it must be attractive. Will not our Western 



