THE LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFUL 



arching elms, or by giant maples, or even 

 by upstart cottonwoods. 



Such tree planting in rural districts 

 has always been left to the pride of 

 abutting landowners. But the benefit 

 accrues chiefly to the public, and the public 

 ought to direct the enterprise and pay the 

 bills. The public owns the streets and has 

 the right to say what shall grow in them. 

 Certainly nothing better can be grown than 

 useful and beautiful trees. 



In some parts of Europe the public 

 routes are planted with fruit trees. The 

 usual custom is to put the fruit up at 

 auction and sell it on the trees to the best 

 bidder. European travelers occasionally 

 recommend this custom for use in America, 

 but it is doubtful if it would succeed any- 

 where in this free country. Still, apple- 

 trees or cherry-trees are sufficiently 

 beautiful and sufficiently appropriate to 

 country roads to find occasional use even 

 in the land of the free and the home of the 

 fruit thief. Anyone who has seen the 

 highways of the Annapolis Valley in Nova 

 Scotia, with their flankings of magnificent 

 apple-trees, will allow that they are quite 

 as beautiful as elms or willows. 



214 



