288 
CHAPTER XVI. 
Roap Sipzr Wastes. 
CLosELy analogous to the question of Commons is that 
of the road-side wastes, so often to be found in rural parts 
of England, and not unfrequently even in the suburbs 
of our great towns. It need not be pointed out how 
valuable they are to the public. ‘lo horsemen they are 
welcome as affording soft turf, in lieu of the hard road, 
for a gallop. They are often the only playground for 
the children of labouring men. Where the fences are 
uregular, and the space between them and the road is 
interspersed with bushes and brambles, beneath which 
wild flowers find luxuriant growth, or with gorse or 
broom, the picturesqueness of the rural scene is greatly 
enhanced. Such strips of land are of far greater value 
in their present condition, than if added to the 
adjoining fields, even though the produce of the soil 
might be slightly increased ; and no owner of land, who 
has any regard for public interests, would dream of 
advancing his fences so as to appropriate them. Yet 
such is the desire to add to their domains even a few 
yards of frontage, that many landowners—and especially 
small owners— seem to be unable to resist the tempta- 
tion of inclosing these strips, when they can do so with 
impunity. 
The soil of these road-side wastes is generally 
