7o8 



ROADSIDE FENCES. 



yellow willows is massed in front of a neighbor's lot, and 

 he has appropriately named his home "The Willows." 

 The chief beauty of these trees is that they show such a 

 rich gold bark in early spring, A willow grove is to be 

 recommended, because it can be grown in half the time 

 of a maple and one-third the time of an oak grove. 



The beech makes as fine a study now as it did in sum- 

 mer. It always has pleasant and warm associations, and 

 is well loved by the children; and its wood, too, is fra- 

 grant while burning. Beeches are rarely ever quite bare. 



They hold their dry, rich brown foliage well into the win- 

 ter ; the purple beeches often hold their foliage till 

 spring. A beech-park in Buffalo is worth a long jour- 

 ney to see. In autumn, while the leaves are falling, it is 

 a garden of sweet odors. I do not wonder that the Eng- 

 lish love beech-woods. We have never fully appreciated 

 them in America, and now the trees are growing scarce. 

 They should be headed quite low, just high enough to 

 allow one to walk beneath the limbs. 



Oneida Co., X. Y. E. P, Powell. 



ROADSIDE FENCES. 



THEY MAY BE NEAT AND ATTRACTIVE, 



I ARM roadsides present as numerous 

 and widely contrasting conditions as 

 do the tastes and dispositions of the 

 owners of the farms. In riding over 

 the country, one still meets with the 

 ancient and picturesque stump fence, 

 stretching its arms wildly in air. This 

 fence, if not as enduring as the hills, certainly has endured 

 so long that " the mind of man runneth not to the con- 

 trary." Stone walls, too, are plentiful, and, like the stump 

 fence, owe their existence to the necessity of making some 

 use of superfluous material at hand. 



Perhaps the most common relic of early times, how- 

 ever, is the "worm" rail-fence. This, in its extravagant 

 use of timber and land, offers most convenient ' ' corners " 

 for the accumulation of rubbish and stones cleared from 



iS WELL AS STANCH AND SERVICEABLE. 



the land, so that there gradually grows up a stony hedge 

 from four to ten feet wide wherever these fences stand. 

 These hedges are still to be seen everywhere throughout 

 many parts of the country, running through fields, and 

 often forming a more effectual barrier to stock than the 

 fences themselves. As the scarcity of material necessi- 

 tates the replacing of these old-time fences by straight 

 wire or boards, the hedgerows become particularly trou- 

 blesome and wasteful. 



In contrast to these picturesque extravagances, two 

 especially neat and attractive fences came under my 

 observation last summer. The first consisted of two or 

 three strands of wire, with an embankment of earth 

 drawn up steeply underneath. If there were any stones 

 in this ridge they were deeply covered. The ridge was 

 well sodded and a wide, shallow ditch lay between it and 



