58 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the immediate neighbourhood of the iron track on which we 

 are sometimes hurrying along at the rate of fifty miles an hour. 

 We of course notice, from time to time, very bare places which 

 have been opened up for the sake of the useful stone, or sand, 

 or gravel, which can be utilised elsewhere on the line for bridges, 

 buildings, or other requirements. But far oftener we observe 

 beautiful tracts of land, seldom very wide, but oftentimes extend- 

 ing to a considerable length, and apparently of very little concern 

 to the company that owns them. When we ask as to the uses 

 of these strips of land, two exclusive replies are the only solutions 

 of our questions, viz., " Nothing " and " Hay." We ask, " Why 

 nothing ? " and " Why hay only ? " Of course, where the land 

 is very narrow indeed, or where the soil is too barren to grow 

 anything, "nothing " is a reasonable answer ; but on the sides 

 of many hundreds of miles of railway there are thousands of 

 acres of land, now lying dormant, which, under a judicious 

 system of management, might be adapted for the production of 

 some of the common necessities of life. 



But let us see how the matter stands. It may be taken for 

 granted that the localities in question would be unsuitable for the 

 depasturage of any animals, however little they might be given 

 to straying away. Still, at the many stations and crossings there 

 are usually some signs of rural life in the shape of pig-sties and 

 fowl-runs, where some enterprising station-master, or porter, 

 needs some excitement for certain portions of the day when duty 

 does not demand his attention. We have even seen the " busy 

 bees " in fullest glee amongst the flowers of the garden contiguous 

 to the station, and the hives close at hand ; but we dismiss the 

 bee as being sometimes troublesome, and to have a swarm of 

 bees alighting upon an engine-driver, or even clustering upon a 

 carriage, would not be the most agreeable sensations of a railway 

 journey. 



Speaking generally, there is but one great field of enterprise 

 which would be likely to prove a successful speculation, and 

 that is in the department of what we may call still life. Trees, 

 shrubs, and the lowlier forms of vegetation cannot run away. 

 Some of them, Strawberry plants for example, can be kept 

 within a few inches of the surface of the soil ; but even trees 

 can be kept within prescribed bounds in all directions. And 

 when we know that every acre of land is rated like other 



