Cultivation of Shade Trees. 109 
towering grove? True, their fierce voice may sound majestic, but 
it is but the pipings of winter melodies, and the harsh winds fall 
asleep at the sound of their own rustic notes. 
Transform our highways into beautiful avenues, and comfort 
to man and his beast, would result from so rich a change. Bleak 
places would be improved in their character in winter, and in sum- 
mer that unbroken, cheerful shade, would open broader and 
brighter avenues of rapture in the heart of every passer by through 
such scenery. Freedom from dust, that often vexatious plague in 
traveling, freedom from scorching sunbeams, freedom from angry 
winds would be found there. 
But there are other considerations aside from those of personal 
health and comfort, which should lead to the culture of shade trees. 
They beautify and enrich the country. Who has a soul so devoid 
of taste, that he could look upon a sandy desert with emotions of 
delight, or who can survey a wide spread landscape where the 
humbler vegetables grow in rich luxuriance, and yet no tree to 
give variety to the scenery without feeling, in the depth of his 
sensibility, that there is a void there, a waste in nature, a defor- 
mity in the midst of beauty. So, too, we may look upon a rich 
and expensive dwelling, where art has been lavish with her de- 
corations, and taste displayed her fancyful array with liberal hand, 
yet if that dwelling stands forth in " unblushing nakednes," ex- 
posed to the scorching frown of every sunbeam, or the merciless 
pelting of every storm, or the unflinching menace of every angry 
wind that blows, we see a void there, a feature lost which requires 
the skill of a master's hand to give it finish and perfection. There 
is a something wanting in the character of the place, after all, 
which gives it a repelling and unsatisfactory appearance. Let 
industry and taste again join hands in their remoddling influ- 
ence, and let " the box wood and the fir," the towering maple, 
and majestic elm, spring up there from the abodes of nothingness, 
and tower away for a few years, in their natural beauty and lovely 
simplicity, and the eyes of most festidious admirers pronounce that 
place " a paradise," " a perfect gem of beauty." All eyes ad- 
mire, but, alas! how few hands are willing to imitate. All hearts 
