KERFOOT ROAD IN TAZEWELL COUNTY, ILLINOIS 
Why should we rest content with ugliness when such pleasant places are possible 
everywhere by the concerted action of the public-spirited citizens in each community? 
WOODLAND PLANTING FOR THE ROADSIDE 
CHARLES S. LE SURE 
Landscape Architect 
Editors’ Note: The impetus given to cooperative endeavor by National Garden Week, which has recently swept the country with generous enthusiasms, link¬ 
ing the garden-minded citizen and the civic-minded gardener in the warmth of a common cause, renders this suggestion of Mr. Le Sure particularly opportune. As 
a people we are just awakening to consciousness of the natural riches of our land and the need of preserving them from the march of a hasty and thoughtless co- 
mercialism. Not only the necessity of preserving but the desirability of actually creating fresh national treasure challenges the gardener of to-day whose vision car¬ 
ries far beyond the boundaries of his individual bit of ground, and who makes his personal delight in gardening a stepping-stone to the wider achievement of a 
“Country Beautiful.’’ 
great increase in travel 
d ur i n g recent years, brought 
f&agljp about by the almost uni- 
fcrCasr versal use of the automo¬ 
bile for cross-country touring, is 
arousing a new and decided interest 
in things outdoors. Much of this 
travel is for pleasure, which means 
a continually increasing national 
appreciation of beauty as found in 
the natural landscape. People are 
beginning to notice the condition of 
the roadside landscape. Mental 
notes are being made of the beauty 
spots, and travel inevitably follows the most scenic routes. 
Roadside beautification will naturally result from the ad¬ 
vanced programme of hard road building in this country, and we 
may all hope to see in the near future 
a broad plan for the building of park¬ 
ways and playgrounds along every 
prominent highway. We may look 
forward to the American highway as 
a continuous park system amply 
fitted for recreation and pleasure of 
every kind; to the restoration of wild 
plant life; and to the establishment 
of botanical gardens and arboretums 
for the study of an all-American 
flora, the finest in the world. . 
At present, however, roadside 
gardening in America is still in the 
earliest stage of development. While it is true that in some 
instances organizations in widely scattered localities have 
accomplished something, their efforts for the most part 
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Give fools their gold, and knaves their power; 
Let fortune’s bubbles rise and fall; 
IVho sows a field, or trains a flower, 
Or plants a tree, is more than all. 
For he who blesses most is blest; 
And God and man shall own his worth 
IVho toils to leave as his bequest 
An added beauty to the earth. 
—Whittier 
245 
