LXVIII 
CHERRY TREES FOR SHADE 
I SN’T IT ODD that in many places in Europe the roads 
are shaded with towering sweet cherry trees which in 
season feed the multitude, while in America we seem 
never to have thought of planting trees that would serve 
the purpose of producing fruit and, at the same time, 
keeping the highway cool! 
Of the two kinds of cherries, those that are sweet and 
those that are sour, the former grow on much larger trees. 
The trees grow upright to a height of forty or sixty feet 
and form a thick top with many leaves. It is these that 
make good shade trees and that also produce the sort of 
fruit that is best for eating fresh. 
A hundred years ago in Europe there was much rivalry 
among the smaller nations that have since been bound to¬ 
gether as Germany. Each tried to do as much as it could 
to make its people happy. In those days and even yet in 
Europe the plain people travel from village to village on 
foot. There was reason, therefore, why the roadside 
should be made attractive. 
In Moravia, in the North, there was a roadway which 
for sixty miles was bordered on both sides by sweet cherry 
trees. From Strasbourg, in the South, to Munich, a jour¬ 
ney of about two hundred miles, much of the distance 
could be traveled between cherry trees. The practice of 
planting such trees extended over into Switzerland and 
is still kept up there. 
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