The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-05-27
Wayside Shrubbery.

whose ldeaD OF beauty run almost entirely
into waving lines, smoothness, and rotun-
dity. They cannot bear to see anything
in landscape that does not convey the
sentiment of costly dressing and orna.
mentation. In their sight nothing is so
beautiful as well-trimmed hedge-row,
or nicely painted fence They abhor
appearance of rudeness about their
grounds, or anything that is not an evil
denco of wealth and aesthetic culture :;
believing that the more completely Ma.
ture is subdued by Art the more credit
she reflects upon her owner They regard
Nature as they do their horse, and be-
lieve, if she can be made to look sleek
and plump, they have fully carried out
one of the bene6cent designs of Provi-
dence, whom they regard as the great
teacher of aesthetics
Unfortunate are the picturesque old
roads that fall under the management of
this class Of men, when employed as sur
veyors of the highway. In their view, no
spontaneous production Of nature should
remain there, except the gravel. Not
even tree must be tolerated, unless it
was planted there by human hands. All
wild growths Of shrubbery are condemned
to perish. If a by.road be embroidered
with charming variety of native shrubs
and herbaceous plants, at one season
adorned with flowers, at another with
fruits, and at all times with foliage, they
send the plough directly into this mass,
to carry out their ideas of neatness aud
smoothness, and to expcl Nature as if she
were Gorgon or Hydra.
The passers on this by-road formerly
wended their way along footpath,
through its various shrubbery; and the
children of the village, as they went to
school and returned, would often linger
here to gather flowers and fruit, sitting
down upon some green tussock, under the
shady protection of half.grown trees,
which had come up without planting
They watched the viburnum, with its
circular cymes of white flowers, succeed.
ed by blue, white, and purple berries !;
the wild roses that clustered there in
June, and the gycine that festooned the
thickets with dark flowers in August.
They admired the charming negligence
Of these growths, some with upright
stems supporting the twining convolvulus
interviewer with the dark. blue flowers of
Ing overhead and forming au arbor for a
summer MONDAY. The surveyor and his
gang have spoiled the lootpath, and de-
stroyed the bushes with their flowers and
fruit; aud children, no less than birds
lament, this destruction Of their pleasant
wayside haunts. Ever since my boyhood
have these vandals of the roads been dc.
servedly cursed as the despoilers of ma
ture, and the clumsy agents Of tasteful
imposture.
There is another class Of despoilers who
pursue their operations as private citizens.
They are generally "model farmers, -
men who think that nature should be
made subserviput to labor, and labor to
capital. If you stroll along by the es'
tates Of these industrious vandals, you
will be struck with badness and naked.
ness of the borders Of their fields, Not
shrub nor a vine can with impunity lift
its head above the ground on either side
Of their fences, and squirrel that should
venture near them would be hunted like
an adder. We may distinguish the pos
sessions Of these model farmers by OBJ
serving, as We pass by, their singular
blankness, such as you observe in the face
of an over.fed idiot, Their Nature is q
young damsel with her hair tied up il
knots and papers, as distinguished from
one whose tresses hang down her neck
in careless freedom.
They will tell you that wild shrubbery
harbors vermin, and that its intricacy
affords them shelter, which is not provid
ed by a formal hedge-row, But if j
harbors insects, it protects also the bird
that feed upon them; if it causes tn
multiplication of small quadrupeds, j
supplies also the mast that sustains them
In proportion as the thicket has beeI
eradicated from the borders Of fields an,
waysides, the insects that destroy on
crops have increased; for the birds tina
once found protection within it have he'
to distant places, and left the insects t
commit their ravages unmolested.
There is a certain kind of beauty j
. high cultivation there is still more i
neatness and simplicity; there is even
sort of relative beauty in badness, whe
, it is plainly necessary to make free an
, convenient passage for a constantly NOV
! ing crowd. There is no man who cannc
= appreciate the beauty of well-tille
t farm, nor is there one who would prefe
r rubbish and litter to neatly dressed path
D and borders. But if it be a questio
| whether the perfect smoo,hness and bald
| ness of graveled walk, weeded Of ever
| bush and herb, is more interesting tina
, the rustic negligence of another wall
}. covered with variety of shrubs and il
}, tersected by footpath worn by the fe,
t Of men and animals, there are but few
l even amoog the most sordid, who woul
It not prefer the neglected pathway. FL
c is it nothing to us that the singing-birt
should find bushy knoll to nestle in, {
a leafy perch to rest upon, when the
sing to the passing traveller ? Is it noti
ing to US that We may gather few vi
let's under hazel-bush for the little chi
We lead by the hand? Is it nothing
the young maiden that she can loiter
h the roadside, In quest of wildfowers, i
;, stead Of roaming in distant fields. whe
Il she dares not venture unprotected
- On those by-roads where there is b
y little passing, all kinds of native shru
:, are more valuable, as well as more beau
- = full, than anything that could be put
- their place. Especially in the borders
Galda naar tha toun ara ,haeo ..o-A.