The record-union., 1893-01-25
THE SAHARA DESERT.
ROADSIDE Strawberries.
Where They Are In aud Out of Place
Depression and Annoyance.

So much has been written of late con-
corning rural roads and roadsides that
the paramount importance of the subject
can alone justify further reference to it,
but we are convinced that there is hardly
one reform which would add more to the
comfort and pleasure of life in the coun-
try than a general improvement in the
smoothness and solidity of its roadbeds
and the attractlveness of its road borders.
Only fortnight ago we took occasion to
speak OF the needless DETACHMENT of seem
cry caused by the building of railroads,
the opening OF mines and the working of
quarries, not to speak of the distgure-
ment OF picturesque rocks and other
prominent objects by the paint brush of
the advertisers agent. One of the most
hagrant offenders in this, however, is the
pathmaster, who, under the existing laws
OF most of our States, is invested with
HmitleSs power of destruction when the
farmers Of his district assemble to work
out their road tax. 1t is not probable
that one pathmaster in a hundred ever
gives thought to the actual beauty
which he destroys or to the possible
beauty which he neglectS to develop in
his work, and yet the roadsides are di-
rectly under the eyes of the people more
continuously than any other part of the
country. These same roadsides, too, fur
nish unrivaled opportunities for pro-
ducing beautiful effects with grass and
flowers and foliage, so that the sins
against good taste which are here com
mitted are almost universally prevalent
and of a most aggravating quality.
If anyone in the course Of business, as
a manufacturer, for instance, violates the
sensibilities of his neighbors by poison
ing the air with noxious or offensive
odors he can be prosecuted for maintain
ing nuisance. In the same way, if he
otfends by disturbing noises, he is liable
to Indictment. Certainly the sense of
sight should be protected from outrage
as well as the sense of smell or of hearing.
and there is no sufficient reason why the
public should not be protected from the
depression and annoyance which comes
from the destruction of natural beauty.
Now, there are many roadsides where a
thicket OF shrubs or natural growth of
trees and vines should not be allowed to
remain. No one can drive through the
best portions of the farm lands of Lancas-
ter County or Bucks County, in PennsyI-
vania, for example, without noting the
beautiful effect of the green sward as it
flows smoothly under the open fences
from the grain and pasture fields and
across the road border to the very edge of
the wheelway. A weed or clump of
bushes here would look as much out of
place as it would in the adjoining mead
ows. But in large sections of the Middle
States and of New England, where the
land is rough, and where the fences are
often of stone, nothing could be more
beautiful or harmonious than the natural
growths which nature so bountifully pro-
vides. When this border of shrubbery is
cleared away and burnt off nothing is left
above the blackened ground but the
stumps, bare rocks and raw banks, so
that a desolation is made Of this verdu-
rous wall, which always looks, when left
to itself, cool and beautiful, and has
fresh interest every rod.-Garden and
Forest.