Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1906-08-01

atIenIlon 10 the splendid suggestions
made in the following address de-
ivered sometime ago, but very appli-
cable to present conditions in many
other states as well as Massachusetts,:
Scientific roadside treatment is
closely related on the one hand to the
science of forestry and on the other to
the science Of good roads, but belongs
to more advanced stage of civiliZa
ton than either. For as long as tree
growth is regarded solely as an en-
cumbrance to the ground, to be gotrid
of as fast as possible, or Of value only
as measured in terms of cord wood or
board feet, and while roads are allowed
to remain nearly or quite impossible
during large part Of the year-whila
these conditions represent the normal
standard Of a community, one is
who calls public attention to the
beauty or even tries to discuss the util'
ity of any roadside growth. But we in
Massachusetts, as well as in many
other parts of the country, have passed
the primitive stage when we can look
with equanimity on indiscriminate de-
struction of trees and forests or sub
NIT tamely to the inconvenience OF
interrupted travel arising from bed
roads.
Now, with our forest and park res
ervtions, our schools and chairs of
arboriculture, and the greater or less
influence and information disseminated
by all these forces; with our Highway
Commission and the more than 20t
miles of State roads and the many
more miles Of first-class town ana
country roads due TO this State object
lesson and to the earnest efforts and
cooperation of the L. A. With ali
this pioneer work, we are surely ready
to begin what has never yet been at
tempted, a general systematic ana
artistic treatment of the roadsides,
the connecting Ii Jetween road,mak-
ing and forestry.
In this discussion we shall conHne
ourselves almost entirely to country
roadsides. noticing suburban roads
and parkways only incidentally, ana
shall try to answer three questions:
/. What is the actual condition and
treatment of our New England road
sides and what principles, if any, un'
derlie this treatment? II. What con
stitutes-or would constitute II We
had it-a treatment at once artistic
and practical; in other words, in the
broadcast sense scientific; that is.
founded on knowledge of conditions
and Of ends to be served, and the best
means of attaining these ends? III.
How may such scientific treatment be
attained?
First, as to actual conditions ana
treatment and the principles thereof.
without doubt the rural New England
population, both as towns and as in
dividuals, generally answer the ques
ton, Shall We allow or encourage any
thing except grass 20 grow beside the
road?" by an emphatic I'VE will not.
have tried to find out the reason for
this almost universal opposition to
roadside growth and will give you the
results my investigation.
1. G nservatism. Many farmers
keep the roadsides close cut for no
tangible reason whatever except that
they and their neighbors and their an
cestors have always regarded it as the
proper thing to do. The most casual
observer driving through country roads
can hardly fail to be struck with what
seems to be two opposite tendencies
in the treatment OF the roadside. One
is to make a clean sweep OF every
thing that grows So far from plant
ing trees or anything else, there seems
to be a special spite against every
scrap of vegetation, and all growth,
whether a blade of grass, G. daisy, a
fern, raspberry, alder, or Seeding oak
or maple-everything is periodically
clipped as close as scythe can cut 1t,
The other is the let-alone tendency
On roads where this prevails there Is
no more attempt at tree planting than
in the other case. but neither is there
care or effort of any kind, and all sorts
of growth flourishes widely luxuriant
so luxuriant. indeed, as often to inter
fere rather seriously with the trav-
eller's hat or carriage top. In many
parts of New England the latter ten
Iency seems to be rapidly gaining
ground in spite of the forces OF con
servatism. account for this by the
decay Of agriculture and abandonment
Of many farms and consequent partial
disuse Of some of the roads in almost
every town; alsoby the fact that many
farms are taken by foreigners without
New England traditions in The matter
.. Untidiness. The New England
love for order and tidiness led the Old
time farmer to look upon ROADSIDE
bushes and weeds" as untidy, and t6
'clean up" the sides of the road just as
his wife swept her floors and arranged
the chairs in straight rows against
the walls. and the conservatism just
mentioned has kept him and his de
scendants doing the same thing ever
since. A farmer who did not keep MS
roadside clean was looked a
asknce as "shiftless' and more or less
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