Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1907-08-14
PROTECT THE ROADS,
Value of Planting Trees Along
the Highways.
SAVES AND BEAUTIFIES THEM.

ehade, says an Authority, Keeps tne
Surface Of a Highway Moist, Pre-.
venting Wear and Dust-Trses Also
Act as Windbreaks.
That many men sincerely believed
that trees which shaded the public
highway were not worth q fair rental
Of the ground they covered was proved
by their toiling to destroy every tree
that stood on that strip Of land, says
Good Roads Magazine. Bnt In those
days the highway was undrained ex-
cept by shallow gutter, more or less
open, and little was then known and
even less was done about making the
public thoroughfare much more than
q lane, which was muddy In wet
weather and q barren, sunburnt and
dusty strip In dry times. Having no
way by which to run off, water stood
in the shade of the few trees which
were allowed to reach their arms out
over the driveway. Narrow tires cut
deep into the softened earth In such
spots, and lasting mudholes were thus
made.
Farmers found that the shade Of
trees standing beside the highways de-
iayed when they did not wholly pre-
vent the growth Of crops near the
road, but this may have been largely
because little or no thought was given
to saving or to planting trees Of the
right kind or to trimming the trees
so as to get the benefit they could
give. yet avoid the injury they might
do by shading ground that might have
produced food for man.
New light has come In this country
on the subject of roadmaking, and now
the truth Is known that good drainage
is the first essential Of good roads.
Well made earth roads have no place
where water can stand, as 1t stands
through weeks or even through months
where there is bad management Of
roads. Today the plan Is to keep the
foundation of all roads dry by good
drainage and the surface slightly moist,
yet never let 1t become so wet and soft
that wheels can cut 1t badly.
Shade trees Of the right shape beside
road tend to keep the driveway so
moist that swift wheels cannot easily
suck up much Of Its surface to scatter
II In clouds Of dust over the neighbor-
hood. Roots of such trees bind the
earth Of the ditch sides and even the
bottoms Of the bitches, the banks Of
cuts and slopes of fills, and by so doing
retard If they do not entirely prevent
the washing away that melting SHOWS
and peltlng rains would cause but for
these roots.
By their shade such trees hinder If
they do not wholly stop the growth or
weeds that would choke the bitches,
cumber the roadsldes and seed down
the fields Of the farmer, and by prevent
ing such harmful growths they save
time, labor and money that otherwise
stroy weeds among the crops.
AS windbreaks such trees help to
keep gales from picking up the finer
particles from the road to scatter them
over grass and fruit and grain, to sift
them over flowers and food, clothing
and furniture. They help to hold the
snow ON field and road when, but for
them. 1t would be blown from sod and
grain field to bank behind stack and
fence and building, where 1t does no
good. In springtime such trees check
the melting of the SHOWS and so help to
keep them from washing away the
driveway, securing out the bitches and
from flooding the lowlands.
Trees of suitable kinds along the
roads attract people who have means
to get what they want, leisure and cul
ture that enable them to value and
enjoy the comfort and beauty OF a
road so adorned, money with which to
buy land and pay for its Improvement,
and influence which can often induce
the powers to leave undone those
things they ought not to do and to do
those things they ought to do for the
good of the community.
Men trained by long experience and
by study to use their money shrewdly
to get the biggest possible returns
cheerfully pay large sums to get labels
or packages that will catch the eye and
please the taste of possible buyers Of
the goods those packages hold. Such
business men know that the pleasing
appearance Of a cover does much to
sell for So to SO grain for which the
farmer is glad to get little more than
q dollar when he markets 1t In bulk or
In bag.
Many time a pleasant drive has led
people of means to buy q summer
home In a neighborhood and to bring
their friends to do likewise. This made
q market ut town lot prices for farm
lands and ready demand at good fig
ures at the very door Of the farmer for
his fruit and vegetables, milk and but
ter poultry and eggs. 1t has helped to
swell the tax lists even while 1t re-
duced the tax rate and so helped the
neighborhood to make Improvements 1t
could not have afforded without such
help and by doing so has further rails
ed the selling value Of the acres near.
Many an illustration Of this effect of
attractiveness Of country roads may
be seen in New England and New
York, where the coming Of people Of
wealth and refinement, accompanied
by improvements they have caused, has
increased the prices Of farm lands so
greatly as to make their owners rich.