CONTENTS.

Letter of transmittal.

Preface---

A word to teachers on Good Roads Arbor Day.

Office of public roads_-.

History of roads in America.

Road building in history---

MacAdam and his principles...

Planting trees by the roadside..

Suggestive program for Good Roads Arbor Day-

Suggestions for, before, on, and after Good Roads Arbor Day
Roadside gleanings from prose and poetry

Bibliography----

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

5

6

7

9

10

11

12

13

18

19

24

29

Page.

Plate 1. Cedar Grove School, near Knoxville, Tenu.

Frontispiece.

2A. White birches, Rochester, N. Y------

12

2B. Magnolias, Rochester, N. Y

12

3A. Boulder Bridge, Rock Creek Park, District of Columbia

5A. Construction lesson, second-grade practice school, Normal
School, Washington, D. C‒‒‒‒‒‒

16

5B. School children attending a lecture on the Good Roads Train
of the Southern Railway-

7B. A school near Knoxville, Tenn., before the road was improved-

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, Washington, D. C., April 5, 1913.

SIR: One of the greatest needs of our country is good public roads. The reason we do not have them wherever needed is not primarily because of the cost of building them, for in the last quarter of a century we have spent more money for other things not half so valuable or half so much needed than would be required to pay for the building of good roads to and through every place having any considerable population. Our annual mud tax is greater than would be the tax necessary to pay the interest on bonds to build good roads. The roads. are not built, because the people do not understand their value nor comprehend how much beauty they would contribute to the country and how much pleasure to life. It is largely a matter of sentiment and ideals. These are most easily created in childhood. What one would have in the State of to-morrow must be put into the schools of to-day. Not only should we build good roads, we should also make them attractive and comfortable to travel over. In many European countries this is done by planting the roadside with rows of trees. On some of the broader and more important public highways there are double rows of trees on either side. The eye follows the road across country not as a broad white band, with heat shimmering above it or dust hovering over it, but by rows of stately trees covered with foliage in the summer, their bare branches silhouetted against the sky in winter. On many of the roads fruit trees are planted. These add to the fruit supply of the people and to the resources of the State for the upkeep of the roads. This tree planting by the roadside has not yet become common in this country, as it should. To call the attention of children in the schools to the importance of good roads, and to this means of protecting them and beautifying them and making travel more comfortable and attractive over them, I recommend that the accompanying manuscript be published as a bulletin of the Bureau of Education. It contains brief statements about the importance of good roads, the history of road building in this and other countries, the custom of planting trees on the roadside, and other material that can be used in observing Good Roads Arbor Day.

Respectfully submitted.

The SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.

P. P. CLAXTON, Commissioner.