Every now and then there were seats; also of concrete, beautifully shaped and too heavy to be easily moved. A narrow crack ran along the lowest curve. "That keeps 'em dry," said Owen. Drinking fountains bubbled invitingly up from graceful standing basins, where birds drank and dipped in the overflow. "Why, these are fruit trees," I said suddenly, looking along the outside row. "Yes, nearly all of them, and the next row are mostly nut trees. You see, the fruit trees are shorter and don't take the sun off. The middle ones are elms wherever elms grow well. I tell you, John, it is the experience of a lifetime to take a long motor trip over the roads of America! You can pick your climate, or run with the season. Nellie and I started once from New Orleans in February--the violets out. We came north with them; I picked her a fresh bunch every day!" He showed me the grape vines trained from tree to tree in Tuscan fashion; the lines of berry bushes, and the endless ribbon of perennial flowers that made the final border of the pathway. On its inner side were beds of violets, lilies of the valley, and thick ferns; and around each fountain were groups of lilies and water-loving plants. I shook my head. "I don't believe it," I said. "I _simply don't believe it_! How could any nation afford to keep up such roads!" Owen drew me to a seat--we had dismounted to examine a fountain and see the flowers. He produced pencil and paper. "I'm no expert," he said. "I can't give you exact figures. But I want you to remember that the trees pay. Pay! These roads, hundreds of thousands of miles of them, constitute quite a forest, and quite an orchard. Nuts, as Hallie told you, are in growing use as food. We have along these roads, as beautiful clean shade trees, the finest improved kinds of chestnut, walnut, butternut, pecan--whatever grows best in the locality." And then he made a number of startling assertions and computations, and showed me the profit per mile of two rows of well-kept nut trees. "I suppose Hallie has told you about tree farming?" he added. "She said something about it--but I didn't rightly know what she meant." "Oh, it's a big thing; it has revolutionized agriculture. As you're sailing over the country now you don't see so many bald spots. A healthy, permanent world has to keep its fur on." I was impressed by that casual remark, "As you're sailing over the country." "Look here, Owen, I think I have the glimmer of an idea. Didn't the common use of airships help to develop this social consciousness you're always talking about--this general view of things?"