36 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
study. The division of the city into zones and districts will 
gradually result in sections exclusively for residences. Build- 
ing-line regulations are already well established, and the con- 
trol of building heights will become more absolute and rigid. 
Street tree planting is governed in practically all of the large 
cities, the species of tree on each street and their spacing being 
decided by the city forestry department. The engineering 
features of the street are consistent and in good order; con- 
a public safety, and sanitation demand that they 
so. 
All of these things tend toward harmony and order, and 
hence beauty, in the appearance of the street. The next step, 
that of determining the architectural character of the resi- 
dence and the landscape treatment of its front yard, has not 
been generally taken up by cities of this country, but it is 
surely coming. Great attention has been paid to this ques- 
tion, with remarkable and beautiful results, by many Euro- 
pean cities, especially Paris and some of the cities of Ger- 
many, and, too, by the so-called garden cities of Europe and 
this country. A street is in itself an architectural unit, and 
its side bounds are not the sidewalk lines, which are incon- 
spicuous, but the front walls of the residences. Not until this 
entire space from building to building is treated consistently 
and with attention to the best andiplos of architectural and 
landscape design will our streets attain the beauty of which 
they are possible. Each residential street or subdivision 
should have a consulting architect to prescribe certain limits 
of design in the house, and a landscape architect to plan the 
landscape development from building line to building line. 
In many of the new garden cities and residential develop- 
ments the back yard or a portion of it is united with the 
other adjoining yards to form a park or playground for the 
use of the occupants of the entire block. This is a wonder- 
ful idea and one that is increasing in popularity and de- 
mand. Certainly, in crowded sections where back yards are 
of the minimum size, and where the enclosure approaches 
the interior courtyard in nature, this is the only possible 
solution. Such developments in the older, established sec- 
tions of the larger type lot, however, could not be brought 
about except by considerable expense, and it is probable that 
the desire for them could not be awakened. It is likely that 
no matter what is done with the front yard, the back yard 
will generally remain a part of the home — in a sense an 
outdoor living-room. Unfortunately, too many fail to see 
the opportunities of this area, and are inclined to treat it as 
sey oe their basement, a place for storage of undesirable 
objects. 
