THE PARK AT BIRKENHEAD. 



proportion were of the common ranks, and a few women with children, or suffering from 

 ill health, were evidently the wives of very humble laborers. There were a number of 

 strangers, and some we observed with note-books, that seemed to have come from a dis- 

 tance to study from the garden. The summer-houses, lodges, bridges, &c., were all well 

 constructed, and of undecaying materials. One of the bridges which we crossed was of 

 our countryman, Remington's patent, an extremely light and graceful erection. 



I obtained most of the following information from the head working gardener. 



The site of the Park and Garden was ten years ago, a flat, sterile, clay farm. It was 

 placed in the hands of Mr. Paxton in June, 1844, by whom it was laid out in its present 

 form by June of the following year. Carriage roads, thirtj^-four feet wide, with borders 

 of ten feet, and walks varying in width, were first drawn and made. The excavation for 

 a jjond was also made, and the earth obtained from these sources used for making mounds 

 and to vary the surface, which has been done with much naturalness and taste. The 

 whole ground was thoroughly under-drained, the minor drains of stone, the main, of tile. 

 By these sufficient water is obtained to fully supply the pond, or lake, as the}'^ call it, 

 which is from twenty to forty feet wide, and about three feet deep, and meanders for a 

 long distance through the garden. It is stocked with aquatic j^lants, gold fish and swans. 



The roads are McAdami.sed. On each side of the carriage way, and of all the Avalks, 

 pipes for drainage are laid, which communicate with deep main drains that run under the 

 edge of all the mounds or flower beds. The walks arc laid first with six inches of fine 

 broken stone, then three inches cinders, and the surface with six inches of fine rolled gra- 

 vel. All the stones on the ground which were not used for these purposes, were laid in 

 masses of rock-work, and mosses and rock-plants attached to them. The mounds were 

 then planted with shrubs, and Heaths, and Ferns, and the beds with flowering plants. 

 Between these, and the walks and drives, is everywhere a belt of turf, which, by the 

 way, is kept close cut with .short, broad scythes and shears, and swept with house-brooms, 

 as we saw. Then the rural lodges, temple, pavilion, bridges, orchestra for a band of in- 

 strumental music, &c., were built. And so, in one j'ear, the skeleton of this delightful 

 garden was complete. 



But this is but a small part. Besides the cricket and an archery ground, laj-ge valleys 

 were made verdant, extensive drives arranged — plantations, clumps, and avenues of trees 

 formed, and a large park laid out. And all this magnificent pleasure-ground is entirely, 

 unreservedly, and forever the People's own. The poorest British peasant is as free to en- 

 joy it in all its parts, as the British Queen. !More than that, the Baker of Birkenhead 

 had the pride of an Owner in it. 



Is it not a grand good tning? But you are inquiring who paid for it. Tlie honest own- 

 ers — the most M'ise and worthy town's people of Birkenhead — in the same wa}'' that the 

 New-Yorkers pay for the Tombs, and the Hospital, and the cleaning, (as they amusingly 

 say,) of their streets. 



Of the farm which was purchased, one hundred and twenty acres have been disposed 

 of in the way I have described. The remaining sixty acres, encircling the Park and Gar- 

 den, were reserved to be sold or rented, after being well graded, streeted and planted, for 

 private building lots. Several fine mansions are alreadj^ built on these, (having piivate en- 

 trances to the pai-k,) and the rest now sell at $1.25 a square yard. The whole concern 

 cost the town between five and six hundred thousand dollars. It gives employment at 

 present, to ten gardeners and laborers in summer, and to five in winter.* 



hen the important advantap;es to the poorer classes, of snch an extensive and delightful pleasure grottnd, are 

 o consideration, no one will be hiclined to say that such an expenditure does not merit the most inibounded sue- 



