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Vol. v. 



$2.00 a Year. 

 24 Numbers. 



CHICAGO, MAY i, 1897. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



No. 112. 



THE WORLD'S PAIR WOODED ISLAND. 



Landscape Gardening. 



C THE WORLD'S FAIR WOODED ISLAND. 



The conversion of a dreary waste of 

 land, through which a channel had been 

 cut, on whose banks only the excavated 

 mud in ragged piles could be seen in 1891, 

 into that most exquisite creation, the 

 Wooded Island, so familiar to all visitors 

 to the World's Fair, was the finest exhi- 

 bition of landscape work our country has 

 yet seen. 



To give an adequate idea of the original 

 purpose of the designor of this planting 

 we here print in full Mr. Olmsted's "mem- 

 orandum" and inA-ite its careful perusal. 

 Those who imagine the art of landscape 



gardening one that requires but little 

 thought and study will be surprised to 

 note the varied objects to be considered 

 and provided for, and the difficulties to 

 overcome. 



We all saw the beautiful picture the 

 Island presented and felt its quieting 

 influence amid the bustling babble of 

 many tongues. It seemed so natural, so 

 soothing to our over-tired body and mind 

 that we gave credit to nature for what 

 was in reality the art of man. 



MEMORANDUM AS TO WHAT IS TO BE AIMED AT IN 

 THE PLANTING OF THE LAGOON DISTRICT OP 

 THE CHICAGO EXPOSITION. AS PRO- 

 POSED MARCH, 1891. 



As far as it is possible, between the present time 

 and May, 1893, the lagoon must be made to look 

 like a natural bayou, secluded, shallow and placid, 

 but not suggestive of stagnancy or any form of 



foulness or unhealthfulness. Its low. sterile, 

 sandy shores must be given a rich, affluent, pic- 

 turesque aspect, in striking contrast alike with 

 that of the present ground, the shores of the great 

 lake, the margins of the basin in the great court 

 and the canals yet to be formed, and with the 

 bare and prosaic shores of the ponds heretofore 

 made in Jackson and Washington Parks. The 

 desired result in this respect is to be accom- 

 -plished largely by thick, luxuriant growths of 

 herbaceous, aquatic vegetation along the shore, 

 rooted partly above and partly below the surface 

 of the water. 



The best of the few poor trees now growing on 

 the island are to be retained, and, if possible, 

 forced by an enrichment of the soil into finer foli- 

 age. Between them and the water plants, bushes 

 and young trees are to be introduced so as to 

 make the island from the east appear a broad, 

 continuous, close bank of verdure. Nearly every- 

 where else, except where formal terraces are to be 

 formed near the shore, three main objects are to 

 be had in view in the shore planting. 



First, to make an agreeable low foreground over 

 which the great buildings of the exposition will 

 rise, gaining in grandeur of effect upon the imag- 

 ination because appearing at a greater distance. 



