THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 35. AUGUST, 1897. NO. 8. 



LORING PARK, MINNEAPOLIS. 



( See frontispiece.) 

 F. H. NUTTER, CITY PARK ENGINEER. 



To nianj' of the old-time residents of Minneapolis " Yale's Forty " 

 furnished the nearest approach to a pleasure ground, and when a 

 park system for the city was inaugurated it was unaniniousl}^ se- 

 lected as the starting- point for such system, and first as "Central 

 Park" and later as " Loring Park," in honor of the one whose inter- 

 est in parks has inspired so many of his fellow citizens, has been 

 the pride of the people and a center of attraction, not only in sum- 

 mer but also in winter, for then we find the lake thronged with hun- 

 dreds of merry skaters. 



As first set apart as a park it included a spring-fed pool, known as 

 Johnson's Lake, with the surrounding bog and quite a tract of oak- 

 shaded knolls; but time showed that its boundaries were not as well- 

 chosen as they might be, and subsequent additions have increased 

 its size to its present area of thirty-six acres. 



Even now it is not as large as w^as at first proposed bj' some, for 

 the preliminary survey originally submitted included a tract of 

 considerable area lying to the south of the present park, to be con- 

 nected therewith by a short parkway, and embracing a wooded 

 ridge, the highest ground in the city, from which a magnificent out- 

 look was obtained. Financial considerations prevented the carrying 

 out of the full scheme, and the ridge has long since disappeared, 

 and in its place we find many attractive residences. 



The first work of iinprovement was the enlarging of the lake. 

 Much of this was done in mid-winter, and the methods of the ice 

 cutters were adopted, the frozen surface of the bog being sawed into 

 large blocks and dragged away to raise the surface of the lawns. 

 The peat and marl formed a rich soil for planting, and, looking at 

 our frontispiece, one would scarcely believe that fourteen years 

 since the spot there pictured was a naked and almost impassable 

 bog. 



Being located so near the center of the city more attention has 

 been paid to gardening and foliage bedding in this park than in 



