LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 841 
whereas, a little investigation will almost always reveal] ‘the existence of 
tracts, which for some reason are not thought desirable for residence 
sites, and may, therefore, be had at a comparatively low price, and may, 
at small cost, be so improved as to adapt them admirably for park pur- 
poses, and by so doing increase the taxable value of all adjacent property 
so essentially as to make the investment a profitable one. This has been 
so fully demonstrated in the experience of different cities all over the 
country, that it may be regarded as an established fact inthe history of 
parks. A tract of land may possess picturesque features, such as ravines 
or ledges, which make its improvement too costly for any individual to 
' undertake, or it may require a system of drainage that no one man can 
compass. While such tracts remain unimproved, they are of course un- 
sightly and detract essentially from the value of adjacent property. If 
purchased by the city and improved as parks, the very features which 
rendered them unfit for residences may contribute to their attractive 
interest as pleasure grounds, and their development will serve at once to 
confer value upon all adjacent property. 
The best criterion of what is wanted by those who seek relief from the 
cares of life in cities is to be found in the objects they pursue when they 
try to escape from them. There is a large class of people, who neither 
seek nor require any other recreation than the sight of a game of ball or 
a horse race or other sport at which great multitudes are assembled, and 
the enjoyment of which is entirely independent of the adjacent scenery. 
All that they require, therefore, is a largearea of open ground. The 
seclusion and rural attractions,which constitute the most winning charm 
a park can offer to those who seek relief in its shades, are not only value- 
less to those who delight in the sports above alluded to, but such sports 
are utterly incongruous with the objects for which parks are specially de- 
signed. I allude to the subject because there are multitudes of people 
who seem to have no other idea of a park than a place for popular amuse- 
ments in which anything is admissable that would draw acrowd. It can- 
not be too often or impressively urged that the primary object of a park 
is to provide for the wants of all whose lives are oppressed by the care and 
anxiety which are the necessary attendants of all who mingle in the great 
struggle of life, with a determination to fulfill its duties, whether in the 
line of director of a widely extended business, embracing vast and com- 
plicated interests, or that of the humble laberer striving to provide for 
his family. The demands of modern social life are such that the need for 
means of relief and refreshment is imperative. They are recognized and 
acknowledged by all civilized nations. We have been the last to take ac- 
tion in the matter for the simple reason that we have been the last to feel 
its necessity. But the work which has been in progress of late years in 
the creation of parks in all our cities, and the invariably beneficial re- 
sults that have ensued, proves clearly the wisdom of the measure. The 
principle on which those results are based is the same in all communi- 
ties, be they large or sm4ll, and differs only in degree. With the experi- 
ence our history affords of the growth of great cities in the wilderness in 
the space ofa single generation, it is not safe for any town to assume that 
it will never attain such dimensions that parks will have to be provided— 
and no fact in the history of parks is more clearly proved, than the dan- 
ger of delay in the purchase of lands for the purpose, and the penalty of 
enormous cost which has resulted from it. 
