LANDSCAPE PARKS 



303 



to contain trees which will endure this treatment. If there are existing 

 areas of natural beauty, containing delicate vegetation which would 

 be destroyed by traffic, or if there is an opportunity to obtain such 

 beauty, too great to be neglected, traffic lines must be so arranged and 

 such policing provided that these particularly decorative areas may be 

 enjoyed but not traversed. 



Rocks and ledges, particularly those which are high and steep, are Rocks and 

 usually well worth preserving as objects of interest in a park, but they ^^^i'^ 

 must be protected by directing the traffic much in the way that we have 

 just discussed. People may be brought to the foot of the cliff where 

 they can look at its face with its decoration of moss and fern, and 

 they may be brought to the top of the cliff where they can get the effect 

 of its height and a certain pleasing sense of danger in being near the 

 brink of a precipice, and where perhaps there may be a good view. The 

 paths should be so laid out, perhaps brambles and strong-growing 

 thorny plants should be so arranged, and the region should be so po- 

 liced, that danger to the people and destruction to the scenic beauty 

 by persons attempting to traverse the steeper slopes would be made 

 very slight. 



Brooks and ponds * are very desirable features in parks. They give Brooks and 

 a life, a unity, and a center of interest to the landscape which will often °°""^ 

 make the difference between a monotonous scene and a charming one. 

 (See Plate 32.) It very frequently happens, then, that the landscape 

 architect is called upon to design a pond or stream where none already 

 exists, or to adapt an existing one to the uses of a park. Again the 

 difficulty arises of producing or preserving the natural character while 

 providing for intensive use, and this fact will tend to restrict the kinds 

 of natural character of brook and pond which may be used. In the 

 case of streams it may be possible to keep the traffic away from the 

 banks, except at designated places, by planting and proper path design, 

 and to have at these places bridges or some treatment of rocks and step- 

 ping stones and gravel beaches which may be walked upon without 

 great damage. The views upstream and down from these selected 

 places will of course be wrought out with special care. Natural ponds, 

 particularly in a meadow country, are likely to have marshy banks 



*Cf. Chapter VIII, p. 137. 



