280 OKKAMEKTaL GAKDEKlNa. 



but nine cities in the Union of more tlie ten thousand 

 inhabitants. Now we number above fifty million of peo- 

 ple, and we have two hundred and fifty towns of more 

 than ten thousand inhabitants. The child who lives 

 sixty years from now may then be one of a pojjulation of 

 one hundred and fifty millions or upwards, in the whole 

 country, and will witness a proportionate increase in the 

 average towns as great or greater. Yet sixty years is a 

 comparatively short period in the life of an ornamental 

 garden. In Europe there are many gardens that are 

 more than four times as old. Some of the woody resorts 

 in Rome have been woody resorts from the time of the 

 Caesars. Oaks, Chestnuts, and other trees that enter 

 into gardens and parks as conspicuous embellishments 

 are known to have lived from five hundred to two thou- 

 sand years, and many of these are only in full prime, 

 after they have been planted for a generation or longer. 

 All these points suggest that the work of public garden 

 making should be fixed on the broad basis of adaptabil- 

 ity to the wants of ages — so far as these may be con- 

 jectured — rather than solely to immediate needs. The 

 beauty of hundreds of American cities, of the next and 

 future generations, will depend in a large measure on the 

 manner in which the present generation shall meet the 

 trust of initiating town embellishments. The subject is 

 one that ought to be handled as wisely as its importance 

 deserves, so that in time, the average of our towns may 

 be, what they are not yet, the most beautiful on the face 

 of the globe, so far as public gardening may serve to 

 make them so. 



AN IDEAL SYSTEM OF PUBLIC TOWN" GARDEITIN'G. 



What maybe considered an ideal system of public town 

 gardens ? Briefly it is one that for the least outlay se- 

 cures the greatest benefits in the way of wholesome rec- 



