"PASSING-THROUGH" PARKS 



planted in a focal point park in Washington. Tulips of sturdier bloom 

 and better coloiu* for spring display in such parks are the scarlet and 

 yellow varieties, Belle Alliance and Yellow Prince, but not together. 

 The general subject of floral display in parks is discussed more fully 

 in a later chapter. 



SEAT ACCOMMODATION 



In strictly passing-through parks there shoidd be few, if any, 

 benches, for their presence tends to clog the walks and permit loitering. 

 If there are encircling or secondary walks not used for through passage, 

 seats may be grouped along them ; but the ideal solution is to congre- 

 gate the benches in " rest " parks slightly off the line of congested 

 pedestrian passage. This is an instance, however, where there must 

 be a certain amount of give and take; and while from the analytical 

 standpoint few or no seats should be placed in such parks for the 

 reasons stated, yet if there are not proper parks where seats may be 

 located, the existing parks must serve double duty in this respect. In 

 densely populated cities there may be so great demand for seating 

 accommodations that every bench provided will be kept continuously 

 occupied, as in Franklin Park, Philadelphia. In such case the ideal 

 must give way to the exigency of the moment — even if, as in that 

 instance, it means a continuous line of seats on each side of every walk. 

 The designer, however, may console himself that it is not a corruption 

 of princij)le in that case, but a sacrifice of park efficiency to conceal 

 park deficiency. It has occurred in this connection to suggest that in 

 congested public parks where large seating capacity as well as pedes- 

 trian accommodation must be provided, certain of the spaces between 

 the walks might well be given up to an orderly arrangement of seats. 

 Such close grouping is very frequently observed in the iron chairs 

 which are placed out for hire in European parks; their appearance is 

 not deleterious to the park, and the idea of sacrificing beauty of green- 

 sward to accommodation of needed seats is not discordant with the 



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