PARKS 247 



OTHER PURPOSES OF A PARK 



There are so many pleasurable ways of exercising 

 and playing in a park that one sometimes forgets the 

 fundamental reason for acquiring land and going to 

 the expense of planting, making roads, walks, and 

 introducing the other features which have been 

 mentioned. There are, however, many incidental 

 purposes that may be served by a park in addition 

 to those named and to the main purpose of preserv- 

 ing nature. A park may serve as an arboretum 

 with collections of many kinds of trees and shrubs. 

 It might also have a botanic garden or a planting 

 of some special kind, such as a Japanese, medicinal, 

 iris, or rose garden. Such gardens, however, should 

 be placed by themselves and not interfere with the 

 general scenery of the park. 



A zoological garden may sometimes be introduced, 

 but in this case it would be well to have the zoo- 

 logical part the main feature, the garden being sub- 

 ordinated to the zoo instead of the zoo to the gar- 

 den. A zoological garden or park should, if pos- 

 sible, be large enough to give buffalo, deer, and other 

 grazing animals a chance to get at least a portion 

 of their food in the natural way. Frequently the 



