THE 



Canadian Horticulturist. 



Vol. XXII Toronto, 18 9 9. February. No. 2 



OBJECT LESSONS IN CITY PARKS. 



Fig. 1513. 



^ 



^O make the public object les- 

 sons worthy of imitation, their 

 author must have a master 

 mind to conceive and its keep- 

 er must be a past master to execute. To 

 plan out the various parts of a park so 

 they will fit the uses for which those 

 parts are designed, is almost an impos- 

 sibility ; but if the designer can so plan 

 that future additions may be made 



without the various uses over-lapping 

 each other or blending inharmoniously 

 together, then his legacy to the park is 

 a rich one. 



In general, parks are supposed to be 

 small isolated territories not open to 

 expansion of our Uncle Samuel, and 

 consequently are supposed to be free 

 from the many evidences of his com- 

 mercial activity. They should be re- 

 treats into which one may lose himself 

 from his daily work, and everything that 

 goes to make it complete should sym- 

 bolize the words : rest, recreation and 

 recuperation. 



My idea is that their beauty is en- 

 hanced by a consistent arrangement, or 

 is destroyed by associating things of 

 divergent nature. Suppose the scene is 

 that of wildness, as a native woods, 

 ravine or small open glade, it should be 

 removed and hidden from the more 

 cultivated portions. The only improve- 

 ment necessary is to make it accessible. 

 A foot-path made after the plan of an 

 Indian trail, a fallen tree as seats and a 



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