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BOULEVARDS VERSUS PRIVATE GARDENS 



A LETTER FROM 



W. F. CLARKE, GUELPH 



FAMILIARLY KNOWN FROM CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MONTREAL WITNESS 

 UNDER THE NOM DE PLUME OF "LINDENBANK" 



Sir, — I have been an advocate of the 

 boulevard system of improving' town and 

 city lots in preference to the custom of hav- 

 ing- division fences, of all sorts and sizes, 

 as a means of securing- privacy and safe- 

 guarding- the contents of the private g-arden. 

 But I cannot shut my eyes to one very 

 strong incidental objection to the boulevard 

 plan, and that is the fact, for such it really 

 is, as things now are, that it really means 

 the extinction of the private garden. Not 

 boys merely, but grown-up men and women, 

 appear to think that the absence of a fence 

 is a license to roam at will, and that a fence 

 only is a notice to quit trespassing. Grad- 

 ually we find, here in Guelph, where I live, 

 that g-ardens are becoming more rare, and 

 while it is quite true that grass and trees 

 are "things of beauty" and "joys forever," 

 no one can pretend that they may wholly 

 supplant the garden with its varied attrac- 

 tions. It strikes me very forcibly that we 

 need some legal protection to guard boule- 

 vards from trespass, but still more we need 

 the protection of a better public sentiment 

 in regard to the rights of owners of pro- 

 perty, whether it is protected by a fence or 

 by any other intimation of ownership. His- 



tory tells us that in King Alfred's days 

 people were so honest that jewelled brace- 

 lets and other valuable ornaments might be 

 safely left hanging on trees and nobody but 

 the rightful owners would ever think of 

 touching them. If such things were left 

 thus exposed in these days there would be 

 a perfect scramble for possession of them. 



I have a fence around my place yet in the 

 delusive hope of being able to protect flow- 

 ers and fruit, but I strongly suspect that 

 the boulevard system has had much to do 

 with the prevalence of that loose public 

 sentiment which appears to make many 

 people think they have a right to go wher- 

 ever there is free passage, and to take what- 

 ever they have a fancy for. In my young 

 days it used to be a school maxim and copy 

 headline : " Who steals a pin it is a sin." 

 Is this doctrine taught in our public schools 

 to-day ? Garden thieves and trespassers 

 must be taught a few sharp lessons by 

 police magistrates, and even parents must 

 get some schooling in regard to the morals 

 and manners of their children on these 

 points if we are to see any marked improve- 

 ment. 



Guelph, July i, 1902. 



