NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



357 



boulevards. "The value of the park to my 

 mind," says Mr. Price in the first report of 

 the Iowa Park and Forestry Association,* 

 "is fourfold; namely, sanitary, educational, 

 commercial, and as a place of rest. First 

 and primarily it ought to be a place of rest 

 where the laboring class may come after 

 their day's work is done and find to some 

 extent the freedom of the country. Not 

 only to the laboring class, but to all classes 

 the park furnishes a place of rest. With 

 abundance of shade and plenty of lawn, and 

 no signs " Keep off the grass," the park is 

 the popular resort both day and evenings 

 for four months in the year. 



In the park, for comfort, we need plenty 

 of seats so that those who come may find 

 vacant seats inviting them to sit down and 

 rest awhile. I want to emphasize the im- 

 portance of good grass in the park and the 

 perfect liberty to come and go at will. To 

 my mind a good lawn with the sign " Keep 

 off the grass " stuck up is like showing a 



♦This report may be had for 22c from L. 

 Pammel, Secretary, Ames. Iowa. 



H. 



person a room covered with a beautiful 



carpet, and telling him he must not step on 



it ; that it is made to look at, not tor use. 



For real downright comfort and rest there is 



nothing like good grass where you may 



stretch out and, as Whitcombe Riley says : 



' ' Lay out there and try to see 

 Jes how lazy you kin be. 

 Tumble round and souse your head 

 In the clover bloom, er pull 

 Yer straw hat acrost yer eyes 

 And peak through it aft the skies." 



EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF A PARK 



Strange that we should cling to the notion 

 that all learning must be through books, the 

 driest, dullest way of acquiring it. There is 

 a royal road to learnings and that is through 

 the eyes ; and we learn many things faster 

 by observation than by reading ; and this is 

 especially true of studying nature. The 

 educational value of public park, if planted 

 with a systematic collection of trees and 

 shrubs, is beyond estimation, not only for 

 the ordinary citizen, but also for the students 

 of the schools and colleges, who here see 

 the living subjects of their botanical studies. 



Fig. 23S0. Entrance to Arnold Arboretum, Boston Park System. 



