42 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. 



of the streets ; that is : if he wishes to go from the north- 

 east to the southwest part, or from the northwest to the 

 southeast, he must of necessity travel nearly one third 

 farther than would be necessary if he could take a straight 

 course. The relief afforded by the few diagonal streets 

 which exist is but partial, because they are not system- 

 atically arranged to meet the necessities of the case, but 

 they serve nevertheless to prove how valuable such a 

 system would be, for they are always thronged, and the 

 demand for business sites along their lines is far beyond 

 that upon any of the streets in their vicinity. Except in 

 the occasional instances where these avenues afford relief, 

 the traveler whose course lies diagonally to the cardinal 

 points, must traverse two sides of the great square which 

 lies between his starting point and his destination. Re 

 may relieve the monotony of the straight streets by taking 

 a zigzag course, but he can in no wise abate one jot of the 

 distance. 



Think now of the aggregate of unnecessary miles which 

 must be traveled in the daily traffic of a great city, (and a 

 city which may be termed a vast workshop, to which it may 

 almost be said there is " no admittance except on busi- 

 ness,") the wear and tear of the teams, and the loss of 

 time which might have been saved by a judicious system 

 of diagonal avenues. 



Chicago is now preparing to spend millions of dollars 

 in constructing a series of parks which are necessarily 

 very distant from the thickly peopled districts of the city, 

 because land in those districts is too valuable to be 

 secured in sufficient quantities for such a purpose. The 



