172 PARKS 



treatment as they may receive must necessarily be very formal and usually 

 of a very simple nature. 



As these areas are generally closely related to the street plan they 

 should be brought to the grade of the street parking strip or sidewalk and 

 the entire area curbed and guttered as are the surrounding streets. This is 

 a general rule. There may be exceptions as to topography now and then. 



Their plantings may include merely a simple lawn, or a lawn with one 

 or more flower beds, or lawn and low growing shrubs, or lawn and one or 

 more trees. Since they are usually located at street intersections, planting 

 that will obstruct the vision of drivers of motor vehicles is not desirable. 



In congested sections of cities it is often exceedingly difficult to main- 

 tain any kind of plantations on these areas, and for this reason they are 

 sometimes completely hardsurfaced, either on a level with the surrounding 

 streets, thus becoming a part of the street, or else hardsurfaced on a level 

 with the sidewalks. In this case they become isles of safety for pedestrians 

 and have some value, perhaps, in the prevention of automobile accidents 

 by dividing the lines of traffic. 



If an attempt is made to adorn these areas in congested sections of 

 a city with any kind of plantations, a strong fence entirely around the 

 planted area becomes an absolute necessity. 



If the areas happen to be at important points of passenger transfer, a 

 very practical way of treating them is to lay a sidewalk entirely around 

 each area, erect a fence on the inner line of the walk and place the planta- 

 tions inside the fence. Some very attractive effects have been secured in 

 this way and with some degree of assurance that the plantations will not 

 be destroyed. Sometimes, for the further comfort of persons waiting for a 

 street car or bus, seats have been placed around the fence and either 

 anchored to the fence or to the pavement, or to both. 



A rather common use to which these small areas is put is as sites for 

 statues, monuments and small fountains. A few instances have been noted 

 where a living Christmas tree has been grown in such an area. 



The following illustrations show examples of the treatment of a number 

 of small areas of various shapes and sizes of a central parking strip. (See 

 Plates 72,-77, pages 173-175.) 



