DESIGN OF PARK AND RECREATION AREAS 197 



out in groups. Thus a large meadowlike area is often completely covered 

 with diamonds. There appears to be no satisfactory way of merging bleach- 

 ers and backstops into any kind of landscape setting and the skinned 

 areas of diamonds can never be anything but unsightly. It would seem 

 that an ideal arrangement for baseball diamonds would be to locate them 

 in a level turf-covered area surrounded largely or completely by a thick 

 growth of trees and shrubs, thus giving the game a distinct area to itself, 

 something after the manner of the German Waldspiel. 



4. Soccer, Football, Hockey, La Crosse, Cricket. These games may be 

 played over the same area or areas allotted to ball diamonds. 



5. Stadiums. This form of a highly developed athletic field is now 

 found in some large parks. The stadium, as a structure of concrete above 

 ground, presents a problem exceedingly difficult to harmonize with any 

 principles of landscape architecture. However, if the topography of a large 

 park presents a natural site whereby the necessary structural features can 

 be built into the surrounding landscape, there appears no special reason why 

 a stadium might not be more or less harmoniously worked into the general 

 design of the park. It might be possible to secure a degree of harmony by 

 locating a stadium near the border of a large park or of a large landscaped 

 unit of the park, using a type of construction whereby the seats would rest 

 upon a mound of earth. The outside of this could be heavily planted with 

 shrubs and trees in such a manner as to appear a part of the border design. 

 A large park that is already occupied by one or more great structures cannot 

 have its general character greatly affected by the inclusion of a stadium of 

 the conventional type. 



6. Athletic field. What has been suggested relative to stadiums in 

 large parks applies equally to a fully developed enclosed athletic field. No 

 great additional harm can be done to a landscape design by including an 

 athletic field of the informal enclosed type in the area set aside for highly 

 organized ball games. 



7. Bowling on the green. This game requires comparatively small 

 space, and an exceedingly fine turf. It is very easy to screen with shrubbery, 

 if desired, and consequently lends itself admirably to introduction into 

 large landscape parks. 



8. Polo. Except in large cities, in cities adjacent to army posts or in 

 resort cities frequented by the wealthy, there is likely to be no demand for 

 the inclusion of this game in large parks. It requires a large turf area and 

 as such does no particular violence to the general landscape effects of 

 meadow areas, except through the presence of goals at either end and a 

 slight board boundary entirely around the playing area. 



9. Water sports, (a} Boating, canoeing, yachting. Any large park 



