PARK 



PARK 



1213 



railings in parlis are in themselves no protection in great 



fail 



•Iv 



public resorts, and even wire fences n 

 to prevent people from trampling sodm- ni 

 banks and rockeries into barrenness. A 1 i i 

 and prompt repair of points that canui. t will 

 free use is the only remedy, and these should 

 never be lacking in all city parks. Leavin^' 

 the Meadow, the water flows down through i 

 ravine in the woodland portion of the piik 

 wholly overshadowed by trees with a \ uied 

 undergrowth. Through this woodland set 

 tion the paths and drives are comparatn eh 

 narrow, numerous and intricate, as btfats 

 the intricacy and detail of sylvan sceneij 

 and points of special interest are ra irked 

 by simple rustic seats, shelters, outlooks 

 and the like. In the southern part of the 

 park is a lake 62 acres in extent, of arti 

 ficial formation, but of natural appearance 

 It is large enough to afford good boatnig m 

 summer and skating in winter for large num 

 bers, as well as providing innumerable broad 

 and beautiful water views. Electric launches 

 carry passengers around a 2H-mile circuit foi 

 ten cents. The shores of the lake are for the 

 most part wooded w'ith tree plantations now 

 well grown, and are very attractive except 

 where indiscriminate use has worn them bare 

 or where the originally intended wild under 

 growth is lacking. Parts of the shore have tor 

 contrast the open meadow character, a chii 

 acter which will be emphasized when some 

 of the planted trees are cut, as necessary. Several im- 

 portant points were chosen in the design of the park as 

 places for the gathering of large and dense crowds, and 

 were planned with that end in view. The first of these 

 was the concert grove near the east end of the lake. 

 The great breadth of bare ground or pavement wherever 

 large crowds gather frequently, makes absurd any 

 attempt to simulate natural scenery in such a place, and 

 in the design of the concert place a grove of formally 

 planted trees with architectural accessories was made 

 upon gently rising ground, arranged radially at one 

 side of a little bay in the lake, upon an island in which 

 the band-stand was to be placed. Upon another side of 

 the bay a large concourse for carriages was also pro- 

 vided, and in connection with the formal treatment of 

 the concert grove was built a shelter, a restaurant and 

 a terrace overlooking the main drive. While the grove 

 was still so young as to be unattractive a band-stand 

 was erected in a natural grove near the Nether- 

 mead, a place in which the intricate woodland scenery 

 with its brook and pools and shruVibery, and the cor- 

 respondingly intricate arrangements of narrow paths 

 and bridges, bridle path and drive, were unfitted for 

 accommodating a large crowd. Here the people are 

 now drawn in thousands, wheelmen, carriages, horses 

 and people on foot, all trampling about together among 

 the trees and where the grass and bushes once grew. 



and blocking the narrow bridges. The unused concert 

 place now has a display of bedding plants. The second 

 gathering place was at the top of Lookout Hill, which 

 rises 100 feet above the surrounding countrj and com 

 in mds % noble view extending out to sei Here is a 



1643. Wat«r scene in a large rural Park 



1644 Edge of the concert grove in Prospect Park 



large carriage concourse, although a shelter and other 

 provisions designed for those on foot are not provided. 

 The plantations upon the flanks of the hill have now 

 become so high and so continuous that the views are 

 nearly closed. A third point, the Breeze Hill Con- 

 course, which originally enjoyed a good view of the 

 lake as well as a good breeze, has now grown up so that 

 it is no longer attractive as a view-point and has been 

 converted into a plantation for perennials, as a Colonial 

 Garden. Of the other subordinated features of inter- 

 est may be mentioned the Deer Paddock, the Wild Fowl 

 ■ Pond, the Vale of Cashmere, the Archery Grounds and 

 the Greenhouses. The space set apart on the plan for a 

 Deer Paddock is a detached open area of suitable park- 

 like kind; this land is now used as a nursery ground, 

 and the deer have been introduced on steep and broken 

 ground in the midst of the woodland section. The Wild 

 Fowl Pond is in such a situation that there is little 

 temptation to go down and injure its steep banks by 

 walking along them, and the effects of the views from 

 path, road and shelter across its surface to the pictur- 

 esque foliage of its opposite margin are admirable, 

 especially when it is enlivened by moving birds. The 

 Vale of Cashmere is a narrow valley containing a little 

 winding pool and filled with a rich and varied massing 

 of rhododendrons and other flowering shrubs and ever- 

 greens, growing in an irregular and picturesque man- 

 ner. However a visitor may be impressed 

 by any of these special features with their 

 strong, individual characters, he need see 

 none of them that he does not particu- 

 larly care for, as they are all self-contained 

 and do not obtrude themselves upon the 

 dominant park landscape, for the sole ob- 

 ject of securing which the limits of the 

 park were extended to their present size. 

 The above remarks illustrate the type of 

 changes that are likely to occur in all pub- 

 lic parks, and for this reason they may be 

 suggestive to the reader. 



2. The small city park (Fig. 1644-,'J), from 

 ten to two hundred acres or thereabouts, is 

 usually an effort in the same general direc- 

 tion as the large rural park, with a limita- 

 tion fixed by the difficulty of setting apart a 

 large body of land in one piece at a point of 

 access to a large population. It is almost 

 impossible to attain within so small a space 

 the degree of seclusion from the city and 

 the sense of breadth, simplicity and free- 

 dom that are the essential features of the 



