512 



Canadian Forestry Magazine, November, ig20 



it will be well to bear in mind wbat a 

 Park is for. 



A Park is a ]jlace for recreation; a 

 place wbere we can l^o for a rest ; an en- 

 tire chang'e from our u^ual siirroun(lin<4" ; 

 a place for "mental sanitation." 



Now there arc \\\o features of the 

 Prairie which are decidedly monoton- 

 ous and those are its tree-lessness, and 

 the strai.qht lines on which it is laid out. 

 Strai.q-ht roads east and west, north and 

 south, straight fences and telephone 

 lines, straight streets and houses in 

 towns, even the horizon is more or less 

 level and what we need in a Park is a 

 place where we can get away Irom 

 straight lines, and enjoy the beauties of 

 natural curves. Nature very rarely 

 works in straight lines, but she abounds 

 in curves and in our Park we want to 

 get back to nature as much as possible. 

 The desire for a park is only an expres- 

 sion of such a feeling. 



No Straight Lines. 



Thus, in the Park before us you will 

 see there is very little allowance for 

 straight lines. All the walks are curved 

 and the outlines of the tree islands or 

 groups are all in bold curves. In this 

 way we provide an entire change from 

 the Prairie, for the tree groups will pro- 

 vide a striking contrast to the treeless- 

 ness. 



There are no long lines or avenues of 

 trees. The proper place for them is on 

 your street, not in the Park. Besides, 

 they are expensive to maintain as they 

 have to be kept cultivated or watered, 

 year after year, adding greatly to the 

 taxation of the town. 



These islands of trees are in reality 

 miniature forests, arranged in such size, 

 and mixture of varieties as will render 

 them self-maintaining in 3 or 4 years, 

 just as our forests are. 



In Parks, as in most other things, it is 

 not the original cost that matters so much 

 as the upkeep, the constant drain after- 

 wards, and this island arrangement is 

 designed to do away with this very thing. 

 Planted properly on well prepared sum- 

 mer fallow they should not require more 

 than three or four years cultivation 

 amounting to some week's work of a 



man and a single horse and cultivator 

 each year. A very small item. 



After the third year, the branches of 

 the trees will be meeting and shading 

 the ground so that cultivation will be no 

 longer necessary. "Phe trees being plant- 

 ed close together will ])resent a solid 

 mass of obstruction to the passing of 

 the winds which will thereby be compell- 

 ed to go over anrl not through the plan- 

 tation, drying it out. In this way the 

 moisture that falls amongst the trees, 

 whether snow or rain, will be retained 

 for the use of the growing plantation. 



The trees should be planted four feet 

 by four and seedlings used. The Rus- 

 sian Poplar will be cuttings. The fol- 

 lowing is a list of the trees required and 

 they should be mixed according to the 

 planting plan and planted in rows to al- 

 low for cultivation. 



l.OOOMaples seedlings 12-18 inches. 



150 Ash vSeedlings 12-18 inches. 



150 Elm Seedlings 12-18 inches. 



150 Jack Pine (Pinus Banksiana") 12- 

 18 inches. 



1,500 Russian Poplar (Populus Pet- 

 rowskiana) Cuttings. 



If you care to use Russian Poplar 

 Plants well and good. 



There is no reason why the whole 

 Park should not be planted this coming 

 spring, though there will be more plants 

 to replace in 1922 on the stubble land 

 and those that live will not do so well the 

 first summer, but when you are at it you 

 may as well do it all. 



The stubble should be plowed and 

 packed this fall and smoothed ready for 

 the work in spring. Two men should 

 do the whole planting in less than two 

 weeks. 



Care must be taken to cultivate the 

 groups as soon as they are planted, and 

 thereafter every two weeks till the end 

 of July, whether weeds appear or not. 



Laying out the Ground. 



The first thing in laying out the ground 

 will be locating the bandstand. This will 

 be a semi-circle in the middle of the 

 eastern boundary of the level ground. 

 The straight edge bounded by the bot- 

 tom of the rising ground. The semi- 

 circle is about twenty yards wide from 

 north to south and ten yards in radius 



