1804 LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



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 country and commands a noble view 

 extending out to sea. Here is a large carriage concourse, 

 although a shelter and other provisions designed for 

 those on foot were never built. The plantations upon 

 the flanks of the hill have become so high and so con- 

 tinuous that the views are nearly closed. A third point, 

 the Breeze Hill Concourse, which originally enjoyed a 

 good view of the lake as well as a good breeze, is no 

 longer attractive as a viewpoint because of the growth 

 of surrounding trees, and has been planted with peren- 

 nials, as a Colonial Garden. Of the other subordi- 

 nated features of interest 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 tree and shrub nursery, and the deer have 

 been transferred to unsuitably 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 picturesque 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 evergreens, growing in an 

 irregular and picturesque manner. However a visitor 

 may be impressed by any of these special features, he 

 need see none of them that he does not particularly care 

 for, as they are all self-contained and do not obtrude 

 themselves upon the dominant park landscape, for the 

 sole object of securing which the limits of the park were 

 extended to their present size. 



2. The small city park (Fig. 2097), from 10 to 200 

 acres or thereabouts, is usually an effort in the same 

 general direction 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 freedom that are 

 the essential features of the landscape of a rural park; 

 yet small passages of interesting and agreeable scenery 

 are often attainable, and the obviously artificial objects 

 which may intrude upon them can often be so treated 

 as to produce a harmonious effect. The scenery can 

 seldom be quite natural in appearance, but it can often 

 be very beautiful, a certain elaboration, elegance and 

 even magnificance taking the place of the more quiet 

 and restful simplicity of a large park, in a way that 

 appeals so obviously to many persons that there is 

 more or less tendency to develop large parks in the same 

 direction. It is unfortunate that it should be so, for, as 

 these ends can be attained almost as well upon small 

 parks as upon large, it is clearly a mistake to treat one 

 large park in this style instead of several of smaller size 

 so distributed as to serve conveniently a larger popu- 

 lation. It is because more cities have small parks of this 

 elaborate treatment than have large and simple rural 

 parks that so many persons have a perverted concep- 

 tion of what constitutes a park. 



Morningside Park, New York, is an example of a 

 small city park upon an extremely rugged and pic- 

 turesque site, planned, in order to enhance this quality, 

 with an avoidance of decorative elaboration. It occu- 

 pies a craggy hillside strip from 250 to 500 feet wide and 

 % mile long, with a difference of elevation from 50 

 to 100 feet between one side and the other, rendering 

 the land unfit for streets or buildings. From its situa- 

 tion, as well as its narrow shape, it is essentially unse- 

 cluded; indeed one of its most notable features is the 



impressive and utterly unrural view which it offers 

 over the busy streets and houses that stretch away from 

 its base. This view and the boldness of the crags is 

 emphasized by a stone terrace along the upper edge, 

 supporting a promenade and a tree-lined boundary 

 street. Convenience of passage is met by numerous 

 broad paths, with masonry steps fitted to the irregu- 

 larities of the ledges. The planting among the ledges 

 was designed to be of the wild sort such as often 

 clothes broken ledges naturally, while the more level 

 land at the base of the crags is treated by contrast as 

 a smooth lawn, with scattered trees. The natural 

 boldness of the crags is partly lost by an effort to 

 extend turf over every possible area, and the shrub 

 planting is possibly rather too garden-like in style to 

 be in entire accord with the situation, but in general 

 the park is treated in a manner approaching that of the 

 large parks, although without any attempt at complete 

 rural seclusion. It contains a little over 30 acres, 

 exclusive of the boundary streets and promenades. 



More commonly, small parks are used for the display 

 of interesting and showy flowering shrubs and trees, and 

 make a feature of fountains, statues and other sculpture 

 more or less good. In moderation and skilfully used, 

 such objects, are entirely appropriate and desirable in 

 parks of this class, and add much to the effect of elegance 

 and richness. The enjoyment is more closely related to 

 that offered by architecture and decorative design and 

 other pleasures forming a part of the daily city life. 



3. Neighborhood pleasure-grounds are spaces of vary- 

 ing size coming within the scope of the park system, and 

 including numerous aims other than the enjoyment of 

 scenery. Sometimes the leading feature is a playground 

 for athletic sports, sometimes a sort of outdoor kinder- 

 garten for little children, sometimes a concert grove 

 and promenade, sometimes a menagerie, sometimes a 

 public bathing-place or bowling-place. The area is 

 usually restricted, and, as the name indicates, the object 

 is to offer the maximum of outdoor recreation for the 

 people of a single neighborhood, when they have not 

 the time to go far afield. As children out of school 

 hours are most in need of such provision, playgrounds 

 form an important feature in many grounds of this class; 

 but in all the best examples the means of meeting the 

 various practical requirements, whether athletics, 

 band-concerts or what not, are so arranged as to pro- 

 duce a pleasing effect on the eye as well. This is the 

 more difficult from the fact that these grounds get very 

 hard usage, and it is practically impossible to main- 

 tain a respectable turf on the area devoted to a play- 

 ground, which is sometimes left in loam with grass 

 worn bare in streaks and patches by the playing, but 

 it is better surfaced with well-compacted gravel. So 

 far as any single example can represent this class, 

 which must vary in every element with local condi- 

 tions, "Charlesbank," in Boston, opened in 1883, may 

 be taken as an illustration. This playground occupies 

 a tract of about 10 acres upon the borders of the 

 Charles River at a point near a district of considerable 

 congestion, and occupied by a population of a poor 

 class. A promenade was established on the edge of 

 the sea wall about 2,000 feet in length, and between it 

 and the street a playground was laid out, haying an 

 average width of about 250 feet. Within this long, 

 narrow belt of public ground were established two 

 outdoor gymnasia, each with a running-track and a 

 building for dressing and bathing. One of these out- 

 door gymnasia was designed for women and children 

 and the other for men and boys, and they are at the 

 opposite extremities of the playground. The tract 

 between them was laid out with walks, trees, shrubs 

 and turf, and was intended primarily to appeal to the 

 esthetic senses. The "Charlesbank" has well proved 

 the practicability of maintaining, within the very heart 

 of the city, a tract of ground occupied by greensward 

 and trees, despite the fact that it is frequented by 



