OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES 



pertinence. There is no fear, therefore, that 

 the trotting taste will ever have large inter- 

 ference with the demand for public parks. 



It is a common mistake, I think, to imagine 

 that anything like a finical nicety in the ar- 

 rangement of turf or walks or parterres is es- 

 sential to the permanent and larger utilities of 

 a town park. This, indeed, involves great cost, 

 and diverts from larger and more important 

 ends. A flock or two of Southdowns, con- 

 fined by movable hurdles, and under charge of 

 some custodian, who might have his rural cot- 

 tage at the gate of entrance, would keep turf 

 in very presentable condition. After this, good 

 drainage, hard gravelled roads — subject to 

 monthly rolling — and judiciously disposed 

 clumps of shade, are the main things; follow- 

 ing upon which, as the town grows in taste or 

 ability, the parterres of flowers and the arbo- 

 retum and conservatory might be superadded. 



But quite above and beyond our present 

 question of treatment is the larger one of gain- 

 ing, in due time, possession of available space. 

 No town that counts upon its thirty or forty 

 thousand inhabitants within the next score of 

 years should neglect it. There can be no loss 

 in its becoming a large landholder within its 

 own territory. If the charming but costly dis- 



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