LAYING OUT OF GROUNDS 



guisements of a park cannot be ventured upon 

 at once, the land may at least be turned over 

 into a town farm, where the town's poor may 

 be set to the work of combing down its rough- 

 ness or preparing it by slow degrees, earning 

 their own support, meantime, for the richer 

 ends in view. The scheme is by no means 

 chimerical ; scores of workers, through the less 

 active months of the year, and who are depend- 

 ent on the town for partial support, might thus 

 be put to remunerative labor upon the town 

 property. A judicious design of a park as a 

 finality upon the land in question might under- 

 lie, in a measure, and qualify the regular farm 

 labors. A well-appointed drive might grad- 

 ually uncoil itself over the hills and through 

 the cultivated flats, the wood crop out upon the 

 cliffs, and the flowers unfold in their seques- 

 tered nooks. It seems to me that a park or gar- 

 den, growing up in this way by degrees under 

 the tutelage of the town, not fairly throwing 

 off its economic and food-providing aspect un- 

 til the plantations have ripened into fulness, 

 would have a double charm. I commend the 

 suggestions to such boroughs as keep their 

 town's poor festering in some ill-ventilated 

 almshouse, with limited grounds, in the foulest 

 suburb of the place. 



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