DEVELOPING PUBLIC PARKS. 21 



cover with clay or brush the slopes along both sides of the driveway. 

 The road to the beach was opened in the year 1874. In the same year 

 planting was commenced in the sand district which is west of Straw- 

 berry Hill, by the planting of about three hundred trees. In 1875 the 

 number planted was 17,000; in 1876 and 1877, 18,000 were set out; 

 from 1877 to 1879, 'over 40,000; and the following year, 68,000 were 

 planted in the different sections of the park. In the year 1883 there 

 were over 120,000 trees set out. During this year four hundred acres 

 of dunes, mostly at the westerly end, were planted with roots of the 

 sea bent grass (Amophytta Arrenaria), a plant that has accomplished 

 more in arresting the encroachment of the drift sand than all former 

 experiments, and without the use of which it would have been almost 

 impossible to fully reclaim the shifting sands. In 1884 there were 

 150,000 trees planted, and about the same number in 1885. In the 

 following year, owing to the small appropriation allowed, very few trees 

 were planted. 



In 1887 about 100,000 trees were planted; in the following year, 

 about the same number, and in 1889, over 150,000 trees, thus complet- 

 ing the planting of the last acre in the park proper. The principal 

 trees used were Monterey pine, Pinus Maritima, Acacia latifolia, Acacia 

 lophantha, eucalyptus in variety, and Leptospermum laveagatum. 



Many experiments were tried in attempting to prevent the sand 

 drifting, one of which was sowing the ground with barley, and also 

 with yellow and blue lupin, but they were only partially successful. 

 Not until the ground was entirely planted with sea bent grass was the 

 sand kept under control. The park had now arrived at the stage at 

 which almost all other parks had commenced. Many of the great parks 

 of the world were forests or were at least partly covered with trees 

 when the work of laying out- and preparing the ground for public use 

 was first thought of. Central Park, New York ; Prospect Park, Brook- 

 lyn; Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, etc., were all partly wooded and 

 covered with good soil before operations were begun, whereas Golden 

 Gate Park was destitute of any good soil, and three-fourths of its area 

 destitute of any verdure whatever. Next in importance was, and still is, 

 the care of the trees. In order to have fine trees we must have good 

 soil, and this in large quantities. Thousands of yards of manure, 

 loam, and other fertilizers must be hauled and fed to the trees. Before 

 a yard of grass can be grown we must first haul a yard of loam. To 

 give an idea of the expense of lawn-making on poor land, I will state 

 that it takes sixteen hundred cubic yards of soil to cover an acre, at 

 a cost of at least eight hundred dollars. 



In 1884 the park made a strong step forward in constructing a new 

 water system at a cost of $28,000, thereby doubling the supply of water 



