PLANTING OF STREETS AND WAYSIDES. 105 



ing it. The cost of the land taken for the Back Bay Fens averaged 

 about twelve cents per foot; the cost of improving the site brings 

 the present cost of the land up to fifty-two cents per square foot, 

 while the adjoining land is selling at three dollars to five dollars 

 per foot. 



"The cost of Franklin Park land averaged about seven cents 

 per foot, and the cost of improvement about an equal amount, or a 

 total of fifteen cents per foot, which is a moderate valuatit)n for this 

 magnificent property, where land adjoining will bring from fifty 

 cents to a dollar per foot. The same result is shown in the case 

 of the whole park system, the average cost of which today is only 

 six cents per foot for the land and about eight cents per foot for 

 improvements." 



Various motives governed the promoters of the park movement, 

 but the prevailing motive was primarily to introduce rural land- 

 scapes into cities and towns. When cities were not so large or so 

 densely populated they were more rural in character, and satisfied 

 public recjuirements in this respect; but, as population increased, 

 the villas and cottages, with their accompanying grounds and gar- 

 dens, gave place to bricks and mortar piled up in closely built blocks, 

 and the woods and fields, so eagerly yearned for by the city dwel- 

 lers, became more and more remote with each year. The park 

 movement, therefore, was born of necessity; the physical well- 

 being, comfort, and health of the public demanded that open spaces 

 conveniently located, should be provided for public use. 



Mr. Milo R. Maltbie, Assistant Secretary of the New York Art 

 Commission, as agent of the Art Commission, and under the aus- 

 pices of the State Department of the United States commissioned 

 to investigate the progress of civic improvement in the cities of 

 Northern Europe, says, "The ample provision made by many 

 European cities has turned many boulevards into continuous park 

 systems." In London, the fine, new thoroughfare between Hol- 

 born and the Strand, and the Strand, too, in its newly widened 

 portions, have been planted with trees. This is quite an innovation, 

 as the Strand was entirely treeless, and probably had been so since 

 the roar of traffic drove away its aristocratic residents. 



Paris, also, in its gigantic scheme of street reconstruction has been 

 mindful of the value of trees for the adornment of its new creation. 



