166 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



promises to establish a beautiful Hue of parkway conuectiug the 

 Boston chain of parks, either from the Franklin Park or the Arnold 

 Arboretum, by way of the proposed Metropolitan Reservation at the 

 Stony Brook Woods in Hyde Park and the West Roxbury District 

 of Boston, and thence by way of Mother Brook across the Neponset 

 to the Blue Hills. The Blue Hills Reservation lies in the towns of 

 Milton and Canton and the city of Quiucy. 



The last of the three reservations established by the Metropoli- 

 tan Commission up to the present time is the Middlesex Fells. 

 Its nearness to the city, the southern boundaries but about five 

 miles from the State House, gives it particular value as a great 

 popular recreation ground, where the scenery of the natural 

 Avilderness can be enjoyed by the multitudes from the swarming 

 populations near by, who in a few minutes after passing the 

 boundaries may lose themselves in a wild region where is nothing 

 to remind them of city life. 



The Middlesex Fells Reservation lies within five distinct com- 

 munities ; the cities of Maiden and Medford, and the towns of 

 Stoneham, Melrose, and Winchester. Close at hand is a popula- 

 tion of more than one hundred thousand, whose needs in the way 

 of a great pleasure ground will thus be served on a magnificent 

 scale, while the reservation lies within convenient reach of at least 

 a half million people more. 



The taking made by the Metropolitan Commission here amounts 

 to about sixteen hundred acres ; but as something like the same 

 area of land and water had already been taken for water supply 

 purposes and park purposes by the surrounding communities, the 

 entire extent of public domain embraced within the Middlesex 

 Fells amounts to something over thirty-two hundred acres. This 

 reservation includes Spot Pond and the two beautiful great basins 

 of the Winchester Avater supply that look like natural lakes, 

 together with the lesser pieces of water known as Doleful Pond 

 and Hemlock, Shiner and Western Pools. 



On the easterly margin is a beautiful cascade, and the grand 

 cliffs and crags give character to the region. The woods are for 

 the greater part of recent growth, but in the easterly section there 

 are some noble ti'acts of white pine and hemlock. In general aspect 

 the Middlesex Fells Reservation has a similarity to the Lynn Woods, 

 although each possesses features that give it individual character. 

 The latter, although entirely due to local initiative and the public 



