LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1805 



thousamls of men, women anil eliiklren. The city of 

 Boston provides free instruction in gymnastics upon 

 the playground, and yearly over 70,000 women and 

 girls, and 200,(K)0 men anil boys have made 

 use of the facilities otTered. The total cost of 

 this playgi"ound for land and improvements 

 was .$382,000, and the yearly cost of main- 

 tenance is $10,000. 



4. Squares, places, gardens, and the like, 

 usually of small area, are scattered about a 

 city, often at street intersections. Thcii' 

 principal functions are to furnish agreeable 

 sights for those passing by them or through 

 them in the course of their daily business, and 

 to provide a pleasant resting-place or prome- 

 nade for the much smaller number who 

 take the time to use them so. Because of the 

 almost const ant passing tlirough such squares, 

 the best arrangements all provide for reason- 

 ably direct and convenient paths along the 

 lines most used (see Fig. 2083). Otherwise, 

 manyof those who use the square are likely to 

 be so irritated by the indirectness as to miss 

 much of the pleasure they might otherwise 

 receive. A formal plan of walks, either on 

 straight lines or curved, is generally adopted 

 for such squares, and is well suited to the con- 

 ditions and to the decorative treatment of the 

 area, providing much more effectively than 

 an irregiilar plan for the statues, fountains, 

 and gay flower-beds which have their most 

 ai^propriate location in such a place. Shade 

 trees, either as a complete grove, or in rows 

 along the paths, or grouped in some more 

 complex plan, are almost essential features of 

 such squares, but where displays of flowers 

 are to be made, open spaces must be left for 

 sunlight. A modification of this type of square 

 is sometimes met with where the space, instead 

 of being used as a short-cut and for enjoy- 

 ment from within, is designed primarily to 

 present an agreeable picture to tho.se passing 

 it upon the adjacent streets. When the area 

 is very small and the passing is almost wholly 

 along one side, and in other special cases, this 

 treatment is most effective, because, where 

 the only aim is a beautiful pictorial effect from 

 a limited point of view, better results can be 

 obtained than when appearances must be 

 reconciled with other uses of the land. Never- 

 theless there are few cases in which a small 

 square will not have a greater recreative value 

 to the public if its pictorial aspect is some- 

 what sacrificed to such uses as resting and 

 promenading. 



.5. Parkways and boulevards, as parts of a 

 park system, serve usually as pleasant means 

 of access to parks from other parts of the city, 

 or from one park to another, and also as 

 agreeable promenades in themselves. Com- 

 mercial traffic is usually excluded from them. 

 Boulevards are arranged formally, usually 

 upon straight lines, with rows of shade trees 

 and parallel ways for those on foot and on 

 wheels. The simplest type has a broad drive 

 in the center with a walk on either side sepa- 

 rated from the drive by a belt of turf and it 

 is always shatlefl by trees. Frequently, two 

 flriveways are provided with a broad space 

 between containing trees and turf, and some- 

 times foot-paths, bicycle-paths, bridle-paths or 

 other conveniences, and often shrubs, flowers, 

 statues and other decorations. .\ further de- 

 velopment is arranged like the first form, with 

 the addition of narrow streets for house front- 

 age on each side, sometimes with a widening 



and elaboration of thi^ planting-spaces between the 

 middle drive and the side roads. Of recent years some 

 boulevards have been made to provide for electric-car 



5 



LL 



[ 







