ORNAMENTAL AND SHADE TREES 



1115 



A BEAUTIFUL VIEW IN THE HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, PARK 



This is an excellent example illustrating the value of vistas in park development. Deep vistas in any planting give depth to the scene and 

 afford the observer the opportunity to satisfy his naural desire for long perspective and indefiniteness of distance. Most of the funda- 

 mental principles of landscape gardening are embodied in this view. The unity of the picture as a whole and the great variety in composition, 

 material, texture and surface treatment are striking features of this scene. Water in any form is always very pleasing and in this particular 

 form it helps to make the scene more restful. The arrangement of the plants is very good. The specimens in the foreground are adequately 

 low and neatly kept. In the middle ground are the medium-sized trees, and in the rear are heavy masses of large-sized trees. 



I venture to cite some of the means by which park officials 

 may stimulate a proper appreciation for the beautiful and 

 a keen sense of regard for the parks. I know that I will 

 be cannonaded by many park commissioners and park 

 superintendents, who will say that this is impossible of 

 accomplishment, that many citizens lack that sense of 

 appreciation and will insist on making cow-paths acros.s 

 lawns, that children are imbued with a destructive instinct 

 which prompts them to break the leaders of newly planted 

 evergreen trees, and that the average citizen does not give 

 a care about the name of the tree he so often stops to 

 admire. I grant that these conditions do exist. I wit- 

 nessed them in our own city. But how are we to over- 

 come them ? Is it possible to overcome them, and to whom 

 should this duty be charged ? I maintain that it is possible 

 to overcome them and that it behooves the park authori- 

 ties to do it. People are not possessed of an innate 

 tendency to destroy, and children do not necessarily seek 

 an outlet for their surplus energy in the ruination of prop- 

 erty. The whole question merely offers an opportunity 

 lor a practical lesson in civics, in the development of 

 good taste and for the instillment of a genuine love for 

 all which is beautiful and close to nature. It will require 

 patience and will probably entail the loss of considerable 

 m.aterial I mean trees, shrubs, and flowers. But that 



would really be a small loss completely justified by the 

 results. We would not expect to teach any practical 

 lesson in a laboratory without a sacrifice of demonstrative 

 material. Why then expect a different disposition of the 

 park material nature's laboratory when it becomes 

 necessary to teach a lesson in civics. Of course, we can- 

 not afford to make constant sacrifices and still have well- 

 kept parks. But it is a condition we have to face at one 

 time or another, and until we have taught the lesson we 

 must bear the losses cheerfully. 



Here is what may be done to make our parks attrac- 

 tive: The usual means are tennis courts and facilities 

 for football, field hockey and croquet, golf links, musical 

 concerts, rowing, merry-go-rounds, indoor flower shows 

 and outdoor flower beds, shelters, refreshment stands, 

 and seating, driving and riding facilities. 



The modern parks, however, have gone a bit further 

 and have done the following: They have labelled their 

 trees, removed the keep-off signs, circulated information 

 about trees and landscape features of the parks, intro- 

 duced park concerts, lectures, moving-picture shows, 

 story-telling meetings, public refreshment stands and 

 exhibits. 



This close relationship between good citizenship and 

 proper environment is so rapidly being recognized that 



