84 JAMESTOWN CONGRESS OF HORTICULTURE 



for the public benefit and many owners of private land do consider the 

 public interest in the arrangement and planting of their own ground ; 

 this even to their own disadvantage when they throw their own 

 grounds wholly open to public gaze. 



If this civic horticultural work could be directed toward the ulti- 

 mate execution of the preconceived plan referred to above, very 

 much more effective results would come from the same expenditure 

 of effort and money. In such a plan, after main subdivisions, the 

 means of intercommunication, park, garden and play-ground reserva- 

 tions, the location of civic and other centres, are prepared to cover 

 the town site and its future extension, there should follow detailed 

 plans and estimates. Of these the civic horticulturist would be espe- 

 cially interested in : 



(1) The treatment of natural vegetation to develop its greatest 

 beauty and usefulness and the treatment of artificial plantations. Upon 

 such details would be indicated roads, trails, vistas, thinning, the 

 selection of trees and shrubs and the additional plantations of exotic 

 trees, shrubs and herbs. 



(2) Street plans, showing trees best suited to each street and an 

 arrangement of trees that will give desirable uniformity, but not nec- 

 essarily a uniform spacing that disregards egress and outlook from 

 private places. 



(3) Suggestions for the treatment of front lawns that in resi- 

 dential sections are so often kept open through the length of the street, 

 giving a greater breadth and openness that distinguishes our streets 

 in a manner that is distinctly American. The objection, however, to 

 this is, that the owner has no privacy in his home grounds. 



(4) Suggestions to owners to overcome the above objection by 

 establishing screening plantations between the front lawn that is held 

 open for the pleasure of the public and the back lawn and gardens 

 made private for the family. 



(5) Suggestions regarding the use of enough of one plant in 

 these private plantations to give each street a special distinction. One 

 street for example having lilacs at intervals throughout its length, 

 another magnolias, another hydrangeas, etc. 



It is such suggestions to the general public, backed by an efficient 

 organization and a definite plan, that will help to make the whole town 

 a park and secure the active interest and assistance of all citizens. I 

 conceive it to be the duty of village improvement societies and park 

 superintendents to direct their attention to the preparation of such 

 an organization and plan rather than to expend all their efforts and 

 money on a small area or upon minor improvements at haphazard, or 

 upon general clearing up operations, street lighting, and the like, that 

 should be executed by the town officers, through their regular 

 appropriations. 



There is now a rapid trend toward the ideal I have outlined, 'not 

 only in cities, but in many small towns. My own experience is that 

 with such plans and public interest, the whole aspect of a community 

 will be transformed in from five to eight years. There must of course 



