198 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



and the accompanying howls may be worked off 

 safely without frightening staid old gentlemen whc 

 keep to the quiet high-roads. A good flat, a good 

 bottom, and a good amphitheatre of seats, are about 

 all the requisites of an approved trotting-course, and 

 anything picturesque in the way of trees or decora- 

 tive features is an impertinence. There is no fear, 

 therefore, that the trotting taste will ever have large 

 interference with the demand for public parks. 



It is a common mistake, I think, to imagine that 

 anything like a finical nicety in the arrangement of 

 turf or walks or parterres is essential to the perma- 

 nent and larger utilities of a town park. This, in- 

 deed, involves great cost, and diverts from lai'ger and 

 more important ends. A flock or two of South- 

 Downs, confined by movable hurdles, and under 

 charge of some custodian, who might have his rural 

 cottage at the gate of entrance, would keep turf in 

 very presentable condition. After this, good drain- 

 age, hard gravelled roads subject to monthly rolling 

 and judiciously disposed clumps of shade, are the 

 main things ; following upon which, as the town grows 

 in taste or ability, the parterres of flowers and the 

 arboretum and conservatory might be superadded. 



But quite above and beyond our present question 

 of treatment is the larger one of gaming, in due time, 

 possession of available space. No town that counts 



