248 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



charged) with a great deal of riotous or ineffective 

 private expenditure : those who have gleaned all 

 their knowledge of landscape-gardening from that out- 

 of-door school a very charming one in many of its 

 features have left out of consideration the fact, that 

 public expenditure knows no economies, and an army 

 of lazy laborers, dragging at the bosom of the public 

 treasury, may keep in presentable shape the walks 

 and drives which would be ruin to a private holder. 

 The rule of action, as of taste, in public parks, is, to 

 produce the best effects at inordinate cost : the whole 

 question of economy, whether of establishment or 

 future treatment, is eliminated from discussion. With 

 private holders, on the other hand, the great ques- 

 tion is, what effects may be produced at a minimum 

 of cost for their establishment, and at a minimum 

 of cost for their future annual keeping. 



For these reasons, I think the ruralist who medi- 

 tates a repetition of a bit of the Central Park upon 

 his grounds, will sink fearfully in the mire of costs 

 and of mud. There are charming features in the 

 Park undoubtedly, but the charming things are, most 

 of them, underlaid with gold, and will be found to 

 require a golden watering for a long time to come. 



Again, if Mr. Urban or any other farm adventurer 

 has his chemical or other hobbies which he wishes to 

 carry out, let him not count implicitly upon his 



