CONSERVING THE BEAUTY OF NATURE 



71 



be;auty brings cheurfulni;ss and 

 sociai, happinjjss 



The housing problem for mechanics 

 and operatives has ah-eady been solved in 

 a business w^ay by the English Garden 

 City. In cities already too compactly 

 built and with too lofty structures the 

 improvement of the human environment 

 must await better understanding of 

 life's needs or change of taste in popu- 

 lations now unwholesomely congested. 

 With the diffusion of knowledge concern- 

 ing healthy and happy conditions for 

 family life and the industrial life of the 

 laborious masses this reformation of our 

 cities and manufacturing towns will 

 surely come about, but in coming about 

 it must take account of something more 

 than water supplies, sewers, and street 

 lights ; it must take account of beauty 

 and of all that brings cheerfulness and 

 social happiness. 



The collective force of the community 

 must further supply the means of mak- 

 ing rural and landscape pleasures occa- 

 sionally accessible to city populations by 

 means of parks and gardens which illus- 

 trate all forms of open-country beauty 

 and permit the occasional enjoyment 

 by city families or larger urban groups 

 of the outdoor pleasures which woods, 

 shrubberies, gardens, and broad fields 

 can give. All city dwellers greatly need 

 these occasional delights, and Americans 

 more than any other people; for they 

 have become accustomed to an indoor 

 life, and have come to rely on electricity 

 as a substitute for sunlight, and mechan- 

 ical ventilation as an equivalent for fresh 

 air. Even the richer sort of Americans 

 are often content to live in houses in 

 which at least one-third of the cubical 

 contents cannot be used without artifi- 

 cial light the year round, and to occupy 

 offices in which electricity has to rein- 

 force sunlight during the greater part of 

 the year. 



The proper use of the natural materials 

 for creating on public ground fine land- 

 scapes, gardens, and scenes of rural 

 beauty involves an extensive study of 

 these materials. The landscape architect 

 must know how to use a near or distant 

 prospect of hills, and woods. He must 

 know the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous 



plants valuable in landscape or in gar- 

 dens, or along walks and drives where 

 thousands of people daily pass. He must 

 know all the native materials for creating 

 scenes of beauty, and all the imported 

 materials which have proved available in 

 the climate of the reservation he plans. 

 And in order that the landscape archi- 

 tect may have the opportunity to study 

 these materials, society must furnish 

 places where they may be assembled, ap- 

 propriately used, and thoroughly tested. 



ENCOURAGE PUBLIC INTEREST IN ANIMAL 

 AND VEGETABLE LlEE 



In other words, the collective force of 

 society should be used to provide and 

 maintain living collections of these ma- 

 terials of landscape and garden beauty, 

 where climate, soil, and scenery make it 

 possible to assemble, cultivate, and ex- 

 hibit them advantageously. The botanic 

 gardens and arboretums which universi- 

 ties and governments maintain do not 

 fully answer this purpose, although they 

 contribute to it ; because the lay-out of the 

 botanical gardens and arboretums is made 

 for a scientific purpose quite different 

 from that which directs the thoughts of 

 the landscape architect. 



There is another source of keen enjoy- 

 ment for city people which should be 

 provided for when parks, gardens, and 

 playgrounds are constructed for their 

 pleasure, namely, the natural interest in 

 animal life as well as vegetable life. 

 Most men and nearly all women take a 

 keen interest in bird life — in the migra- 

 tion, nesting, family life, and feeding 

 habits of birds, both land birds and sea 

 fowl. It is one of the advantages of sub- 

 urban over city life that many varieties 

 of birds can be seen and studied in the 

 suburbs. The collective force of society, 

 therefore, should be exerted to preserve 

 all the species of birds which are profit- 

 able, not only for food and crop protec- 

 tion, but also for the stirring of human 

 sympathy and delight in their colors, 

 songs, and alert, sprightly ways. The 

 provision of sanctuaries for birds, of 

 closed spaces as well as closed seasons, 

 is a highly expedient use of the collective 

 protective force of society against indi- 

 vidual destroyers of bird life. 



