652 liemarks on laying out 



PUBLIC PARKS. 



These are jointly for the use of persons on horses or in car- 

 riages, and pedestrians. In general, the carriage road should be 

 confined to the circumference of the park, and the interior appro- 

 priated to persons on foot. When seen from the carriage road, 

 the interior of the park will look best when it is not much in- 

 tersected with walks for j«destrians, especially if it is of limited 

 extent ; but, on a large scale, such walks may be admitted without 

 in the slightest degree interfering with the general effect. The 

 first step in forming a public park, after it is enclosed, is to lay 

 out the road ; and, if the interior is to be reserved for pedes- 

 trians, which we think it always ought to be, the road will be, in 

 a great measure, a repetition of the boundary line, at a certain 

 distance within it ; deviating, however, from that line, when 

 necessary, for the purpose of displaying particular views of exte- 

 rior scenery, or of varying the views of the interior. In general, 

 much of the beauty of such a park will depend upon the manner 

 in which the interior is planted. Trees must, in most cases, be 

 placed near the road, so as to form foregrounds to the interior of 

 the park ; and, between the road and the boundary, they will be 

 required for the purpose of disguising that boundary, or forming 

 foregrounds to the scenery beyond; and for various other pur- 

 poses, according to the situation and the effect required to be 

 produced. In the interior of the park there should be few or no 

 closely planted masses ; for the effect of these is to diminish the 

 apparent space, and to curtail the appearance of extent from 

 every point of view. The effect of a mass may almost in all cases 

 be produced by planting an open grove of scattered trees, or 

 groups, which, at a distance, and on ground not very hilly, will 

 combine into one whole. The trees should be disposed so as to 

 give the greatest depth of view across the park, and, at the same 

 time, never to show the road or the boundary in the distance. 

 No portion of the road, indeed, ought ever to be seen but the 

 portion travelled on ; because the effect of showing more always 

 assists the eye in measuring the extent of the enclosure, and, 

 consequently, sets bounds to the imagination, which would other- 

 wise be disposed to conceive it to be larger and better than it 

 really is. For the same reason, the fewer the entrances into a 

 park, and the more these are kept together (if there be more than 

 two at opposite sides), the better ; for the appearance of an 

 entrance, wherever one occurs, in driving round, always gives 

 rise to the idea of the boundai'y fence. Where the surface of 

 the park is flat, without water, and without buildings, or a distant 

 prospect, all that can be done is, to vary the character of the 

 glades, in size and in form, by the disposition of the trees ; and 

 somewhat in character by the kinds of trees planted. 



The trees to be planted should always be placed so as to follow 



