April 8, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



*43 



able directness. And its chief defect is that its many minor 

 paths cut up its lawns so pitilessly that the eye nowhere 

 rests upon a quiet, reposeful stretch of green. 



Truly naturalistic schemes of park design are, of course, 

 more difficult to manage well on a small than on a large 

 scale ; and they are not as appropriate as others when the 

 architectural surroundings of the pleasure-ground are of an 

 obtrusively urban sort. Therefore, Messrs. Bell & Langton 

 have sensibly conceived their rearrangement of Madison 

 Square upon semi-formal lines. It may appear that in 

 drawing their main paths anew they have made diagonal 

 circulation less direct; but measurements show that, if 

 anything, they have shortened the diagonal courses. By 

 suppressing the minor paths they have won space for wide 

 lawns. Yet the accommodation for strollers and for play- 

 ing children, and for rows of seats as well, which is lost in 



Fig. 18 — Present Arrangement of Madison Square, New York. 



this way, is more than made good by the broad mall which 

 forms the central feature of their design, the two parallel 

 paths which lie beyond its flanking flower-beds, and the 

 large open circles which surround the basin that now exists, 

 and the one which they indicate as balancing it toward the 

 north. The formal flower-beds, thus properly conceived as 

 important parts of a formal scheme, would be effective and 

 delightful in themselves and would increase that beauty of 

 general effect which they ruin when they are intruded into 

 a purely naturalistic scheme. The Farragut Monument 

 (A) is left in its present place, -while its back is screened by 

 shrubs, as was intended when it was built. The statues of 

 Seward and Conklin (B, B), which now look as though 

 they had been dropped down by accident, are properly 

 incorporated with the more formal part of the pleasure- 

 ground. The kiosk (C), a necessary convenience, has 



rightly been removed to a less conspicuous station and 

 discreetly screened by foliage on all sides. 



In explaining their design Messrs. Bell & Langton say 

 that the improvements they suggest would be accom- 

 plished with " no sacrifice worth mentioning of the existing 

 trees," while those that would necessarily be removed would 

 be compensated for by their new central avenue. They 

 point out that "the careful planning of the shrub-planting 

 has isolated the formal centre" of their design from the 

 noisy streets on all sides, although particular care has been 

 taken to avoid interference with the cooling breezes so 

 grateful in summer. " It would probably prove advisable 

 in execution," they add, "to follow the accepted rule of 

 utilizing a number of species, though we propose so to 

 concentrate these as to make effective masses of one or 

 two kindred species which blossom or fruit at the same 



■ 4 . i ' , ' ■ 



as? 



F^LdLgTj&L® 



Fig. 19. — Suggestion for the Improvement oi Madison Square, by E. Hamilton Bell 

 and Daniel W. Langton. 



season, thus providing a constant succession of attractive 

 blossoming throughout the year. But a more satisfactory 

 and artistic proceeding in a city like New York would be 

 to treat the entire park as a unit, filling it with trees and 

 shrubs all of which reach their prime of beauty at the same 

 season. Thus, if Madison Square were so planted as to 

 blossom in May, it might be made an object of enjoyment 

 and pilgrimage not only to New Yorkers, but to the resi- 

 dents of the entire neighborhood. When this blossoming 

 season was over, the flowers in the formal garden, set in 

 the green park, would take up the succession and carry it 

 through the year. One of the other parks might 1> 

 planned as to bloom later in the summer, and yet ano 

 to be at its prime in the autumn." 



This is an interesting suggestion, yet there are some rea- 

 sons against its adoption in a large and busy city like Xew 



