October i8, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



431 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1893. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Article : — New York's Proposed Speed-road 431 



The California Fruit-supply in New Yorlc M. B. C. 432 



Botanical Notes from Texas.— XII E. N. Plank. 433 



The Use of the Generic Name Halesia Professor N. L. Britton. 433 



The Water-garden at Clilton, New Jersey. (With figure.). ..J.N. Gerard. 434 



Cultural Department: — Cauliflower for Winter-forcing 435 



Mushrooms E. O. Orpet. 436 



Noteworthy Late-flowering Shrubs J. G. Jack. 436 



Notes from a Northern Garden F. H. H. 437 



Roses W.H. Taphn. 437 



The Vegetable-garden T.D.Hatfield. 437 



Correspondence : — The Winter Care of Water-lilies W. T. 438 



Mildews as Influenced by Climate and Variety.. .Professor L. H. Pammel. 439 



Tecoma MacKenni J. C. Harvey. 439 



Recent Publications 439 



Notes 440 



Illustration: — Victoria regia in Clifton, New Jersey, Fig. 64 435 



New York's Proposed Speed-road. 



CENTRAL PARK is in a real sense a national posses- 

 sion. When the Legislature of this state passed an 

 act to condemn a considerable portion of it and turn it into 

 a dirt-road for fast driving, the whole country sympathized 

 with that masterful uprising of the people here which in a 

 week's time compelled the Governor, the Legislature and 

 the city's officials to turn squarely about and meekly undo 

 their own work. The whole country, too, was interested 

 to know that another place on Manhattan Island had been 

 secured for a speedway, because it was thought that if this 

 were constructed the park would be forever relieved from 

 the danger of invasion from an organized effort by the own- 

 ers of fast horses. This proposed road extends for two 

 miles and a half along the western bank of the Harlem 

 River, most of the land being now in its natural condition, 

 and, like most of the original surface of the island, a place 

 of picturesque beauty. The Harlem River at this point has 

 little commercial importance, and, therefore, when speak- 

 ing, last week, of the portions of the city's water-front which 

 had been rescued from commerce and devoted to public 

 recreation, we did not mention this new drive, for it does not 

 in any way come in conflict with commerce. 



According to the plans which have been adopted, how- 

 ever, this attractive river-bank will be shut off from every 

 one who does not and cannot enjoy it in a road-wagon. 

 In other words, the plans which have been adopted by the 

 Park Department provide for only one sidewalk, and that 

 is on the western side of the road. On the side next to 

 the river there will be a low wall, and not even standing- 

 room for a pedestrian. The only member of the Park 

 Board who protested against this plan, Mr. Paul Dana, 

 justly characterized the act to deprive people of their right 

 to the river-bank as an outrage. The enormity of the act 

 is heightened by the fact that the road passes through two 

 parks already established, both of which now front'on the 

 water, so that this much of the shore has already been 

 secured by the city for purposes of recreation ; but, under 

 the plans approved, the road will despoil the public of this 



privilege, and High Bridge Park and Washington Park will 

 be practically moved back a hundred and fifty feet from 

 the river. 



As this road is intended for light-wagon driving, 

 there might be some possible justification for giving the 

 exclusive use of the place to the pecjple who drive, if a 

 walk for pedestrians would interfere with their privileges, 

 but this is not the case. There is abundant room for 

 wheel-way and footpaths, and in many respects, especially 

 in the opportunity it would give for the planting of trees, 

 a walk on the river-side of the road could make it more 

 agreeable than it would be without it. The argument, that 

 people crossing the road would interfere with the trotters and 

 imperil their own lives, is self-destructive, because the 

 great mass of the people who visit the road will come from 

 the east side of it and will be compelled to cross it under 

 the present plan at its southern entrance, which will be 

 the point of greatest congestion, in order to get on the sin- 

 gle sidewalk which is provided. Of course, it should be 

 remembered that a walk on two sides would accommodate 

 twice as many people as a walk on one, and if, as the 

 trotting men have always argued, there is a great longing 

 of the populace to look at fast steppers in action, accom- 

 modation should be provided for them. But there are 

 hours of the day and seasons of the year when there will 

 be little trotting there, while all the year through the land 

 and water view will invite visitors by its picturesque 

 beauty, and in time, under proper management, this might 

 become one of the most interesting walks in the city, or, 

 indeed, in any city of the world. Besides this, the Harlem 

 River is a favorite boating-place, and persons who land 

 there should certainly find a place to stand on when they 

 reach the shore. This boating privilege has always been 

 spoken of as one of the advantages of Washington Park 

 and of High Bridge Park, but under the present scheme no 

 one will be able to reach the park from the river. That 

 portion of the river which is skirted by the speed-way is 

 also especially adapted to regattas, and the idea of exclud- 

 ing people who wish to witness these displays from the 

 banks of the river is monstrous. But there is no need of 

 enumerating the objections to this scheme. They are so 

 obvious that its promoters will, no doubt, be driven to 

 retreat from an utterly untenable position, and the sooner 

 they do it the better. 



The purpose of this article is to invite attention to the fact 

 that in this year of grace, 1893, the Park Board of the first 

 city in the United States have not thought it worth while to 

 consult wnth the one man in their department to whom all 

 matters touching the design of pleasure-grounds are legit- 

 imately referred. Mr. Calvert Vaux, who was one of the 

 designers of Central Park, is still in the city's service, and 

 yet the planning and executing of this work is handed over 

 to an engineer who cuts his way along the river-bank as 

 remorselessly as the builders of the West Shore Railroad 

 have done along the Hudson, and with no more regard for 

 the defacement of the scenery than w'as manifested by 

 them. A Municipal Art Association has been formed in 

 this city for the purpose of enhancing the beauty of our 

 public possessions. These artists and laymen believe that 

 true art is not something to interest an occasional amateur, 

 but something which should be promoted for the benefit 

 and enjoyment of the whole people; that beauty in pub- 

 lic works has a definite municipal value, always and 

 everywhere. It will be of little use to build galleries 

 for pictures and statues, or even to rear dignified public 

 buildings, while the element of beauty is not consid- 

 ered as an essential one in our public pleasure-grounds. 

 There is just as much need of artistic fitness in the design 

 of a work like the speed-way as there is in that of an art 

 museum or a city hall. Indeed, there is much more, for 

 people go to public buildings for business. They may visit 

 a museum out of curiosity, but they go to a public 

 pleasure-ground with all business cares thrown aside, and 

 in that receptive spirit which is ready to delight in the 

 beauties which nature and art have spread before them. 



