Jui.Y g, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



339 



Louis ; whilst among the artificial parks, Central Park, New 

 York ; and Lincoln and South Parks, Chicago, may be said to 

 rank highest. These two cities have both had to manufacture 

 recreation grounds out of the most unpromising materials. 

 They have had to transport for long distances the actual soil 

 of which their parks are composed, and have had to plant 

 every single tree, shrub and flower within their limits, and 

 make every rise and depression of the ground. These gar- 

 dens arc, consequently, entirely different in style from those 

 magnificent parks which owe their beauty and picturesque- 

 ness to nature, and they must be viewed with a different eye, 

 and be judged by a different standard." There is some mis- 

 take as regards the Central Park in this description of the diffi- 

 culties which attended its making. With the exception of two 

 or three ancient Oaks and Willows, there are, indeed, no trees 

 in its lower portion which were not planted, but in the north- 

 erly portions there are many of native growth; and here, in- 

 stead of making rises and depressions in the ground, the 

 landscape-gardener's task was to level some of those which 

 already existed in too great numbers, in order that certain 

 broad, quiet, practically level stretches might be secured. But 

 this means, of course, that the task was even more difficult 

 than the English critic suggests. Again, in distinguishing 

 some of our parks as natural, and others as artificial, Lord 

 Meath does not use the terms exactly as a landscape-gardener 

 would use them. The Central Park, with the exception of one 

 or two features, like the Mall, is distinctly in the naturalistic, 

 not the artificial style. In certain parts, as in the ravine 

 toward the northern end, where the Rhododendrons grow in 

 masses, it looks as though man had done no more than lay 

 out the needful roads, while in other parts, like the sheep- 

 meadow, which was actually formed by blasting out surface 

 irregularities, it looks as though he had merely refined upon 

 and carefully tended a spot which nature had created much in 

 its present shape. What the author really means by the con- 

 trast he draws is that some of our parks look wild and others 

 cultivated — some look like untouched natural scenes, and 

 others like natural parks in the technical acceptation of the 

 term. 



But, throughout the article, Lord Meath shows that his con- 

 cern with parks is practical, rather than artistic. He thinks, 

 or, at least, speaks little of their design and much of their 

 position and the facilities they offer for the recreation of the 

 people. In many directions, he finds them better adapted to 

 this end than English parks. Incidentally, indeed, he says 

 that he hopes the wildness of the new parks in our " annexed 

 districts," as compared with the "artificiality" — that is, the 

 true park-like character — of the Central Park, " will, perhaps, 

 encourage New Yorkers to give a little more latitude and free- 

 dom to the citizens in the use of their parks." But he may 

 not have remembered, in contrasting London customs with 

 ours, that the greater heat and dryness of our summers ren- 

 der it imperative to limit access to the meadows, if the grass is 

 to be preserved at all ; and he does full justice to the facilities 

 afforded for sports in various parts of the Central Park. As 

 he seems to have been here in the autumn, he doubtless 

 missed one of the most delightful scenes that this park offers 

 — a Saturday afternoon in June, when all the greens are freely 

 given over to the school children, and they swarm in thou- 

 sands everywhere. 



In general, Lord Meath speaks with unstinted praise of the 

 way in which American parks are made useful to the people, 

 as well as pleasant in their eyes. From this point of view — 

 as true recreation grounds — he finds in them many arrange- 

 ments that might advantageously be imitated in England. 

 In London, he says, there is no zoological garden freely open 

 to the public ; the small parks are not lighted so that they can 

 be used in the evenings ; the children have no swings, merry- 

 go-rounds and goat-carts ; nor do our conservatories, our 

 music-galleries and our numerous facilities for athletic sports 

 find a parallel there. Even the " Lohengrin boats," which 

 many of us think grotesque, rather than ornamental, come in 

 for a share of his generously-bestowed praise. The pro- 

 visions for athletic sports in the Charles River Embankment 

 Park, in Boston, are described at length, and with the highest 

 approval. Moreover, the way in which our parks are man- 

 aged by small boards of commissioners, "independent and 

 comparatively permanent," he finds much better than the 

 English plan of a large council elected by a popular vote which, 

 in London, cannot undertake " any expenditure exceeding the 

 sum of ^50 without a vote and discussion in full council of 

 137 members." It is cheering to get a word of praise for any 

 municipal arrangement in this city, which we have come to 

 consider as by no means the best governed in the world ! 

 The power our Park Commissioners possess to control the 



thoroughfares, and, in some cases, the building sites in the 

 neighborhood of the parks, is likewise commended. The ob- 

 ject of Lord Meath in making the extensive journey whose 

 results he here describes was " not to criticise and find fault, 

 but, if possible, to learn, with a view to the improvement of 

 the London parks," at that time under his charge. Undoubt- 

 edly, had his aim been different, he could have found many 

 details to criticise ; but it will be a surprise, we think, to most 

 Americans to learn how many things he found, from his own 

 point of view, that were worthy of imitation. In some ways, 

 Americans are conceited enough ; but as regards all matters 

 of municipal administration they are very apt to think that 

 " they order these things better in France," and in every other 

 part of Europe, too. Many travelers, seeing the free way in 

 which Londoners are allowed to walk on the grass in their 

 parks, come home to say that the pleasure of the people is 

 better considered there than here. Nothing could he more 

 useful in opening their eyes to the real facts of the case than 

 this clear and comprehensive article of Lord Meath's. Nor 

 will it fail to surprise many by its mere enumeration of the 

 number and extent of American parks, and its account of the 

 zeal and discretion with which they are being enlarged, and 

 improved. 



Correspondence. 



Hardiness of Indian Azaleas. 

 To the. Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — Your note on the Indian Azaleas in Central Park re- 

 minds me that I had a fine plant of the variety known as Alba, 

 and grew it for years with no suspicion that it was hardy until 

 ten or fifteen years ago I discovered it by accident. My plant 

 stands by the porch on the east side of the house, and during 

 the ten or twelve years since it has been there it has failed to 

 flower but once, and then a cold wave late in the spring swept 

 down upon us and killed the buds, just as the March weather 

 killed all the Peach-buds this year. My plant is of oblong 

 shape and nearly five feet through the longest way. It was 

 covered with bloom this spring, and judging from the ex- 

 clamation of the occupants of the hundreds of carriages which 

 passed by, it must have seemed to them, as it certainly did to 

 me, a strikinglv beautiful object. 



Montdair, N.J. " -£■• Williams. 



Forestry and Irrigation. 



To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir. — -The reason that more attention has not been given to 

 the articles on Institutions for the Arid Lands, in the Century 

 Magazine, is partly in the fantastic element in them, the quality 

 of unreality, as in the passage which affirms, regarding the 

 people of those regions, that "on this round globe, and in all 

 the centuries of human history, there has never before been 

 such a people. Their love of liberty is unbounded, their obe- 

 dience to law unparalleled, and their reverence for justice 

 profound ; every man is a freeman king with power to rule 

 himself, and they may be trusted with their own interests." It 

 is encouraging to hear of the superior civilization of our fellow- 

 citizens of the far west. I have long been aware of their many 

 good qualities, but had not known before that absolutely no 

 other people equaled them in obedience to law. It seems 

 queer that among such people there should be " a bitter, re- 

 lentless war, disastrous to both parties," between capital and 

 labor, and that many farming corporations and water corpora- 

 tions have been almost destroyed by unfriendly legislation and 

 by judicial decision, as we are informed a little farther on in the 

 same article. The information that " when the physical 

 powers of nature are employed, and human powers engaged 

 in their control, men cannot be enslaved ; they assert their 

 liberty and despotism falls," is curious, and if true may be im- 

 portant. Is there any evidence in all Major Powell's writings 

 that he has ever studied forestry subjects ? Did he not rather 

 begin by inventing theories of his own which have no basis in 

 the observation and comparison of phenomena ? The indif- 

 ference to the facts upon which forestry is founded is palpable 

 in all his later writings that I have seen. And as to feeling, a 

 man with much feeling for trees would not set fire to a grand 

 forest, or even to one noble tree, and then constantly tell of it 

 with so much zest. Whatever may be the reason, Major 

 Powell's voice has not been heard in recent years in aid or en- 

 couragement of the friends of the forests, but in opposition to 

 their efforts. 



Washington, D. C. -£• *V. 



