39>o 



Garden and Forest. 



[August 13, 1890. 



stronger plants when they become too aggressive, and add 

 an occasional touch, perhaps by setting some low-growing 

 shrubs like Red Root and Sweet Fern on the edges of shrub 

 belt, or planting some wild flowers in suitable openings. 



Farmers often complain of the rates charged by trans- 

 portation companies, but it would be easy to demonstrate 

 that the carriage of farm products by rail and steamer, all 

 combined, costs much less than the hauling of these pro- 

 ducts over country roads from the farm to the nearest rail- 

 way station. This is not the place to enforce the argument 

 for good roads by showing how much more rapidly and 

 cheaply this hauling could be done if the roads were all 

 good and in good condition. But, certainly, it is worth 

 while to invite the attention of country landholders to the 

 value of attractive roads. The first impression which a 

 visitor receives of any region comes through its roads, 

 and as he leaves, his last experience is on the road over 

 which he is driven to the station. Every day, when he 

 is not shut within doors, he makes use of roads and 

 paths, and, although he may not realize the fact, a 

 large portion of his pleasure or discomfort is due to their 

 influence. Good roads pay by reducing bills for repairs 

 of wagons and carriages, by saving time, by economiz- 

 ing horse power and in many another direction. The 

 absolute money value of attractive roads to any country 

 community is just as real and positive. They give an 

 added value to every acre of land in the districts which 

 they traverse. 



The people of California seem inclined to resent the 

 statement of Major Powell that "the forests of the upper 

 regions are not advantageous to the people of the valleys 

 who depend on the streams for the fertilization of their 

 farms. " The Century Magazine for August publishes a let- 

 ter from Mr. Abbot Kinney, who states from personal ob- 

 servation that in many cases the clearing away of the 

 mountain forests has caused torrents in California which 

 make the bottom-lands unsafe and he corroborates his ex- 

 perience by a number of references to leading authorities 

 to show that the Major's theory is at variance with all the 

 known facts of the case. A strong article, too, lately ap- 

 peared in the Alta California, setting forth the dangers 

 which threaten the forests of the western portion of the 

 continent and expressing the views of all who are familiar 

 with the forest-problems of that region. We quote a por- 

 tion of this article which refers to forest-fires : 



" Forest-arson is already in progress in California. The 

 smoke from burning forests is beginning to soften the sun- 

 shine. It hangs over the waters of the bay and gives to all 

 landscapes in every direction the soft and fine effects peculiar 

 to the Indian summer in the east. These effects are purchased 

 at too great cost, however. Thousands of acres of the noblest 

 timber in the world will be sacrificed by fire between now and 

 the first rains next fall. As usual, these forest-fires begin with 

 the driving of sheep and goats into the mountains. In the 

 coniferous forests there is not much pasture for these animals. 

 The ground is covered by a carpet of the fallen needles and 

 resinous cones. Under the Pines the Azalea grows. The 

 sheep browse it, but it poisons them. Fire kills the timber, 

 and when the carpet of cones and needles is destroyed some 

 pasture will grow for a time. Fire also removes the Azalea. 

 Is it at all remarkable, therefore, that fire is left in the track of 

 the shepherd and his sheep ? California mountaineers, who 

 have practical knowledge on the subject, express their surprise 

 at the views of Major Powell, of the United States Geological 

 Survey, upon this subject, published recently in The Century. 

 He strongly urges the good effect upon the forests of running 

 sheep in the Sierras, and announces it as a prime method for 

 preserving timber ! A summer in the Sierras would work a 

 change in his opinions." 



The story of the wasting of the forests of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada cannot be repeated too often; nor is it easy to over- 

 estimate the injury which Major Powell's utterances about 

 forests in general are likely to work, coming as they do 

 from the highest scientific officer of the Government. Posi- 

 tive opinions from such a source are apt to receive atten- 

 tion, especially when they appeal to selfish interests; and 



Major Powell's recent remarks about our forests must bring 

 great comfort to all the army of men who live illegally in 

 one way or another on the forests of the public domain. 

 As long as the officer, whose duty it is to furnish scientific 

 information to the Government, declares that the forests of 

 the western mountains are an injury to the country, timber 

 thieves will continue to cut and shepherds will continue to 

 burn these forests with new energy and with diminished 

 dread of punishment. 



White Park, Concord, New Hampshire. 



TpHE capital of New Hampshire is a pleasant city of some 

 *■ 15,000 inhabitants. Its main street lies near the bank of 

 the River Merrimac, and its residence streets stretch along the 

 slopes of hills which rise irregularly west of the stream. Be- 

 yond the older streets, but surrounded by modern ways, is a 

 small tract of land which is in part so precipitous and in part 

 so swampy that all the new roads have avoided it. On this 

 rough land is a fine growth of large trees of many sorts, and, 

 although it lies only half a mile from the centre of the town, 

 many of the most interesting New England wild flowers 

 bloom in the shelter of its woods and hollows. 



This tract of about twenty-five acres has been presented to 

 the city of Concord, and is called White Park for the donor. 

 A commission of well known citizens has been placed in 

 charge of the work of.fitting the ground for the use and enjoy- 

 ment of the people, and they have wisely begun their labors by 

 devising and adopting the general plan which is reproduced 

 on page 395. 



The Commission intends to make the park a place of quiet 

 resort for people who cannot take the time or who have not 

 the strength to go often to find refreshment in the open coun- 

 try. No carriages are to be admitted, not only because the 

 acreage is small and the slopes steep, but also because it 

 seems unfair to injure the park for the use of children and 

 pedestrians while innumerable pleasant country-drives are 

 close at hand. No elaborate gardening will be admitted, not 

 only because it is costly, but also because it would be in- 

 congruous. Every city of the new West may have its carpet- 

 bed " park " if it so wishes, but Concord proposes to seize her 

 opportunity to provide for her citizens and their posterity 

 something very much more valuable. She will set aside and 

 preserve, for the enjoyment of all orderly townspeople, a typi- 

 cal, strikingly beautiful and very easily accessible bit of New 

 England landscape. Would that every American city and town 

 might thus save for its citizens some characteristic portion 

 of its neighboring country ! We should then possess public 

 places which would exhibit something more refreshing than a 

 monotony of clipped grass and scattered flower-beds. 



The plan adopted by the Commission provides for the en- 

 hancement of the natural beauty of the park by spreading 

 water in the lowland where nature made a marsh, by makino- 

 grassy glades in two or three hollow parts where nature grew 

 Alders and Birches, by planting a thicket of Mountain Laurel 

 here and opening a vista to the Merrimac there ; and then the 

 plan leads paths in such directions and by such routes as will 

 best display the beauty of the place while injuring it least. In 

 the opinion of the Concord Commission, a path, far from being 

 a chief beauty of a park, is only- an instrument by means of 

 which it is possible for large numbers of people to pass 

 through the midst of beautiful landscape without seriously 

 injuring it. 



The variety of limited scenery which White Park will pre- 

 sent when it is finished is great. Just within the main gate (at 

 the end of the plan on the left) will be a level of green sward, 

 bounded on three sides by rising banks, from which hang 

 thick woods of deciduous trees. At one end the banks draw 

 close together, and here is a deeply shaded dell, from the head 

 of which a path climbs by steps to the street. Two other paths 

 lead up from the green, by little hollows in the skirting bank, 

 to a plateau where Pitch Pines stand in open order, and the 

 ground is carpeted with their needles. A steep-sided, curved 

 and densely wooded ridge in turn bounds this plateau, and 

 beyond it, and nestled in the curve at its base, is a tiny pond, 

 fed by strong springs, and overhung by tall White Pines. Its 

 waters overflow, by way of a steep and stony channel, into a 

 much larger pond, with shores but little raised above the 

 water, which occupies the southern third of a long level, 

 through which a slow brook meanders. The shore of this 

 pond, and all the flat land near the brook, is scatteringly 

 wooded with large deciduous trees. Paths reach little beaches 

 on the shore at several points. Beyond the head of the pond 

 a path leads to a " shelter" on a knoll in the midst of deep 



