493 



Garden and Forest. 



[October 15, 1890. 



It might also, be desirable to supplement the American 

 Association with minor organizations of a sectional charac- 

 ter, as in states like New York and Massachusetts, for in- 

 stance, where public parks have of late years become 

 numerous. In Massachusetts there are now at least nine 

 cities and towns with boards of park commissioners. 

 Besides the great park system of Boston, the parks of Lynn, 

 Brookline, Worcester and Lowell are undertakings of nota- 

 ble importance A state park association would therefore 

 be capable of doing much good in the way of forwarding 

 the right kind of legislation and in disseminating enlight- 

 ened views on the subject. 



Names for County Roads. 



A SYSTEM of numbering country houseshas been started 

 in Contra Costa County, California, which, through the 

 exertions of its originator, Mr. A. L. Bancroft, has attracted 

 comment all over the country. Perhaps the most charac- 

 teristic feature of this scheme is the so-called "ten-block 

 system," according to which each mile along the various 

 roads of the county is divided into ten equal parts or 

 imaginary sections of 528 feet, and to each block is assigned 

 an even number on one side of the road and an odd num- 

 ber on the other. Any house located within the block bears 

 its number, and where a block contains more than one 

 house these are distinguished by letters. Of course these 

 numbers will indicate the distance from the starting-point, 

 so that there is no trouble in calculating how far any given 

 house or block is from any central point where the numbers 

 begin, as, for example, from the county-seat, and, indeed, 

 from any other point in the county by a given road. Num- 

 bers placed at the entrances of the various houses would 

 in this way serve as mile-stones also, and the scheme 

 taken all together contemplates the publication of a county 

 directory on the same plan as that of the city directory. 



The need of such an accurate location of one's dwelling 

 place does not seem to be so great in the country as in the 

 city, and perhaps it will be some time before the county direc- 

 tories will become general. But before the roads can be 

 divided into blocks they must be named, and if any system of 

 numbering is to be of benefit to strangers there must be 

 guide-boards containing these names. This naming of the 

 country roads, however, could be adopted in any county, 

 even where the remainder of the organized plan was not 

 adopted. The people of the particular county where this 

 innovation has started have acted with remarkable good 

 taste in the selection of names for their roads, and in an 

 article which appeared in the Pacific Rural Press some 

 months ago some admirable directions for naming 

 roads were laid down. Here are some of them : A road 

 should not be named after a residence or the name of a 

 farm on it, since this would not be satisfactory to those 

 whose names were not selected. A road should not be 

 named after either of its termini ; for while this might be 

 appropriate in traveling in one direction it would be inap- 

 propriate in going in another. Names should be sought 

 among the legends, the historical associations, the botan- 

 ical characteristics and landscape features of the locality. 

 If it is found difficult to select enough names of this sort 

 good taste would suggest others hardly less appropriate. 



In Contra Costa there is a foreign population of some 

 size, and foreign names are used in some cases. The word 

 road is not invariably adopted, but some other equiva- 

 lent has been substituted. Some of the names selected are 

 here given: The Contra Costa Highway is the road leading 

 from the county-seat through the county; and as this is the 

 only road which is called a highway it will be known as 

 The Highway or the principal road of the county. Rio 

 Vista or River View is the name of the road along the bluff 

 that overhangs the river. Mountain Drive designates the 

 road that leads to the summit of Mount Diablo, and Camino 

 Diablo the one which winds around its base. Via Con- 

 cordia is a road near the town of Concord. Willow Pass 

 Road runs through the pass so named and extends both 



ways. Lime Ridge Crossing is the road which runs over 

 this ridge, connecting two other roads, one on each side. 

 Walnut Way is a road through a region where the native 

 California Walnut-trees are numerous. 



These examples show how admirably the work of nam- 

 ing has been done, and if tasteful guide-boards, painted 

 with a light, though not white, background, and a dark 

 border, and lettered with dark brown, are used, the 

 general effect will be very pleasing. The name, however, 

 is the essential point. Sections of the country where every 

 farm and every feature of the land are known by some char- 

 acteristic and distinctive title are invested with a peculiar 

 interest. No one ever heard the name of the Hawk's-Nest 

 Road, which runs along the brow of the cliff that over- 

 hangs the Delaware River above Port Jervis, without a de- 

 sire to ride over it. And pleasant as is the prospect from 

 Wolf-Pit Hill, looking down "The Clove," in Wantage town- 

 ship, New Jersey, it has an added charm from these names, 

 which were given by the early Dutch settlers of the place. 



Jeannette Park, New York. 



THE city of New York is not well furnished with small 

 parks, but one of the most interesting of these is illus- 

 trated on page 503 of this issue. Although it is in the oldest 

 part of the city, and in a part devoted to the heavy business 

 which naturally establishes itself along the docks, it is a 

 very new park, the space which it occupies having been pro- 

 vided by the filling in of Coenties Slip, which, until a few 

 years ago, extended inland from the river front through the 

 entire depth of the square. Four years ago it was decided by 

 the Park Department to plant the small area which was thus 

 added to the territory of the city, and a plan was prepared by 

 Mr. Samuel Parsons, Jr. As the park is not a thoroughfare, and 

 there is no occasion to cross it in a direction parallel to the 

 river, there are only two entrances, one on the side fronting 

 the river and the other opposite to it. The view, which is 

 taken from the roof of one of the houses facing the park, 

 gives its design as clearly as if it were a map. The area 

 of the park is about two-thirds of an acre, and the plan is 

 simply an exterior border of shrubs, with occasional loose 

 groups and masses of shrubs and herbaceous plants with- 

 in the path, while at considerable distances apart are 

 planted American Lindens, Elms, some Lombardy Poplars 

 and occasional specimens of the Purpledeaved Plum. 



In the older parks this view of the turf from above would 

 not be possible, owing to the spreading tops of the trees. 

 But here the trees have not yet reached a sufficient size to 

 obstruct the sight or to be of any value for shade. It is worth 

 while to note, however, that the only way in which it is 

 practicable to obtain thrifty masses of shrubs among trees 

 is to plant them together, so that they can adjust them- 

 selves to each other's company as they grow. After the 

 trees are once established it is almost impossible to induce 

 shrubs to grow in the shade of their branches. The shrubs 

 used here are mainly Bush Honeysuckles, Thunberg's 

 Barberry, Philadelphus, Japanese Snow Ball, Japan Quince, 

 Coral Berry, Weigelia and Japanese Privet. This last 

 plant, although it grows in rather a whippy form, can 

 be kept in good shape by hard pruning, and it endures the 

 trials of city life as well as almost any other. It is largely 

 employed in this park. Besides these, there are some 

 Golden Elders, which have been carefully pruned, and 

 have this year been unusually rich in color. 



This little bit of green is particularly cheerful in the 

 closely built business part of the city. Its lines are all 

 graceful ; the selection of shrubs is good ; the turf is in ad- 

 mirable condition, and as seen every day by the thousands 

 who pass by it on the elevated railway, and get about the 

 same view as the one in our illustration, with the busy 

 river beyond and the Heights of Brooklyn in the misty dis- 

 tance, it is a pleasing and refreshing picture. It is a mat- 

 ter of complaint by the boys that they cannot play base ball 

 in Jeannette Park ; but it is an unfailing delight to their 

 smaller brothers and sisters, and in summer evenings it is 



