82 



Garden and Forest. 



(Number 366. 



will enact this law, and that other states will enact 

 similar and more stringent ones, but after all, as has been 

 stated before, we not only need a public sentiment, but a 

 public conscience in this respect, which will do more than 

 merely resent the wanton defacement of natural beauty — 

 which will take pains to preserve and develop by reverent 

 treatment scenery which inspires noble thoughts by its 

 sublimity or soothes and refreshes the mind by its beauty. 

 Societies for the protection of such scenery have been 

 established in many European countries, and certainly it is 

 high time that some organization of this kind was formed 

 here. The very existence of such an organization, not to 

 speak of the influence of its publications and of its active 

 efforts at prosecuting offenders, would arouse people to know 

 their rights and to assert them. A few intelligent men are 

 now making protest against stripping the forests from our 

 mountain-tops because this impairs the natural and needed 

 supplies of timber and of water. Why not also protest that the 

 destruction of the woods mars the beauty of the landscape 

 which is our common inheritance.'' When this subject is 

 properly brought home to the intelligence and moral sense 

 of the people the reckless destruction of natural beauty 

 will not only be held a misdemeanor in law, but it will 

 be considered a gross outrage against common decency, 

 and the man or corporation who heedlessly and need- 

 lessly defaces the beauty of the world will be considered 

 a public enemy. 



The Care of Urban Parks. 



AT one of the meetings of the World's Fair Horti- 

 cultural Congress in Chicago, Mr. William MacMillan, 

 Superintendent of Parks in Buffalo, New York, read a paper 

 on the improvement and care of public grounds, the con- 

 cluding paragraphs of which are here reproduced : 



In every public ground there should be a due proportion of 

 smooth lawn or open green. There is a special beauty in a 

 broad stretch of fresh-hued greensward, made to be looked 

 at and not trod upon. Park visitors in general think they can 

 " eat their cake and have it too " — enjoy the beauty of a finely 

 kept lawn and yet daily trample the sod. All restrictions are 

 resented, and each green lawn is coveted for games of some 

 sort, to an extent incompatible with its preservation. Where 

 the turf lias any shade it is wanted as a " picnic common," with 

 the same result. Margins of walks are obliterated in like man- 

 ner, and beaten footways trod out wherever any short cut can 

 be found. There is no feature of a park so popular as a short 

 cross-cut, especially if the practice is known to be a trespass. 

 The license first overlooked because no damage is yet appa- 

 rent, then openly allowed because the usage is so common, 

 soon spreads to like abuses of the shrubbery and younger 

 trees, with results still more destructive. In all large grounds 

 suitable sections are especially prepared for playgrounds and 

 commons, but it is essential that the spaces reserved for 

 smooth lawn and ornamental planting should not be overrun. 



Because, as a rule, the damage done by each trespasser is 

 in itself scarcely perceptible, few realize the great destruction, 

 both to greensward and shrubbery, which results from the 

 constant repetition, day after day, of petty trespasses, each in 

 itself insignificant. The worst of it is that as soon as at any 

 point some special line of trespass begins to leave a clear 

 mark behind it, the evidence of the damage done, instead of 

 restraining others, seems rather to tempt every passer-by to 

 repeat the offense. In proportion as the tasteful and ornamental 

 character of the grounds disappears there seems always, of 

 course, the less reason why regard should be given to any 

 stray remnants of the original habit in which it is dressed. 

 Park police are powerless to stop such usages once they get 

 headway. Only those persons can be checked who can appre- 

 ciate the necessity of strict regulations. Arrest and trial are 

 useless, as the punishment inflicted, if any, is never sufficient 

 to warn others, or even to prevent a repetition of the same 

 offense. 



Thus, instead of the neat and trim aspect which a pleasure- 

 ground should exhibit, it assumes a neglected, slovenly ap- 

 pearance, very unsightly to every person who has any regard 

 for the tasteful embellishment of public grounds. Much of 

 the pleasure is lost which would be enjoyed if the grounds 

 were carefully kept and orderly behavior everywhere enforced. 

 The value of the grounds is utterly lost to those visitors who 

 may wish to gratify a refined taste for the beautiful in nature. 



Apart from loss of character and reputation, tlie loss involved 

 in the cost of annual repairs, or by permanent destruction of 

 property, is also an important item. 



The care and satisfactory management and maintenance of 

 public grounds is a more difficult work than their construc- 

 tion. The general design of the improvement may be clearly 

 imprinted on the grounds, the controlling motive may be 

 apparent, the beauty beginning to develop be appreciated, and 

 it becomes a popular resort for the recreation it was intended 

 to provide. 15ut many misunderstand its function, take little 

 interest in the natural beauty of the landscape, look upon 

 drives, rides and walks as more important features than the 

 scenery in which they are set, see in the open greens only an 

 opportunity for athletic games, in the woods only a resort for 

 tlie usual picnic sports, and in the waters only facilities for 

 rowing, sailing or skating, according to the season. So de- 

 mands are soon made that permission be given to each class 

 to indulge in the outdoor pastimes in which each is especially 

 interested for the time being. Owners of fast horses want a 

 speedway for racing sports, equestrians want the open stretches 

 of turf for galloping on, hurdles to be set up for them to jump 

 over, and a special section reserved for polo playing; bicycle 

 riders want special tracks for greater convenience and for 

 competitions of speed, and visitors on foot want the license of 

 going anywhere at will and doing as they please. 



Others spy out a chance to advance some personal scheme 

 of private advantage under the cloak of concern for the public 

 good. Space is wanted for a merry-go-round for the amuse- 

 ment of the children. Some sharp slope is just the right pitch 

 for a toboggan-slide or a coasting-rink. An amphitheatre-like 

 sweep of bank is coveted for spectacular exhibitions, circuses, 

 shooting-matches, etc., with all their paraphernalia of tents 

 and enclosures. The smaller greens must be devoted to ten- 

 nis and croquet, the larger to baseball and lacrosse, and the 

 largest to military maneuvers and mass-meetings. Thus at 

 every point usages creep in which are in many respects incon- 

 sistent with the conservation of natural beauty of the grounds, 

 and in the end utterly destructive of its most attractive features. 



Similar damages arise from other causes. The owners or 

 occupiers of the land adjacent to the park boundary become 

 dissatisfied with their position at the back of the picture. They 

 think it would be much improved (to them, at least) if the 

 frame were knocked off. The effect to the public at large, 

 who look at it only in front, is to them a matter of no conse- 

 quence. So new gateways are urged wherever any plausible- 

 plea can be offered for them ; openings in the border screen 

 are wanted opposite this man's bay-window or that man's 

 vacant lot, to improve the private view or to help the sale of 

 the property. These schemes succeeding more or less, a 

 combined raid is next made on the boundary fence, because 

 "it is unsightly, it is useless, it is a relic of barbarism, a sign 

 of aristocratic exclusiveness," and so forth. The grounds 

 belong to the public, and they should not even seem to be 

 shut out from their own. If removed, they may be trusted not 

 to abuse the confidence reposed in them. The temptation to 

 trespass would be resisted, and the proper gateways only 

 would be used for entrance or exit just as before. The fence 

 accordingly is removed, the boundary is immediately overrun 

 in every direction, the regular walks are neglected, tracks are 

 at once beaten out in the grass on all the direct lines of pas- 

 sage, and all semblance of order vanishes from the grounds 

 along with the last vestiges of garden ornament and finish. 



These usages are fatal to all artistic design, as shabby gen- 

 tility is especiallv offensive to good taste. Their effects are 

 more or less vsible in all our public grounds, and most 

 seriously deface what were originally the fairest portions. 

 This has led to some reaction against any elaborate finish, 

 and to a demand for simplicity to tlie extent of crudeness ; all 

 open grounds to be treated as commons, and all plantations 

 as if they were natural woods. But the natural beauty of the 

 simplest scenery is soon destroyed by such public usage. 

 Therefore, whatever the style of improvement may be, it 

 must be maintained intact after its kind, else all the money 

 spent on it is worse than thrown away. 



This is not meant to discredit the taste which selects for 

 public grounds sites where pronounced natural features are 

 the chief attraction, without any improvement, so-called, ex- 

 cept what is necessary for convenient locomotion in public 

 use. Examples of this class may be cited where theirgrandeur 

 or picturesqueness make fine embellishment an intolerable 

 intrusion. Such are the Wissahickon Glen, at Philadelphia ; 

 the gorge of the Genesee, at Rochester ; East Rock and West 

 Rock Crags, at New Haven ; the Lynn Woods, at Lynn ; Bur- 

 nett Woods, at Cincinnati ; the state reservations at Niagara 

 and Minnehaha, and the several national reserves. The taste 



