202 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 378. 



carry it to the book to hunt up its picture he can begin with 

 the first leaf he sees, and note its outlines and appendages 

 and peculiarities of position. One of the great botanists of 

 the age has said that when a child with the plants in his 

 hand learns to discriminate, by his own observation, be- 

 tween such parts as the simple, heart-shaped, opposite stalked 

 leaves of a Lilac, and the compound, alternate, stipulate 

 leaves of a Rose, he is gaining the habit of acquiring 

 knowledge which is not at all measured by the amount or 

 the kind of information received. It is not a matter of 

 much moment whether he learns such trivial facts as those 

 mentioned, but it is of the highest importance that he should 

 be taught how to obtain knowledge by such direct observa- 

 tion and comparison. Of course, his studies should com- 

 mence with the observations of the simple external forms 

 of plants with the more obvious roots and stems, leaves, 

 tendrils, veins, flowers, etc., but such a beginning forms a 

 habit which will surely carry him forward to more difficult 

 fields. 



The word science has a formidable sound to many ears, 

 but it really means nothing but systematic knowledge. 

 Every child during the earlier years of its life is engaged 

 almost continually in what is practically scientific study. 

 He is examining every phenomenon that presents itself to 

 his senses ; he observes things, he compares them, he nat- 

 urally forms some idea of their alliances and classifies them 

 by their prominent characters. The best thing that a 

 teacher can do is to encourage him in just this sort of work 

 instead of giving him a book to tell him what some one 

 else has found out. Of all the natural sciences botany is 

 the most convenient for training the eye to see and the 

 mind to note relations with alertness. Material fdr this 

 study is at hand everyvi'here and at every season. These 

 popular books are all fiower-books, but the flower is only 

 a part, and a small part, of the plant. Every tree invites 

 investigation — its general form, the ramification of its 

 branches, its bark, its winter buds, all open wide fields for 

 delightful study as the student's mind improves and he be- 

 comes more able to draw conclusions from what he sees. 

 There are lessons in every window-plant in winter, and 

 even in the dried stalk of every wayside weed. Professor 

 Marshall Ward, whom we have already quoted, has well 

 said that a Hyacinth bulb, when compared with a Potato 

 tuber, makes a most interesting object of study, and so 

 does every nut and apple and orange which a child eats. 



All this means that science can only be acquired by 

 study, and not by reading popular flower-books. But study, 

 so far from being drudgery, is delightful occupation. Stu- 

 dious habits are easily acquired by the young, and botanical 

 science, when properly prosecuted, is one of the best ways 

 of training the eye and the mind to habits of attention. 

 Besides this, it is a study which brings one into close con- 

 tact with nature, and stimulates a love for natural objects, 

 which will increase with years and prove a life-long joy 

 and solace. 



Parks, Park\va3'S and Pleasure-grounds. — II. 



IN our last issue we quoted from the Engineering Maga- 

 zine portions of an article on this subject by Mr. 

 Frederick Law Olmsted, which discuss the government 

 of parks and the points to be considered in choosing their 

 sites and boundaries. The selections which follow in- 

 clude the greater part of what Mr. Olmsted says in relation 

 to the plans or designs of parks and to the construction of 

 parks : 



In order to be able to devise a consistent plan, such as may 

 be followed during a long period of years with surety that the 

 result will l>e both useful and beautiful, it is necessary, in the 

 first place, to define as accurately as possible the ends or pur- 

 poses to be achieved. As already remarked, these ends or 

 purposes are as numerous as are tlie various modes of recrea- 

 tion in the open air. Thus, a small tract of harbor-side land at 

 the north end of Boston has been acquired by the Park Com- 

 mission in order to supply the inhabitants of a poor and 

 crowded quarter witli a pleasant resting-place overlooking the 



water, and with opportunities for boating and bathing. Ac- 

 cordingly, the plan provides a formal elevated stone terrace, 

 coimecting by a bridge spanning an intervening traffic street 

 with a double-decked pleasure-pier, which in turn forms a 

 breakwater enclosing a little port, the shore of which will be a 

 bathing beach. In the adjacent city of Cambridge a rectangu- 

 lar, level and street-bounded open space has been ordered to 

 be arranged to serve as a general meeting-place or promenade, 

 a concert-ground, a boys' playground, and an outdoor nursery. 

 Accordingly, the adopted plan suggests a centrally placed 

 building wliich will serve as a shelter from showers and as a 

 house of public convenience, in which the boys will find lock- 

 ers and the babies a room of their own, from which also the 

 tiead-keeper of the ground shall be able to command the whole 

 scene. South of tlie house a broad, but shaded, gravel space 

 will provide room for such crowds as may gather when the 

 band plays on a platform attached to the veranda of the build- 

 ing. Beyond this concert-ground is placed the ball-field, 

 which, because of the impossibility of maintaining good turf, 

 will be of fine gravel, firmly compacted. Surrounding the 

 ball-ground and the whole public domain is a broad, formal 

 and shaded mall. At one end of the central building is found 

 room for a shrub-surrounded playground and sand-court for 

 babies and small children. At the other end of the house is a 

 similarly secluded outdoor gymnasium for girls. Lastly, be- 

 tween the administration house and the northern mall and 

 street, there will be found an open lawn, shut off from the 

 malls by Ijanks of shrubbery and surrounded by a path with 

 seats where mothers, nurses and the public generally may 

 find a pleasant resting-place. 



Plans foi^ those larger public domains, in which scenery is 

 the main object of pursuit, need to be devised with similarly 

 strict attention to the loftier purpose in view. The type of 

 scenery to be preserved or created ought to be that which is 

 developed naturally from the local circumstances of each case. 

 Rocky or steep slopes suggest tangled thickets or forests. 

 Smooth hollows of good soil hint at opener "park-like" 

 scenery. Swamps and an abundant water-supply suggest 

 ponds, pools or lagoons. If distant views of regions outside 

 the park are likely to be permanently attractive, the beauty 

 thereof may be enhanced by supplying stronger foregrounds ; 

 and. conversely, all ugly or town-like surroundings ought, if 

 possible, to be " planted out." The paths and roads of land- 

 scape parks are to be regarded simply as instruments by which 

 the scenery is made accessiljle and enjoyable. They may not 

 be needed at first, but, when the people visiting a park become 

 so numerous that the trampling of their feet destroys the 

 beauty of the ground cover, it becomes necessary to confine 

 them to the use of chosen lines and spots. These lines ought, 

 of>viously, to be determined with careful reference to the most 

 advantageous exhibition of the available scenery. The scenery 

 also should be developed with reference to the views thereof 

 to be obtained from these lines. This point may be illustrated 

 by assuming tlie simplest possible case, namely, that of a land- 

 scape park to be created upon a parallelogram of level prairie. 

 To conceal the formality of the boundaries, as well as to shut 

 out the view of surrounding buildings, an informal "border 

 plantation " will be required. Within this irregular frame or 

 screen the broader the unbroken meadow or field may be, the 

 more restful and impressive will be the landscape. To obtain 

 the broadest and finest views of this central meadow, as well 

 as to avoid shalteriug its unity, roads and paths should obvi- 

 ously be placed near the edges ot the framing woods. In the 

 typical case a " circuit road " results. It is wholly impossible 

 to frame rules for the planning of rural parks ; local circum- 

 stances ought to guide and govern the designer in every case ; 

 but it may be remarked that there are few situations in which 

 the principle of unity will not call for something, at least, of 

 the "border plantation" and something of the "circuit road." 



Within large rural parks economy sometimes demands tliat 

 provision should be made for some of those modes of recrea- 

 tion which small spaces are capable of supplying. Special 

 playgrounds for children, bail or tennis grounds, even formal 

 arrangements such as are most suitable for concert grounds 

 and decorative gardens, may each and all find place within the 

 rural park, provided they are so devised as not to conflict with 

 or detract from the breadth and quietness of the general land- 

 scape. If boating can be provided, a suitable boating-house 

 will be desiral>le ; the same house will serve for the use of 

 skaters in winter. In small parks economy of administration 

 demands that one building should serve all purposes and sup- 

 ply accommodations for boating parties, skaters, tennis-play- 

 ers, ball-players and all other visitors, as well as administra- 

 tive offices. In large parks separate buildings, serving as res- 

 taurants, boat-houses, bathing-houses and the like, may be 



