TOWN COMMON 
Problems 
One or more of the following problems should be worked out 
by every pupil. 
1. Several plans of existing town commons are printed here- 
with. Thesc may be drawn out to suitable scale and developed in 
any way the teacher may desire. These are excellent subjects for 
water-color rendering. 
2. If the pupils find themselves in New England or elsewhere 
where any town commons exist, the most valuable exercise is cer- 
tainly to make a study of local examples. One or several commons 
should be surveyed and mapped. 
3. In some parts of the country where commons of the New 
England type are not to be found there are other open spaces of 
somewhat analogous character in public ownership, and these should 
be given similar study. 
4. On the basis of such surveys and detailed personal examin- 
ation a new set of plans may be drawn showing possible alterations 
and improvements. 
5. Pupils may also find it an instructive exercise to work out a 
theoretical design of an ideal town common, either on some known 
tract of land, or merely on paper. 
6. In those cases (mainly outside of New England) where it is 
necessary to study something not quite the same as a town common 
very careful thought should be given to the purposes for which the 
space was set aside, to its present uses and to its best future. These 
considerations should be reduced to writing and fully verified. They 
may then form the basis for an intelligent landscape gardening treat- 
ment of the area. 
Questions 
1. Why did not the New England settlers moving westward 
across New York, Ohio, Michigan, etc., carry with them the feature 
of the town common? 
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