114 AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



not be done; that streets and alleys could not be abandoned, as they would revert to heirs of original owners. 

 Could the city not acquire fee under condemnation proceedings, and provide for payment of minute damages? 

 It is an interesting case. The Germans deliberately attempt to secure in suburban improvements the minor 

 irregularities which are so picturesque in country roads. 



Mr. Vaux cited the picturesqueness of the main street in St. Johns, N. B., and Mr. Shurtleff of 

 Franconia Street, which is 300 feet wide, ending 25 feet wide. 



Mr. F. L. Olmsted: Such things are interesting, but we don't dare do it. Germans do dare. 



Mr. Manning: It is the tendency of the surveyor to do the simplest thing. We must get people to 

 appreciate things about them. I cannot conceive of a place which has no interesting features, and such 

 as have a bearing on the design of their streets. While large schemes stimulate public interest, they are 

 largely impossible and therefore harmful. Merely as suggestions they are not harmful, however. Schemes 

 which provide for large changes may defeat the scheme. Persistence brings people around. People must 

 give land for parkways. It is impossible for small towns to buy. Use poor building-sites for roads. 



I have induced the farmers to give a 100-foot reservation in Billerica for a road. We persuaded a 

 lumber company to save some pines along a creek in Wisconsin. 



