DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 165 



groups to be planted next spring, will relieve the nakedness of 

 this screen belt. The curbing and paving around the Memorial 

 Arch having been completed, a temporary adaptation of grades 

 was effected between the pavement of the Arch and that of the 

 Plaza by a slope of grass and a macadamized approach to the 

 opening. 



ABOUT TREE CUTTING. 



A large number of trees have been thinned out of the Park 

 plantations during the past season. This work will be continued 

 until good types and specimens, where crowded and malformed 

 by the growth of inferior trees, are relieved and given room to 

 develop in spread of branches. The trees felled are mostly nurse 

 trees, which were planted originally by the designers of the Park 

 as protectors of the intended permanent ones. Public sentiment 

 directed against the cutting out of surplus trees proceeds from a 

 want of knowledge of tree culture. A plantation of lanky stems, 

 with a little foliage at the top seeking the light, cannot be com- 

 pared in point of beauty to a like plantation where the needs of 

 plant life have been studied, and each tree in a measure allowed 

 to assert its individuality without impairing the intent and pur- 

 pose of the grouping. 



This leads to a consideration of the street trees on the bound- 

 ary lines of the Park, notably Ocean avenue and Fort Hamilton 

 avenue. On these lines, the soil is good and the development of 

 the trees has been rapid, and they now interlace their branches, 

 being in a double row close together ; and, closely crowded also by 

 the trees in the Park, there is no chance for further growth except 

 in an upward direction. The trees are consequently now being 

 ruined, and the only remedy is the cutting out of the alternate 

 trees in each row. This assertion may be startling, and yet it 

 must be done at once, or the injury will be irreparable. 



SOME OF THE REPAIRS. 



Many of the Park structures have had considerable repairs 

 and alterations, notably the Flower Garden Shelter, which was 

 thoroughly overhauled and painted. Many changes have also 

 been made in the interior, looking toward the better accommoda- 

 tion of the public. 



