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1 will not, however, at this time take up in detail the various points 

 to which my attention has been directed, but will proceed to give 

 my general impression in regard to the modifications that appear to 

 be called for. In the first place, then, it seems highly desirable that 

 the limits of the Park property should be extended to the south and 

 west, as indicated on plan by the dark green color. A larger oppor- 

 tunity for landscape effect will thus be obtained, and an open ample 

 appearance in a westerly direction will be ensured to every visitor 

 who enters the Park by the principal approach. A highly interest- 

 ing district will also be added to the south, and a site for a large lake 

 or skating pond will be secured in the comparatively cheap flat land 

 below Vanderbilt Hill. 



If the last-mentioned suggestion is carried out, the lake will serve 

 as an appropriate foreground to the view from the top of the hill 

 overlooking it, and will add dignity to the prospect in this direction. 

 If the line of Franklin avenue is adopted, about half the space 

 between an observer standing on Vanderbilt Hill and the horizon 

 will seem to be occupied by the lake and the Park. This effect will, 

 of course, be merely an optical one, but a visit to the site will show 

 at once that it will be all-sufficient to divert the attention of the 

 visitor from the land occupied for agricultural purposes, and will 

 serve to render the sea view more attractive. A nearer boundary 

 than Franklin avenue would probably fail to realize the effect desired 

 in this particular, and a more remote one is hardly called for. As 

 matters now stand, the extensive meadows north of Franklin avenue, 

 fenced and unplanted as they are, force themselves rather too much 

 on the attention. The skating facilities in the Central Park, N. Y., 

 are necessarily somewhat limited, because the ground is hilly and 

 varied, and the present dimensions of the pond have only been secured 

 by excavations made at considerable expense. In the Brooklyn 

 Park, on the other hand, there appears to be a good opportunity to 

 include within its boundaries the stretch of low flat land above 

 referred to, and to excavate a pond of 50 or 60, or even a larger 

 number of acres, and the soil to be taken out will doubtless be use- 

 ful in enriching adjoining lands that may require improvement: It 

 is not proposed to include the Friends' cemetery (colored brown on 

 the plan) in the contemplated addition ; but this ground is covered 

 with fine forest trees, and probably will always remain so. If, there- 

 fore, your boundary encloses it on three sides, it will, for the pur- 

 poses of general landscape effect, appear to belong to the Park ; and 

 if after a lapse of years it should by any chance be diverted from its 

 present purpose, the city would then have an opportunity to pur- 



