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contracted boundary line, if this course should be found absolutely 

 necessary. In accordance with instructions received at the outset, 

 we studied the road lines that would have to be followed in the 

 event of the present boundaries being adhered to, but the result was 

 entirely unsatisfactory ; and we feel so well assured that it is to the 

 public interest that the ground under discussion should be included 

 in the park limits, that we think it our duty again, at this time, to 

 urge the proposition on your attention, so that before Spring, if 

 possible, the necessary legislation may be obtained, and all doubts 

 dispelled in reference to the ultimate engineering lines of the main 

 circuit drive. 



The territory to the south and west, appropriated to the park by 

 the Legislature of last Winter, not being yet in the actual possession 

 of your Commission, operations have been necessarily restricted to 

 a limited section at the north end. 



A portion of the carriage drive and of the bridle road has been 

 laid out and sub-graded, and the extent of the work thus done is set 

 forth in the annexed progress map. Although the lines originally 

 suggested in the preliminary study have been somewhat varied in 

 execution, no serious modifications have yet resulted from the prep- 

 aration of the plan in detail upon the working surveys. It has, 

 however, been found practicable to amplify the system of drives 

 passing through the woods south of the Old Battle Pass, and w°. have 

 thus been able to effect a reduction in width of the separate branches 

 without lessening the actual accommodation. By this means greater 

 advantage is obtained from the shade offered by existing trees than 

 would be possible if the full width of forty feet were everywhere 

 adhered to. 



A central fountain basin, 160 feet in diameter, has been added 

 to the plan of the Plaza, which forms part of the principal 

 entrance. 



The main outlines of this portion of the design have been accu- 

 rately adjusted, and the necessary changes of grade are now in pro- 

 cess of execution. 



In the preliminary study, the northerly section of the Plaza was 

 left open, but further study has led us to recommend that it should 

 be enclosed and planted, to correspond with the arrangements 

 adopted on the east and west sides, and that a considerable stretch 

 of ground, which is suitable for the purpose, should be treated as 

 an extension of the sidewalks leading in the directions of Flatbush 

 and Vanderbilt avenues to the park. The space thus appropriated 



