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will not contribute to general landscape effects, so that every part, 

 "whatever its special value, will be associated in such manner with 

 other parts as from some points of view to seem designed to be 

 auxilliary to them, and from others to be supported by them. 



We are unable to see how the ground on the east side of Flat- 

 bush avenue could be laid out in such a way as to obtain these almost 

 invaluable conditions for a great town park, in anything like a simi- 

 lar degree. Nor do we see how it would be possible to secure any 

 distinct unity or valuable landscape relationship between the park 

 and the land in question. The sunken traffic roads in the Central 

 Park are sometimes referred to as offering a parallel to the division 

 formed by Flatbush avenue, but for the greater portion of its length 

 along the line in question Flatbush avenue is a causeway, and con- 

 stitutes a barrier thirty feet high to all views between one piece of 

 ground and the other. Elsewhere, for a short distance, it is true 

 that it lies below the level of the adjoining ground, but it occupies a 

 space one hundred feet wide, and divides a hill. The sunken roads 

 in the Central Park, where the eye ranges over them, are little more 

 than a third of the width, and were laid out with the utmost care to 

 avoid any perceptible break of the surface of the ground where it 

 would be visible to visitors. Where they cross a line of view, it is 

 usually at a distance of more than a quarter of a mile from the ob- 

 server. There is, on the other hand, no point more than a hundred 

 yards distant from Flatbush avenue where the eye could range across 

 both the sites in question. 



The pieces of ground on the north and south side of the reservoir 

 must be regarded as practically distinct from one another, as well as 

 from the ground on the opposite side of the avenue ; and if it be im- 

 proved as proposed, could hardly be treated in any other than in a 

 comparatively small house-garden-like way. 



It has been thought that the distant prospect over the city to the 

 harbor from the grounds on the east side of Flatbush avenue, was a 

 point of superiority ; that part of it, however, which is proposed to 

 be retained within the reservoir garden, commands this view much 

 better than any other, so that this advantage is, under any circum- 

 stances, intended to be secured to the city. In no other part of the 

 ground, in fact, is the distant view a consideration of any consequence, 

 because from no other part of the ground can the control of it be 

 long retained. As soon as the ground east of Flatbush avenue, now 

 being graded for building, shall have been occupied, the present view 

 will be quite cut off. The distant outlooks from points now included 

 in the park by the extension of the boundaries on the west side of 



