423 



After the works on the ground appropriated to a park were be- 

 gun, it was for a year or two impossible for most observers to see 

 any intention in them of developing natural scenes, while their 

 obvious extent and costliness, and the amount of building material 

 which seemed to be accumulating, gave the impression that the 

 original features of the site were to be utterly destroyed, and a stiff, 

 formal, garden-like ground was to be formed, dependent largely for 

 its interest on artificial objects. Such an apprehension was not unrea- 

 sonable, for, under the name of the gardenesque style, a method of 

 treatment of public grounds has been much advocated, the result of 

 which is very liable to be an incongruous mixture of nature with 

 what is called art. An impression that such would be the prevailing 

 character of the Brooklyn Park became at this period so strongly 

 fixed, that with many no confidence seems even yet to be felt that 

 a different result has at any time, or in any place been designed. 



It is therefore more especially with reference to this question 

 that an examination of the completed construction is invited. 



A considerable part of the ground in question was originally 

 wooded. None of this, with the exception of swampy spots where 

 the trees were sickly and decaying, has been cleared further than 

 necessary to open the way for the roads, nor has its original form 

 been anywhere more than slightly modified, and this chiefly in the 

 filling up of depressions, mostly artificial, of the surface. The 

 cleared land of the site was in many places crossed by the excava- 

 tions and embankments of the old country roads and the later forma- 

 tion of the rectangular system of streets, and there were several 

 large clay and gravel pits upon it, as well as many acres of peat 

 swamps, some of which had been partially excavated, and some par- 

 tially filled over. The heaviest earthwork has been in draining, 

 filling, and restoring the surface in and about these places to a natu- 

 ral character. No hill, not previously marred by excavations in 

 street construction, has been leveled or its general elevation reduced. 

 The tendency of all the changes of the surface has been to enlarge 

 and make more distinct the original natural features. Swamps, 

 pond-holes and hillocks which obstructed the general flow of the sur- 

 face alone have been obliterated. 



There are two small districts in which it may be questioned if 

 this general intention of magnifying the natural features, and idealiz- 

 ing the natural suggestions, has been strictly adhered to. Even in 

 these cases, however, it will be seen that depressions have been 

 deepened, and steep hill-sides made steeper. One of the districts 

 referred to is designed especially for the amusement and education 



