DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 17 



By continued walking the grass has been worn away, and 

 the ground has become hard enough to turn water. Until this 

 season the soil has had constant use for fifteen years, 

 having had no rest or nourishment and but little mois- 

 ture. The steep descent of the surface sheds off the 

 water on the hillsides from the roots of the trees and leaves 

 them unnourished. To allow this to continue would result 

 in killing the trees and disfiguring the park, as this skirting 

 of the west woods on the long meadow is* one of its 

 finest features. To save this native woodland and not deprive 

 the public of the pleasure of picnics was a question the 

 Commissioners had to meet. It was decided by making 

 new picnic grounds in parts of the park that had not yet 

 been finished and that were not used by the public. This 

 necessitated a large amount of work upon them. They were 

 finished at last in time to give relief and rest to most of 

 the old grounds. There has recently been hauled and placed 

 on these premises a large quantity of good top dressing. In 

 the spring it will be worked into the soil, levelled off, and sown 

 in grass. It should then have two years' rest before being- 

 used again. Nearly all the trees in this section have had the 

 tops sawed out on showing signs of decay when they should 

 have been nourished and had the cause removed. They are 

 old forest trees, from fifty to two hundred years of age, and 

 cannot be replaced in a generation. Many of them show signs 

 of rough treatment before they were owned by the city, caused 

 either by wanton mischief on the part of some one or by 

 cattle biting the bark when the grass was snowed under. The 

 last theory is the more probable, as the barked and decayed 

 parts are near the ground. The wood of the chestnut fcrees in 

 the park seems to be quite brash. Nearly every severe storm 

 robs these trees of some of their branches. The severe storm 

 in the latter part of August last did considerable damage and 

 was confined almost exclusively to these particular trees. 



In the selection of sites for the new picnic grounds, the 

 close proximity of shelter and toilet accommodations was of 

 great importance. It so happened that two large pieces of 



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