16 REPORT OF THE 



anteed protection against annoyances of any kind, has been 

 appreciated from the first, an<l each succeeding year the 

 number of picnics lias steadily increased, so that with the 

 fostering care given, it has grown t<> be an annual permanency. 

 Picnic parties by the score have come from distant places 

 during the past summer to Prospect Park to seek recrea- 

 tion. 



'The four hundred picnics of the past year have ranged in 

 numbers from the small family picnic to the large Sunday- 

 School excursions of many thousands. The largest attendance 

 was on May "20, the anniversary of the Sunday-School Union, 

 when one of its divisions paraded in the park. Several of the 

 schools put up large tents and had picnics of their own. About 

 one hundred thousand people visited the park on this date. 

 Picnicking commences in May, and lasts until October. The 

 Park Department furnishes a permit for such purpose to all 

 orderly persons who may apply, which, without cost, gives them 

 public protection, good water, swings, tables, seats and shelter, 

 with as fine picnic groves as can be found within many miles 

 of Brooklyn. All these things, taken in connection with 

 the dispatch and economy in getting there, the safety and 

 freedom from crowds, the carousal, good food, plenty of fresh 

 milk for children, with park amusements close at hand, 

 account for the increasing popularity of the resort. 



The number of persons, however, who visited the park this 

 year, through this channel, is only a small percentage of the 

 grand total of six million visitors. 



T/?c 'Old Picnic ^Groands 



are located in the West Woods, skirting the long meadow, 

 between the Third and Ninth street entrances. The grounds 

 have been overtaxed and worn out by constant use, no care 

 having been given to the resuscitation of the soil. Much 

 damage has consequently been done to the trees, especially 

 the chestnuts, which largely predominate. Nearly all these 

 noble trees are dead at the top. 



