necessities of exhibiting many kinds of plants of horticultural 

 interest, of making them closely accessible to large numbers 

 of people, of cultivating the beds and of avoiding the waste of 

 rain water on steeply sloping cultivated ground, we should be 

 inclined to favor the latter type, frankly man-handled in its 

 general scheme but rather free and picturesque in its detail, 

 its terraces supported in the main by uncemented walls suitable 

 for treatment as wall gardens. The lower slopes and terraced 

 benches could well be used in large part for a great collection of 

 the upland irises, perhaps in conjunction with peonies; the hollow 

 at the base might be devoted largely to the moisture-loving 

 Japanese irises; while the outer and upper portions could be used 

 for other horticultural exhibits of the type represented by the 

 now isolated and unrelated beds of beautiful chrysanthemums, 

 of narcissus, and (this spring) of tulips. 



4. If and when the Park Department greenhouses and work 

 yards can be removed from the old Lorillard Mansion gardens, 

 as they certainly ought to be for the proper development of the 

 Botanical Garden (preferably, as in the case of the Park stables, 

 to the undeveloped park lands just across Pelham Parkway) 

 a peculiarly valuable area in the very heart of the Garden's 

 most precious landscape will be freed and will offer a very notable 

 opportunity for a new feature. 



To begin with, the opportunity here exists to create a long 

 north and south view, wholly self-contained, beautifully enclosed, 

 and nicely fitted to as interesting a piece of topography as is to 

 be found anywhere within the limits of the Botanical Garden. 

 And, as already stated, there is a Serious deficiency in such long 

 inviting views. 



In the second place, within the land thus freed from obstructive 

 utilitarian structures, and without impairing the long views 

 thus obtained but enhancing their charm and interest, there 

 could be developed, under the most favorable conditions, an 

 admirable example of a sort of thing of which there certainly 

 ought to be a first-rate example somewhere on the tract. The 

 sort of thing we mean is a type of what is sometimes called a 

 landscape garden, the heart of which is a beautifully modelled 

 lawn, enframed by beautifully composed trees irregularly disposed, 

 under which the lawn here and there loses itself in shadowy mys- 

 tery, while elsewhere its irregular margin is formed by masses 

 of flowering shrubs and flowering herbaceous plants, providing, 

 as an incident of the landscape, an informal or naturalistic 

 herbaceous garden designed predominantly or almost exclu- 

 sively for esthetic effect. 



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