the Botanical Garden exists, and of making them conveniently 

 and pleasurably accessible to the public without their destruction 

 by public use; while at the same time recognizing that this mech- 

 anism of good circulation for crowds is a necessary means to such 

 an end and in some cases can be properly provided for on such 

 topography only by radical surgical operations the scars of which 

 must be made and healed before the final esthetic and scientific 

 end can be attained. 



For example: in a number of places important lines of path 

 circulation are needed running transversely to sharp ridges and 

 hollows. This is a very difficult situation, in which a half- 

 hearted compromise may be easy but is most deplorable. Every 

 effort should be made to find a satisfactory way of really solving 

 the problem without violence to the natural topography, as by 

 seeking a more circuitous route which will not seem disagreeably 

 indirect and which will fully accomplish the purposes that need 

 to be served. But where this can not be satisfactorily done — and 

 there are places where it can not — a bold course, which pierces 

 through a rocky ridge in a narrow ravine-like passage artificially 

 made but not unnatural in appearance, or even by a short tunnel, 

 or which spans a narrow ravine on an arched bridge at the level 

 of the flanking ridges, may not merely produce a more convenient 

 path system and one which leaves its users free to appreciate what 

 they see instead of focussing their attention on the inconvenience 

 and discomfort of the path, but it may also make nine-tenths of 

 the path fit naturally and pleasantly to the surface of the ground 

 it traverses instead of its all looking somewhat forced and un- 

 natural as it climbs and drops over ground obviously uninviting 

 for a main path. Again, in view of the necessity, in so large an 

 area, of permanent means of circulation for automobiles, and 

 of the increasing danger and annoyance of innumerable crossings 

 of this traffic by crowds of people on foot, it is important to pro- 

 vide for the ultimate separation of the grades of main paths and 

 main automobile roads where crossings are inevitable, much as 

 was done in Central Park at a time when the danger and annoy- 

 ance of such crossings were infinitely less than in these days of 

 motor traffic. 



All this sort of thing is of very great ultimate importance, 

 can not sensibly be ignored and should be planned for, in a cour- 

 ageous, far-sighted, uncompromising way. But, as previously 

 pointed out, this does not mean that the construction of a first- 

 rate system of circulation should take precedence over refining 

 and perfecting details of planting and planting maintenance. 

 Preference should be given, in this improvement of the vegeta- 



[15] 



