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and also admit, without readjustment, of adaptation to the present con- 

 tracted boundary line, if this course should be found absolutely necessary. 

 In accordance with instructions received at the outset, we studied the road 

 lines that would have to be followed in the event of the present boundaries 

 being adhered to, but the result was entirely unsatisfactory ; and we feel so 

 well assured that it is to the public interest that the ground under discussion 

 should be included in the Park limits, that we think it our duty again, at 

 this time, to urge the proposition on your attention, so that before Spring, if 

 possible, the necessary legislation may be obtained, and all doubts dispelled 

 in reference to the ultimate engineering lines of the main circuit drive. 



The territory to the south and west, appropriated to the Park by the 

 Legislature of last winter, not being yet in the actual possession of your 

 Commission, operations have been necessarily restricted to a limited section 

 at the north end. 



A portion of the carriage drive and of the bridle road has been laid out 

 and sub-graded, and the extent of the work thus done is set forth in the 

 annexed progress map. Although the lines originally suggested in the pre- 

 liminary study have been somewhat varied in execution, no serious modifi- 

 cations have yet resulted from the preparation of the plan in detail upon the 

 working surveys. It has, however, been found practicable to amplify the 

 system of drives passing through the woods south of the Old Battle Pass, 

 and we have thus been able to effect a reduction in width of the separate 

 branches without lessening the actual accommodation. By this means 

 greater advantage is obtained from the shade offered by existing trees than 

 would be possible if the full width of forty feet Avere everywhere ad- 

 hered to. 



A central fountain basin, 160 feet in diameter, has been added to the plan 

 of the Plaza, which forms part of the principal entrance. 



The main outlines of this portion of the design have been accurately 

 adjusted, and the necessary changes of grade are now in process of execution. 



In the preliminary study, the northerly section of the Plaza was left open, 

 but further study has led us to recommend that it should be enclosed and 

 planted to correspond with the arrangements adopted on the east and west 

 sides, and that a considerable stretch of ground, which is suitable for the 

 purpose, should be treated as an extension of the sidewalks leading in the 

 directions of Flatbush and Vanderbilt avenues to the Park. The space 

 thus appropriated will be in a very conspicuous and central position, and is 

 sufficiently extensive to admit of its being used for open air public meetings, 

 that would be out of place if held either in the crowded thoroughfares of the 

 city or within the limits of the Park proper. The plan of the Plaza, as now 

 arranged, contemplates the erection, at some future time, of important 





