DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. 57 



except by the small distributing Reservoir, whose grounds 

 may be properly treated as a part of it. It is two and 

 a third times as large as the present Washington (or Fort 

 Greene) Park ; half as large again as the Boston Common, 

 which till recent years was so famous in the country for size 

 and beauty — almost as large as that Common with the annex 

 of the superb Public Garden. It is so compact in form, and 

 at the same time so undulating in its distributed surface, as to 

 be perfectly adapted to the purposes of a pleasure-ground of 

 independent and various attractiveness. No ore can look at 

 it, even in its present desolate condition, without seeing that 

 it is as fit by nature to be fashioned by art into a choice and 

 charming Park as is the uncut stone of price on the table of 

 the lapidary to be shaped and polished into a gem. Yet it is 

 also so directly adjacent to Prospect Park as to be easily and 

 intimately associated with that, adding largely to its capacity. 



The city already owns this tract, having long ago bought it 

 and paid for it, intending at the time to use it ultimately for 

 Park-purposes ; and no debt will require to be incurred, no 

 bonds to be issued, no interest to be paid, in order to maintain 

 possession of it. Only a small additional strip, of not more 

 than four or five acres, lying within the present limits of Flat- 

 bush, will need to be annexed to it, to make it complete for the 

 uses proposed. The cost of that, with the comparatively 

 small cost of so moulding and harmonizing the natural features 

 of the land which we have as to develop the beauty latent in 

 them, and to bring them into happy accord with the lovely 

 and noble pleasure-ground near them — these will be the only 

 items of expense in connection with the transformation of the 

 present waste into a place of attraction and refreshment for 

 all the people ; and in comparison with the benefits thus to be 

 secured expenditures like these become insignificant. 



As we have said, this most desirable tract of land, owned 

 by the city, and available at once for the uses suggested, is 

 situated on one of the highest points, if not the very highest, 

 within the city limits. By a simply just and natural arrange- 



