BROOKLYN PARK COMMISSIONERS. 



Repairs and painting to the permanent buildings, bridges 

 and rustic work were made necessary by their deteriorated 

 condition and their increased use. 



Owing to the wide-spread interest in lawn tennis playing, all 

 the available space in the picnic house shelter was fitted np with 

 lockers for the storage of the clothing, nets, &c, of the players. 

 A portion of the basement of the Litchfield Mansion has also 

 been temporarily fitted up for the purpose. 



The Park fences, to which attention has been called in 

 previous reports, were in bad condition and have required a 

 great deal of repair during the year. The length of the en- 

 closing fence is nearly four miles, and the frequent renewal of 

 posts, pickets, bottom boards, &c, involved a considerable 

 outlay for labor and material, and will continue to do so until 

 replaced by a more sightly and substantial substitute. 



In addition to the features of the work thus specially noted, 

 the force has been busily engaged throughout the year on 

 usual maintenance work, incidental to the several works under 

 our charge. 



In the early winter months, and particularly during the prev- 

 alence of skating, sleighing and other winter sports, the care 

 of the ice and roads, removal of snow, &c., required the services 

 of our entire force. A number of snow storms at frequent 

 intervals during January and February proved somewhat em- 

 barrassing in view of the fact that the cleaning of the small 

 parks throughout the city was required to be provided for 

 simultaneously with the other exacting demands of the season. 



The work of general restoration in the Spring corresponds 

 very much to that of the old fashioned custom of house clean- 

 ing which everywhere prevails. The road surfaces had been 

 broken up by the frost and were generally repaired. The turf, 

 spaces and plantations littered with dead leaves, decayed wood, 

 &c, were thoroughly cleaned, the water courses, silt basins 

 and drainage system were overhauled, and the deposits carried 

 into them by the storms removed. Considerable pruning was 



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