230 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[December, 



CENTRAL PARK. 



Central Park has grown directly out of the 

 needs of the people for satisfactory breath- 

 ing places within easy reach of the most 

 crowded parts of New-York City. The orig- 

 inal design of Central Park contemplated 

 the most natural and convenient, artistic 

 arrangement of the peculiar characteristics 

 of the original wild territory on which it was 

 located. The hills were literally to be ex- 

 aggerated and the valleys to be made low. 

 But all this did not consist in leaving things 

 alone ; for in many parts, and those that now 

 appear the wildest, the landscape has been 

 actually constructed with great labor out of 

 rocks and earth-filling in such a way as to 

 make the illusion complete of its being the 

 original natural formation. In view of the 

 rapidly increasing population of New-York 

 City, we shall soon find no illustration, ex- 

 cept Central Park, left on Manhattan Island 

 of the original bowlder and rock formation of 

 the region. Here, from a crowded city, we 

 step at once into the most secluded and 

 genuine wild-wood scenery. Hence, it has 

 been the intention, never entirely carried 

 out, to mask with planting the entire bound- 

 ary wall of the park. 



The general shape of Central Park is a 

 narrow parallelogram, two and a half miles 

 long by half a mile wide, with two large 

 reservoirs of Croton water in the center and 

 a generally ascending grade from north to 

 south. Entrances from Sixth, Seventh, and 

 Eighth Avenues open the park to the pedes- 

 trians and equestrians on the south end, and 

 similar openings in the boundaries occur 

 about every tenth street throughout the 

 Fifth and Eighth Avenues on the east and 

 west sides of the park. On the upper, or 

 north end, entrances similar to those on the 

 south end are contemplated, and in three 

 cases completed. 



The key, or main feature of Central Park 

 — the only place that seems at all artificial 

 in its structure — is the Mall and Terrace. 

 The Mall is a promenade under several rows 

 of American Elms, — a stately tree temple, 

 where large crowds may easily gather and 

 look over verdant meadow and tree-bor- 

 dered lake, or wander about at will to the 

 accompaniment of bands of music. Near by 

 is the Casino, or restaurant ; the Pergalo, or 

 vine-covered arbor, on a terrace overlooking 

 the Mall; and, farther off, the Dairy and 

 Mineral Springs, all embowered in foliage, 

 so as to subordinate architectural effects to 

 the distinctly rural character of the park. 

 At the end of the Mall, the end of a long 

 and grand perspective, comes the Terrace, 

 the most ornate architectural structure of 

 the park, richly decorated in front with 

 bright-colored shrubs and flowers. This 

 might be termed the end, or wards of the 

 key of the park ; for, standing on this bal- 

 cony, looking down and beyond the broad 

 stair -ways over a magnificent fountain, there 

 opens a picturesquely winding lake, above 

 and beyond which rises mass on mass of the 

 wild woods of the Ramble. In the manage- 

 ment of these masses of woodland, rising up 

 to the Belvidere tower on the edge of the 

 reservoir, we find perhaps the most note- 

 worthy art displayed, in securing distance, 

 mystery, and the true landscape feeling to 



be found in the park. The Ramble itself is 

 a perfect labyrinth of winding walks, charm- 

 ing nooks of shrubbery and rocks, entirely 

 artificial, but apparently gathered together 

 by the hand of Nature herself. 



North of the reservoir, the distinctive 

 feature is larger surfaces of meadow land 

 and still wilder woodland nooks. There is a 

 pool here, with heavily wooded banks, that 

 seems to have been transported thither from 

 some deep forest dell, instead of having 

 been made upon the spot. The Harlem 

 Mere, also, with wild, steep, and pictur- 

 esquely wooded banks, is an attractive and 

 considerable sheet of water, situated in the 

 extreme upper part of the park. Carriage 

 drives and foot paths wind about throughout 

 these scenes, so as to exhibit their charms 

 to the best advantage. 



This survey of the principal features of 

 Central Park is, I know, very brief, and 

 scores of interesting jjoints are necessarily 

 left untouched ; but if the reader will real- 

 ize fully the idea that Central Park has been 

 built up in the most artificial manner, after 

 original types of unsullied nature in that 

 region, — that it is, above all, a rock park, 

 built upon the very lines that Nature has 

 laid down herself, he will have advanced 

 further toward comprehending the theory of 

 the construction of Central Park than he 

 could get from pages of description of mere 

 details. Indeed, any adequate description 

 of the vast plant collections could only be 

 given in a largely extended treatise. 



S. Parsons, Jr. 



PRESERVING TREE SEEDS, 



Reporting on some forest tree seeds, re- 

 ceived by the Horticultural Society of Mon- 



i treal from the Cape of Good Hope, and which 

 had lost their vitality before their arrival, 

 Colonel W. Rhodes says: "My experience 

 with forest tree seeds is, so long as the 



1 natural conditions are observed, — that is, a 



I cool, moist atmosphere, sufficiently low that 



! Fungi cannot grow, — they may be easily 

 preserved. This condition may be found 

 every spring in northern climates ; but when 



| the seeds of trees are placed in a dry and 

 hot atmosphere, their vitality rapidly passes 

 away. My plan to preserve seeds of forest 

 trees is to collect in the autumn, in fine 

 weather, dry them thoroughly in bags placed 

 on a veranda exposed to the air ; then take 

 a box, sow a layer of sand, a layer of seeds, 



| and so on, until the box is full. I then place 

 the box under a Fir-tree for shelter from too 

 much snow or rain, and in the spring sow the 

 sand and seeds together in a hot-bed, if the 



| seeds are fine, or in the open ground if they 

 are large. The principal danger is from late 



; frosts killing the seeds just as the sproirts 



come over ground." 



LABELING TREES IN PUBLIC GROUNDS. 



During a recent visit to Philadelphia we 

 noticed that nearly all the trees in the city 

 parks had neat white labels attached to 

 them, giving their botanical and English 

 names. This is an example worthy of imi- 

 tation in every park, for in no easier and 

 more effective way could a knowledge of our 

 principal forest and ornamental trees be im- 

 parted to the public. 



The expense of this praiseworthy under- 

 taking was, as we are informed, defrayed 

 by a society organized for the purpose. 



ICE-HOUSES. 



There are, in the construction of ice- 

 houses, a few conditions which must be 

 imperatively complied with, and without 

 which success is impossible, no matter how 

 expensive the structure may be. These, 

 and the most important points to be ob- 

 served in building ice-houses, are well de- 

 scribed by a writer in the Century. He says : 



If the soil on which the house is to stand 

 is sandy, and has a gentle slope, there is 

 nothing to do but to dig a cellar about two 

 feet deep and fill it with stones. Cover the 

 upper layers with smaller stones and sand. 

 This will make the floor on which the ice is 

 to rest. The water will escape easily through 

 the sand and stones, and there will be no 

 chance for currents of air to flow upward 

 into the house. The tendency of the air in 

 a badly made ice-house is always to flow 

 through it. Therefore, while there must be 

 drainage, there must be no inlets for air. If 

 the soil is wet and not easily drained, the 

 surface must be covered two feet thick with 

 stones, and the house placed on top of this. 

 If this is done, the sides of the stone-work 

 must be made tight with mortar, to prevent 

 the entrance of air. If provision must be 

 made for carrying off the water, the pipe 

 may be trapped to prevent the air from 

 entering the pipe and thus getting into the 

 house. 



"A well-drained foundation having been 

 prepared, a wooden sill must be laid, on 

 which the walls are to rest. On this sill 

 will rest the uprights. These may be sim- 

 ply planks eight inches wide and two inches 

 thick. They may be placed at intervals on 

 the sill, and held in place by a string-piece 

 on top. On the outside of the uprights may 

 be nailed boards with battens of clapboards. 

 On the inside they are simply boarded up 

 with cheap stuff. The whole aim is to make 

 a hollow wall. The space between the out- 

 side and inside boarding must be filled solid 

 with tan-bark, sawdust, or rough chaff of 

 any kind. Upon the walls place a common 

 pitch roof, boarded and battened or shingled. 

 It must be rain-tight, and must not be air- 

 tight. There should be an opening at the 

 ends, or a hood or ventilator, to permit a 



J free circulation of air through the upper 



[ part of the house. The door should have 

 double walls filled with sawdust. 



"The ice should be cut with a saw into 

 regular blocks, so that they will pack snugly. 

 Of course, the thicker the ice the better; 

 but carefully packed ice will keep if only 

 three inches thick, provided it is properly 

 packed in freezing weather. 



" When the filling begins, cover the entire 

 floor with a layer of sawdust, tan-bark, chaff, 

 or cut straw, six inches or a foot deep. A 

 space a foot wide should be left between the 

 walls of the house and the pile of ice. Where 

 the ice is to be piled lay down a floor of 

 straight-edged boards to cut off the air and 

 keep the ice layers level. Cover this floor 

 with a thick layer of sawdust, and as the 



j ice is laid down fill in the space around the 

 pile with sawdust and pack closely. This 

 filling is to be added as the ice pile is built 

 up. Over the top layer of ice put a liberal 

 coating of sawdust, or whatever material has 



1 been used for the heat-excludinsr blanket. 



