224 



PARKS A1SD PLEASURE-GROUNDS. 



to be a bird, while they could tell little or nothing 

 more about either. It is to be regretted that, with the 

 exception of St. James' Park and Kensington Gardens, 

 all the public parks around London and Manchester 

 are totally deficient in this simple and obvious means 

 of instruction. Of course we do not wish that every 

 bush and tree within the inclosure should be labeled ; 

 we only propose that some definite portion of the trees, 

 shrubs, and other plants, should be arranged and 

 named for this special purpose. Besides the inform a 1 - 

 tion actually conveyed, and the inquiries as to uses 

 suggested, such arrangements would exhibit, in an 

 interesting manner, the wonderful adaptation of our 

 climate for the growth of plants from the milder and 

 colder regions of the globe. They would display in 

 one group the magnificent cedars of Lebanon, of Atlas, 

 and of the Himalayas, together with the firs of Sibe- 

 ria and the Pyrenees, of Scotland and California, of 

 the Mediterranean and the Oregon, of Norway and 

 Nepal. In a second, they would show us the broad 

 oak of Old England, the cut-leaved oak of Turkey, 

 the evergreen oak of Spain, and the red oak of Amer- 

 ica, with the sycamore of Britain and the sugar-maple 

 of Canada. In a third, we might find the Arbutus 

 of Ireland, the Andracfaie of the Levant, the Pliil- 

 lyrea of Italy, the lilacs of Persia and China, and 

 the Auouha of Japan. Manifold are the interesting 

 and instructive combinations that might be formed; 

 and they could all be erfected at an expense very little 

 beyond that which is necessarily incurred in the plant- 

 ing of ordinary trees and shrubs. 



Note. — Our author, on this important subject, talks 



