461 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
the parks, and the working out of the 
methods by which they are to be ac- 
complished. It has a similar relation to 
the parks that the architect’s drawing 
has to a building, or the engineer’s plan 
has to a bridge while being constructed. 
It is the ideal conception within the 
human mind, the result of human life 
and study ; it must exist before the 
physical expression of it can be formed. 
The want of it is the most common 
and flagrant cause of the weak and in- 
sipid and meaningless park system, espe- 
cially in small cities. If Hartford stands 
in the forefront of American cities in 
her relationship, it is not because she 
has 1,355 acres of park area, a high 
ratio per capita, or because she is a 
wealthy city and can afford beautiful 
parks, or her method of creating a park 
commission, or that the Connecticut val- 
ley is beautiful of itself, and the land 
lends itself most advantageously for 
park purposes, for all this might exist, 
and similar conditions often do exist, 
with the results that parks are an in- 
definite and chaotic mass or plot of 
ground outdoors, without orderliness, 
symmetry or beauty. 
While Hartford has the advantages 
which have been enumerated, yet the 
reputation, usefulness and beauty of her 
parks do not depend upon them so much 
as they do upon the fact that they have 
been selected and developed upon a well 
thought out and definite plan, making 
them an integral and necessary part of 
the city as a whole, and a clearly defined, 
well-balanced and harmonious system 
has been evolved. When considered as 
parks, they are a unit of character, dig- 
nity and of great loveliness. 
The thoughtful consideration of what 
parks really mean to a city and its peo- 
ple began with Dr. Bushnell, and has 
been continued during the half century 
of their development. It is from the 
wisdom and integrity of him who 'first 
interpreted the usefulness of parks to 
Hartford that is due more than any 
other one person the success of our 
present park system; the fruitage of his 
planting of nearly sixty years ago. 
I write thus at length, for during the 
year there have been advanaed with more 
or less persistency schemes which would 
be destructive fundamentally, cause 
structural defects in our parks, if al- 
lowed, and the experience of the past 
and of other cities indicate that such 
schemes, while very varied, will con- 
tinually appear and if allowed will in- 
jure much that has already been done 
and prevent future development. It is 
frequently a most difficult thing to pro- 
tect parks from such encroachments. 
The fourth division of park adminis- 
tration I have come to call democratic 
administration, using the word demo- 
cratic in its larger meaning. By it I 
mean the use which the people may make 
of their parks. It is often confounded 
with the constructive section, but that 
relates to design and construction, while 
this relates to the use which the struc- 
ture is put to after being built. The 
first is usually considered as permanent 
and should not be altered without the 
same thoughtful and thorough considera- 
tion which originally brought it into 
being, while the latter is transient and 
can be changed from season to season 
or from day to day as the desire of the 
people may change. The two have the 
same relation to each other as the house 
does to the people who live in it. The 
house itself is structural and cannot be 
easily altered, and should not be altered 
without careful consideration from a 
competent architect, while families may 
move in and out of the house, each using 
different rooms as best suits their con- 
venience or needs. The use of the parks, 
the living of the people in the outdoor 
room of their city, requires a more care- 
ful study than is usually given to it. 
The parks are primarily for the influence 
they have upon every section of the city, 
that is, upon the city as a whole, and the 
unconscious influence they have upon 
all its people. Secondly, the use which 
the persons who visit it can put them to 
and the direct conscious use or influence 
which they may have on such visitors. 
In years past much has been written 
about the first. It is only during the 
last few years that the last has received 
due consideration and during the last 
year or two it would seem as if the first 
and larger and more fundamental was 
in danger of being forgotten and largely 
destroyed in the desire to provide sports, 
playgrounds and other conveniences for 
those who want to go to parks in order 
to enjoy sports or do stunts. Not but 
what these last should be encouraged 
and provided for if they do not inter- 
fere with the larger and more important 
functions of the park system. From all 
The committee on practical demon- 
strations of road construction at the 
Legislative and Good Roads Convention 
held in Buffalo in July, arranged a most 
interesting and instructive exhibit con- 
sisting of (1) New Road Construction; 
(3) Repair and Maintenance of Roads ; 
(3) Use of Road Preservatives and 
the consideration I have been able to 
give it I am of the opinion that where 
special sports require special prepara- 
tions of ground and exclusive privileges, 
distinct and separate areas should be ob- 
tained for them, and not introduced into 
those park areas, which are pre-eminent- 
ly for pictorial effect or for the restful- 
ness or meditation needed for the re- 
cuperation of over-worked brain and 
strained emotions. 
Colt Park is fast becoming the play 
field of the city. I believe it is well 
that it is so, and that as far as possible 
all kinds of field sports should find a 
home there, with the overflow, or local 
playgrounds, at Pope and Riverside 
Parks. I think they should be entirely 
kept out of Bushnell, Elizabeth and 
Keney Parks. The future use of Good- 
win Park is somewhat problematic. I 
refer to this now for the demand for 
provisions for special privileges and for 
playgrounds is very strong and import- 
ant, and the need of them will increase 
until it becomes irresistible. In course 
of time they must be provided for. As 
I see it the need of playgrounds for 
children under fourteen years of age 
has always existed in large cities, but 
has only come to be realized during the 
last few years, and must be met if the 
city is to keep alive and make worthy 
men and women out of its children. I 
believe the modern city has no choice 
between destroying a large percentage 
of its children and providing play- 
grounds. Absence of them is a direct 
cause of the weakness, degeneracy, and 
death of thousands upon thousands of 
children in the cities of the world dur- 
ing the last fifty years, and many 
more must fall victims of the city’s un- 
natural life, unless playgrounds are pro- 
vided. It is not enough to say that Hart- 
ford has one of the largest and best 
park systems of any city of her size in 
the world, — if she had many times its 
park areas, and if they were ten times 
as beautiful they would not suffice for 
the needs of the children as they are 
now utilized. 
Dust-Laying Applications ; (4) Road 
Machinery; and (5) Town Roads. The 
work was done with the co-operation of 
the New York State Engineer’s Depart- 
ment, which was represented on the 
committee. 
Several roads were in course of con- 
struction within easy access of the city 
ROAD-MAKING EXPERIMENTS 
From Report of Committee on Road 
Construction at Good Roads Convention. 
