30 
PARK AND CEMETRRY, 
1 
Qvic Improvement 
Ideals in Village Improvement. 
Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted contributes to the June 
issue of the Atlantic Monthly an interesting essay on 
Village Improvement, which takes as its text one of 
the letters of his father, the late Frederick Law Olm- 
sted, the salient thought in which is the following : 
“It would seem to have been thought by most of 
those who directly or indirectly lead village improve- 
ments that a choice of beauty is mainly a choice of 
embellishments. But by far the highest and choicest 
beauty is that of inherent and comprehensive character 
and qualities, and whatever of decoration hides, or 
withholds attention from it, however beautiful in itself, 
is in effect a blemish.” 
Mr. Olmsted continues : 
“I have in mind an ‘improved’ village common which was, 
in its imregenerate state, a triangular plot having short-cut 
paths leading directly from one much frequented point to an- 
other, all but two of which had been planted with rows of 
trees, though most of them had become broken and discon- 
tinuous. The older trees were all elms, and along one side 
of the common there was a double row sufficiently complete 
to form a fine mall; but ‘improvers’ of the last generation, 
seeking for variety, had replaced gaps among the elms with 
maples. They interrupted the sweep of the arched avenue 
of elms, and weakened it, without removing the impression 
that an avenue of elms was intended. Imperfection, not va- 
riety, was suggested by the maples, because they were intro- 
duced in a composition the chief characteristic of which was 
the ordered continuity of repeated forms. 
“The rough turf on the common was unsystematically and 
occasionally mowed, for the absence of cows formerly allowed 
to graze here left the grass weedy and rank. 
“Now came an energetic spasm of Village Improvement. 
First and best, litter and paper were cleared away, barrels for 
such rubbish were set out (unfortunately of a bad color), 
lawns were systematically mowed, and the people persistently 
educated in neatness. 
“The next year a distinct embellishment was undertaken 
by excavating the objectionable wet spot, supplementing the 
uncertain natural water supply by a pipe discharging through 
a boulder rockery at one side of the pond ; the rocks very 
prettily covered with ferns and nasturtiums, with water lilies 
planted in the pondlet, with shores enlivened by iris and other 
aquatic plants, all surrounded by a curving path, and a wire 
fence to keep the dogs away from the flowers. Another year 
flowering shrubs were introduced back of the rockery, mak- 
ing a strikingly picturesque, if somewhat ‘gardenesque,’ com- 
position. 
“The well having been condemned, a wealthy summer resi- 
dent gave a drinking fountain, the design of which was made 
by a clever Boston architect based on an Italian fountain of 
which the donor gave him a photograph. The architect feel- 
ing the need for some appropriate setting, prevailed upon 
the committee to grade a little terrace about the fountain 
and border it with a privet hedge, providing also a straight 
walk leading in at right angles from the nearest path, and 
continuing in the same line to the path on the opposite side. 
“The Daughters of the American Revolution, in order to 
mark a point of historic interest, set up a large boulder 
bearing a bronze tablet. The inscription, by the way, was in 
‘stock’ lettering, which costs less than half as much as let- 
tering designed for the special purpose, and has a very neat 
and business-like look, as though it were the product of a 
sort of gigantic typewriter. 
"In the meantime further decorative planting was under- 
taken. A weeping beech, three purple barberries, four golden 
elders, a Colorado blue spruce, several assorted conifers, six 
hydrangeas, and some good plants of native rhododendron, 
were set out. The purple barberries and the golden elders 
were grouped together (because they always do go together, 
you know), and pleasant open locations were selected for the 
others, where they could be readily seen. The local florist 
was an active and public-spirited member of the Improve- 
ment Association, and he has maintained for four years at 
his own expense, in the middle of the slope above the pond- 
let, a star and a crescent and a Maltese cross in bulbs, fol- 
lowed by summer bedding plants. 
“Now what is the net result of all this embellishment? The 
bit of rich informal gardenesque treatment round the lily 
pond looks lonely and ill at ease in its simple and severe sur- 
roundings ; the specimens of ornamental shrubs and trees 
dotted here and there are individually interesting, but in- 
consequential ; the delicate and almost hyper-refined Italian 
fountain and the D. A. R. boulder stare each other out of 
countenance ; and the old common, which forms the frame- 
work and background for all this decoration, is quite bewil- 
dered and befuddled. Its quiet open spaces are frittered away 
with decorations, the simplicity of its plain short-cut paths 
is at odds with the newer introductions, its old character is 
shattered, and in place of it no single character worthy of the 
name is to be recognized, but a series of samples suggesting 
, 
