PARK AND CEMETERY. 
179 
rectly from the party interested, but the stamp has 
been kept, and no reply vouchsafed. My inform- 
ants story must therefore be taken for granted. It 
is not unlikely. 
The Traction Company is said to have offered 
$90,000 for the 22 acres of grove, lake, buildings, 
and toboggan-slide. The property was held at 
$125,000 however, and now the proprietor has the 
mortification of sitting on his porch, and seeing 
thousands pass him by for the highly kept, lavishly 
improved, but naturally inferior grounds opposite. 
It is impossible to say yet if the great expense 
of the orchestra will pay, but it is .doubtful. It is 
certain however that minor attractions of a similar 
character do pay. It is equally certain also that 
sensible improvements on the ground pay, and pay 
well. It is evident that gaudiness in building, and 
monotony in planting fail to attract or please. They 
can be seen most anvwhere. 
Men delight in the colors and forms of nature, 
in their freedom, their new creations. 
J. MacP. 
RESIDENCE STREETS.— II. 
DRAINAGE. 
The underground drainage of roads is very im- 
portant, but as it is simply an engineering question, 
which is fully treated in books on road making, it 
will not be considered here. The surface drainage 
is something that interests us whenever it rains or 
when the snow melts. It has been customary to 
locate catch-basins for receiving the surface water 
at street intersections. (See Fig. 3.) This arrange- 
ment causes most of the surface water from both 
streets to run past the crossings, making it necessary 
to depress the pavement, so that one must step 
down and up in going from one side of a street to 
the other, or else a passageway for the water must 
be made through the crossing. It may be said that 
a step down to the pavement and up again to the 
sidewalk at the street intersections is of no conse- 
qnence, but it is really more elegant and satisfac- 
tory to have the walk practically continuous. With 
the catch-basin at the corner, the stoppage of the in- 
let, or a great fall of rain, sometimes covers the 
crossing with water so that one must either wade or 
go out of his way. With catch-basins placed in the 
centre of the blocks, or, if the blocks are long, at 
some distance from the crossing, the intersections 
can be kept relatively high and dry. Roadways 
are generally made crowning in the centre, so that 
water runs to the sides, but frequently the fall 
lengthwise of the roadway is less than it should be. 
City engineers are usually inclined to make the 
grade along the length of a street as nearly level as 
possible. Authorities who have given the subject 
of roads considerable study recommend a fall length- 
wise of not less than one foot in one hundred and 
twenty-five, nor more than six feet in one hundred. 
Such grades are not always feasible, but a certain 
amount of variation in level can usually be made in 
a residence street which will make it much more- 
pleasing in appearance, and have certain practical 
advantages in keeping the street dry. The water is 
usually confined to the edge of the pavement by 
curbing which may be anywhere from four to four- 
teen inches high above the surface. This causes all 
the water falling on the roadway to seek the catch- 
basin and be wasted, excepting for its use in flush- 
ing the sewer. If the curbing, which is really un- 
necessary in most cases, were omitted, much of the 
FIG. 3. SHOWING PORTION OF STREET INTERSECTION ON 
SHERIDAN ROAD. 
surface water would soak into the ground between 
the sidewalk and the pavement, doing much good 
to trees, shrubs and grass. The roots of the trees 
naturally extend as far, or farther, than their 
branches, and for their good the ground under the 
pavement and sidewalk should be supplied with a 
certain amount of moisture. 
The arrangement made for the removal of sur- 
FIG. 4. SAME AS FIG. 3, WITHOUT CURBING AND STEP. 
face water from streets must also take care of the 
surplus water from adjacent lots, so there is a prac- 
tical advantage in having the level of the street 
lower than that of the ground adjoining. The ap- 
pearance of houses and home grounds is also much 
better when they are higher than the street, and for 
this reason it is usually desirable to keep the latter 
as low as possible and give the underground pipes 
sufficient covering to protect them from frost. 
Where the ground is high and the sewers very deep 
the grades should, of course, be determined with refer- 
