lOO 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
may be eased off just below the water surface so as to 
form a gently sloping beach of gravel which will stand 
without any paving. This is in effect natures method 
of meeting the problem of wave erosion and there is no 
cleaner shore than a beach of moving sand or pebbles 
kept stirred up by the waves. 
The grading of reservoir embankments is briefly 
touched upon with an example in which at the sugges- 
tion of a landscape architect hill-like ridges not leaving 
a level top were substituted for the usual straight dikes 
connecting hills around a reservoir site without any in- 
crease in cost. The case of Fresh Pond in Cambridge, 
Mass., was then taken up with maps and illustrations. 
A pond with some boggy and some steep margins was 
there made into a reservoir. The mechanical method of 
running a roadway right around the edge of a reservoir 
was adopted, regardless of the natural growth on the 
headlands, which were cut away to the great injury of 
the scenery. In a plan for further development prepared 
by landscape architects a path was substituted at the 
base of the headlands and the drive carried up to their 
tops instead and a number of other changes and im- 
provements suggested. 
As to planting on margins of a reservoir, the objec- 
tion is often made that the leaves dropping into the water 
tend to discolor it and give it a bad taste. As a matter 
of fact the best water sheds for collecting drinking wa- 
ter are those covered by woods and in most cases sur- 
face water gets into the distant collecting basins of a 
water system after soaking through dead leaves to such 
an extent that the small amount which can fall from a 
few trees round the distributing reservoir is negligible. 
Moreover shrubs growing along the edge of a reservoir 
offer a net work of twigs which stop the dead leaves 
blowing along the ground from neighboring trees and 
actually reduce the number of leaves getting into the 
water which vastly improve the appearance of the shores. 
The upshot is that since a reservoir can be made to serve 
the subordinate purpose of being a park as well as hold- 
ing water it is apt to be a waste of the tax payers money 
not to take full advantage of the fact and put the expert 
adviser of the park commission into consultation with 
th? hydraulic engineer in charge of the reservoir at the 
beginning of his work. 
THE PARKS AND THE PEOPLE.* 
The natural environments of a park determine its 
character; if these environments are preserved, pro- 
tected and re-enforced, the character of that park is 
positive and pronounced, so the various park systems, 
and the several parks in any one system, vary as to their 
makeup and differ in their impressions. Inconsequence, 
what I may say may be applicable to none, certainly to 
but few. There is one feature in all the parks that is 
the same and that is the people, and to the landscape 
gardener, they are the most desirable, yet the most re- 
f actory p'ants that he uses in making up his effects. 
Tne adjustment of their rights, the extent of their privi- 
leges, the provision for their enjoyment and tne cur- 
tailment of their shortcomings is the greatest problem 
which perplexes those who are vested with park man- 
agement. 
The size and location of a park must enter largely 
into the determination of this problem. If the area is 
*Papf;r read by Mr. R. J. Coryell, Gen. Supt., Detroit Parks and 
Boulevard.s, i)efore the Detioit Convention ol tne American Park and 
Out -door Art Association. 
small and in the heart of a populous district, the park 
can merely be a resting place, and necessarily the liber- 
ties of its visitors must be restricted so that the beauties 
that lends to its attractiveness may not be destroyed. 
It, in a certain sense, is a picture to be viewed, not 
handled; but a park of an extended area has a larger 
scope and its visitors are allowed more freedom. 
It is of the latter class that I wish to speak. To such 
parks I would wish to attract the public; to invite them 
to make it their summer home; not to go once annually 
to see its beauty, but to use it constantly. This end 
must be one of the cardinal purposes of the park. That 
they may be made attractive and beautified and that 
they may be enjoyed, is the ambition of all park man- 
agers, but the various accessories that aid in and pro- 
mote the comfort of the visitors are creatures of slower 
growth and generally do not keep pace with other 
improvements. 
As fast as the park is improved, it should be put 
into use. Seats should be provided; in places desirable 
for that purpose, picnic tables may be placed; drinking 
fountains and toilet pavilions should be convenient to 
all ])rincipal places. 
Our Belle Isle Park is very extensively used by 
parties spending nearly the whole day there; frequently 
taking both dinner and supper with them; this is 
brought about largely because their comfort has been 
in a measure provided for. Nature has furnished an un- 
excelled forest, and an unsurpassed river, whose cold 
water makes balmy the heated winds. The provision of 
a few accessories, somewhat inexpensive in character, 
makes the requirements complete; the most noticeable 
of these are the ice-water fountains. Heretofore tanks 
were used, but they are now being supplanted by brick 
cisterns containing about two tons of ice, which cools 
the water as it runs through coils at the bottom, thus 
making an inexpensive and sanitary arrangement, as far 
as iheir care is concerned. For use on Belle Isle Park, 
including the ca uno, 2,600 tons of ice are annually 
stored and used, at a cost of about $ 1 , 200 . 
That all may take full advantage of the park, 
provision shouKl be made that conveyances are 
jirovided at as low a rate as possible. 'I’he people of 
ample fortunes have lawns and grounds in which they 
may take all the pleasure a park may afford, but the 
majority of the residents ol a large city are greaily 
restricted in o]rp.-r unities for breathing the pure, 
fresh air. To these people, the use of the parks are 
dedicated. In every way possible, provide that its 
beauties and attractions are within their means. If one 
of the objections is distance, furnish a conveyance at the 
lowest rate consistent with its cost. Make a place that 
the grocer’s or peddler’s horse may be secured and fed. 
V/e call them “hitching bays” and have them placed 
wherever experience has shown their want, and it is found 
that their presence is a constant invitation to their use 
Shelters from storm is another convenience that 
should be provided, that the picnicers and pleasure 
seekers may make an intended visit in threatening 
weather without a fear of discomfort. 
Detroit has found it advisable to maintain a phaelon 
system besides the renting of a bicycle livery, boating 
and pony privileges. The latter is a creature of 
circumstance, but it certainly is a feature in our park. 
Many visitors feel safer with the ponies than with a 
team of horses, and it is a cheap and pleasant way to 
visit the several portions of the Island. The phaeton 
