PARK AND CEMETERY 
125 
together for a frame to the lawn ; but they have been 
irreligiously shorn every year, and, though they are 
obviously trying to do what Nature and their planter 
intended, the man with the shears is determined that 
they shall not, and he cuts the bloom, and the shape 
out of them each spring, and makes them look as help- 
less and solitary as the bushes wandering on any sub- 
urban grass plot that ever was. 
Lesson No. 3, to be learned more particularly from 
picture No. 2, is the evil of giving way to the tempta- 
tion to put too many "specimens” on the lawn. There 
are not less than three superfluous ones here, and they 
are growing just well enough to make the owner una- 
ble to see the need for removing them ; but they en- 
cumber his lawn more than adorn it, and will tend 
more and more, as they grow older, to interfere with 
the feeling of quiet restfulness and uninterrupted ex- 
tent for which a lawn ought to exist. 
A SUBURBAN LOT WITH WALL OF HONEYSUCKLE. SLOPING SOD BANKS AND INDISCRIMINATE CUTTING 
OF SHRUBBERY. 
ParK Extension in Chicago 
For a long time past the leading spirits in Chicago 
park movements have recognized the inadequacy of its 
system in relation to its constantly increasing popula- 
tion, and have been waiting times and opportunities 
to promote additions and extensions. Judging from 
recent developments, it is evident that the near future 
will witness a marked activity in park work, and what 
has been characterized as neglect may be regarded as 
the breathing spell before entering upon projects the 
completion of which will attract world-wide attention. 
The improvement of the lake shore immediately in 
front of the business section of the city is now as- 
sured, both by the enactment of legislation providing 
for funds, and the acceptance by Mr. Marshall Field 
of the site tendered to him by the South Park Com- 
missioners for the Field Museum. No limit, within 
reason, has been set by Mr. Field for this gift to the 
city, but this museum will prob'ably be one of the 
finest in the world, and the park surrounding it com- 
pleted in harmony with its magnificence. The plans 
for this lake front park, by name Grant Park, have 
already been submitted by Messrs. Olmsted Bros. An- 
other Chicago park project, vast in extent, but not 
greater than the future will demand, is that under con- 
sideration by the Cook County Commissioners. The 
proposition is to construct an outer belt of parks and 
park ways, which with the existing park areas and 
boulevards will provide park space for a city of sev- 
eral millions. The scheme contemplates the care and 
preservation of all spots of natural beauty coming 
within its reach, and ultimately will result in a series 
of parks and connecting boulevards some 120 miles 
long. Immense in its possibilities as the project is, 
it is not by any means unattainable ; on the contrary, 
considering that if taken in hand now the cost of land 
will be moderate, and there being many beautiful 
groves and wooded areas on the route, the improve- 
ment of which will not be costly, to limit the total out- 
lay, it is safe to say that such an undertaking will re- 
ceive the necessary support from all interests. 
Speaking of this outer belt, in a recent interview in 
the Chicago Record-Herald, President Foreman, of the 
South Park Board, said : "Those who are in charge 
of park affairs in Chicago feel the necessity of plan- 
ning now for the future. It is an extremely difficult 
matter to forecast population growth, but I feel that 
it is safe for us, in planning parks for the future, to fig- 
ure on a population of about 5,000,000. Along the 
route of the proposed outer belt line land can be pur- 
chased now at a low figure. At present we have along 
this proposed outer belt line native forests with the 
wild flowers and ferns and the mosses and the little 
wild animals. If city life is allowed to extend into 
these forests, and they are cut down, it will be impos- 
sible to re-create them for park purposes.” 
