that broad, quiet, pastoral and sylvan features are the
only permanent and really valuable ones we can hope to attain in our
great city parks.

It is needless, perhaps, to repeat what has been said so often in the
columns of this journal, that in our judgment the greatest value and
only justification of great urban parks exist in the fact that they
can bring the country into the city and give to people who are obliged
to pass their lives in cities the opportunity to enjoy the refreshment
of mind and body which can only be found in communion with nature and
the contemplation of beautiful natural objects harmoniously arranged.
Parks have other and very important uses, but this is their highest
claim to recognition. If it is the highest duty of the park maker to
bring the country into the city, every road and every walk not
absolutely needed to make the points of greatest interest and beauty
easily accessible is an injury to his scheme, and every building and
unnecessary construction of every kind reduces the value of his
creation, as do trees and shrubs and other flowering plants which are
out of harmony with their surroundings. Such things injure the
artistic value of a park; they unnecessarily increase its cost and
make the burden of annual maintenance more difficult to bear.
Simplicity of design often means a saving of unnecessary expenditure,
but it should not mean cheapness of construction. The most expensive
parks to maintain are those which have been the most cheaply
constructed, for cheap construction means expensive maintenance. Roads
and walks should not be made where they are not needed, and they
should not be made unnecessarily wide to accommodate possible crowds
of another century, but those that are built should be constructed in
the most thorough and durable manner possible, in order to reduce the
cost of future care. When lawns are made, the work should be done
thoroughly; and no tree or shrub should be planted in any manner but
the best and in the most carefully prepared soil. Only as little work
as possible should be done, but it should be done in the most
permanent manner. The best investment a park maker can make is in good
soil, for without an abundance of good soil it is impossible to
produce large and permanent trees and good grass, and the chief value
of any park is in its trees and grass; and if the money which has been
spent in disfiguring American parks with unnecessary buildings and
miscellane