New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-05-23
CENTRAL PIHE.

The original plan of the cityS great Park was
so ample ard noble in its conception that no
incOmpettncy of commissioners and gardeners
has yet been able to degrade it into a common
place pie sure ground. The spacious sen of
meadow land overlooked by Mount St. Vim
cent, with its smooth shores and juttng pro-
montorics of foliage, and iSlanded with groups
of Oaks-thc broad stretches of lawn upon
winch trees already stately drop their dark
shadows-the rugged banks of the pond near
the Fifth Avenue entrance as seen from the
water leyel-thcse are pictures which the
visitor cannot help carrying away with him as
delightful memories ANA for which lie must feel
grateful.
If this breadth of treatment which gives the
Park such grand effect in It's general features
had only been supplemented by like intel
ligonce and taste in the details of the planting,
each year would have multiplied the charms of
every rood of the grounds. AS it is, much
of the Park is already a wild aud hopeless
tangle without meaning or expression. 1t is
hardly to be wondered at that the nervCAs
anxiety for immediate effect should have forced
the gardeners in charge to plant too thckIy.
Tne people had no patience. They had not
the prophetic eye of TASTE and planters while
eager to please the im,CriOus demands of the
public, would naturally try to persuade them
selves, against all experience, that future pun
ing and tbinning-out could remedy the original
error. The result has once mole proved the
folly Of such scheme, and the heroic remedy
Of completely replanting many OF the tlickcts
must finally be rcsOrtcd 10. 1t ought to be
remembered, however, that The Park has been
badly cared for in late Yeas, and this lack Of
ordinary supervision has aggravated all It's
original impclfcctiOns. Thorough and COM
petent attention will correct in future much
that otlcnds the eye SO that thc serious changes
in the work need not he plarmlngly expensive.
1t ought TO be remembered, too, that we are
hardly behind our neIghbOrs in the reckless
sQuanderng of our opportunities and the mutt
lation of the noble works which have been
Thought out and constructed for Us at so great
pains and cost Trustworthy authorities
complain that Paramount Park IN Phiadclphi
is Overrun with poisonous vines and other
cities are taking up a similar lamentatiOn.
This is the hopeful sign, for 1t indicates an
intelligent interest on the part of the people
and substantial growth of the popular taste
in this dire ,tiOn. And after all this is the
essential condition of success in every branch
of art. Creative genius i'll landscape art will
be found and hOnOred whenever community
demands and appreciates it. Every year the
thousands Of visitors who frequent the Park
are more competent to cliticise and direct its
management, and every year their cOrrcctiye
influence will be more strongly felt. The Park
as it is, In its grand features, is an education
and an inspiration for more honest and perfect
work and even in the points where it is
weakest there are many rare attractions, which
are not only delightful in themselves but
which demonstrate how much it could be
improved by the free use Of mIre varied forms
and colors and combinations. Every one has
felt occasion to regret the scarcity of finely
developed specimens Of the chOicer trees and
shrubs, but here and there there single trees
and groups which are worthy of all praise.
Just now there is q mass of Client azaleas
III the Ramble which no lover Of
plants can afford TO neglect. Probably there
are not half dozen specimens in the country
which can equal them. From their unusual SIZE |
they must have been already old when planted |
but they look as il they had hundred years
of vigor in them yet. They are now COM
pletely covered with bloom, and standing on
The northern boundary Of little opening in |
the wood in the full blaze Of the sun, the |
glowing pile Of blOOd-red and orange against |
O background Of green produces an effect |
which is indescribable and almost startling |
when first seen.