Morning journal and courier., 1884-03-19
MORNING, MARCH 10. 1884.
NEW HAVEN'S EhMS AND GREEN.
Descriptions, Historical Items and An
ecdotes of Persons and Things Con-
nectea Herewith.
By HENRY HOWE.

By HENRY HOWE. s--s
Copyrighted 1888 by Henry Howell
IN THIRTY-Two oHAPTERs-CHAPTER xxxu.
Plans for Improving and Beautffy in9
Oar Green-ConcIusiOn.
The central spot of our city is the south
east corner of our Green, the great neetin g
point of the street car lines. The Green
contains sixteen and quarter acres, enclosed
by an iron fence measuring 3,34S feet, or
172 feet less than two thirds of a mile. The
custom of inolosing public parks in our large
cities is being abolished. Excepting Central
Park. not public park in New York is en-
closed. Our brightest, most progressive
people, alike in their lives and laws, those of
the West in the suburbs of such beautiful
cities as Cleveland, Cincinnati. Detroit, Mad
ison, &C., have largely dispensed with fences
from before their dwellings and between
their lawns and those of their neighbors
Such places always please the eye. The
charm is both pictorial and moral Tt broad
ems the landscape, shows friendly feeling be-
tween neighbors, while the varied ornamen-
tatio1 OF each home ground increases the
beauty of the whole. The finest single street
illustration is Euclid avenue, Cleveland, an
avenue two hundred feet broad and extend
ing for miles into the country, which in many
places is as an open lawn. Thirty years ago
Bayar9 Taylor wrote that it was the most
beautiful single street of homes on the
globe; but how immeasurably superior to-
day with its enhanced beauty of architecture,
where grassy open lawns, flowers and flower
ing shrubs, leafy bowers, statuary and
sparkling fountains in varied succession
greet and captivate the eye. The village of
Clifton, one of the suburbs of Cincinnati,
composed entirely of suburban homes, has
not single fence The dwellings and
grounds there are magnificent and the aston
ishmsnt of distinguished travellers from
abroad.
A fence anywhere with its stiff, hard lines
is not an object of beauty. One of the ugly
words in our language comes from the idea
which it suggests fence is not
wanted around our Green. We're it away the
effect would be greater expansion and free
dom to the view, the area open increased by
the boundary streets to over twenty-one
acres.
In the event of the Green being made an
open area, we would suggest that the present
ten foot wide brick pavement be taken away
and a smooth, hard asphalt walk twenty-five
or thirty feet broad, widening and cnrving
in at the four corners on the inner line, be
extended entirely around it. This would be
for most of the distance arched by the elms,
and form one of the most noble of malls,
place for bicycles, tric5 cles, parlor skates
trundling hoops, baby carriages, promenades,
and an open air spot for the general enjoy
ment.
The Green, with our increase of wealth
and population, would probably in time be
adorned on the line of the mall with objects
of the sculptor's art and of the artist in
landscape, as statuary, fountains, giant vases
of flowers, etc. AS memoriI Il windows are
in fashion for the adornmeEt of churches, so
memorial objects of art might come in fash
ion for the adornment of the mall. noted
example of this kind has been given by the
erection of the beautiful fountain on the es-
plansde in Cincinnati reared by Henry Pro
basco in memory of his old friend and part
ner, Tyler Davidson, who was, we believe, q
native of our s'old Milford" This fountain
coat over 800, 600 and was from the famous
bronze factory of Schwanthaler in Munich.
On the Green itself not much would 'bs re-
qni ed, but along the mall like the border OF
beautiful shawl, could be made Surprisingly
attractive by objcts of art. The lower
Green is now very beautiful from its simple
grandeur Standing by the Insurance build
ing We look under the elm branches in the
foreground and the1e stretches for acres in
extent the most beutiful single object in ma
ture, grassy lawn. Nothing is So restful
so grateful to the eye Were those acres one
massive bed of flowers they would not be SO
impre ssive. 1t is herein that the tropical
landscapes, with their gorgeous flowers and
general luxuriance of vegetation, do not com
pare with those of the temperate climes
they have not the grasses. And our beauti-
full lawn is everywhere bounded by the most
graceful of trees, our maj sstlc elms, with
their rounding submits, dropping branches
and delicate, fragile leaves. third grand,
simple element of the picture is the over
hanging sky, where the mountain clouds of
summer rear their wool like submits, while
the green earth beneath is enliyened by the
ever moving figures. And this generous, ex-
panded out of-door apartment, with its floor
of grass, walls of elms and ceiling of sky, is
rendered more pleasing to the moral sense by
the church spires rising from above tbs trees
and the homes of elegance that enclose it in
the far distance.
AS regards the upper Green, while the
State House question is pending We would
like to see the stiff lines of naples removed,
and as far as possible the characteristics Civ
en- to it of an open grassy lawn, with perhaps
here and there to stand by itself single tree
to catch the eye and illustrate by its isolation
1.-The extreme beauty of solitude ia decora-
tion"
Our Green can be rendered more healthy,
and the verduEe maintained bright and fresh
through the entire summer, by the adoption
of underground drainage, with possibly the
of an occasional sprinkIing in
seasons of excessive drouth. This could be
accomplished by laying one inch and quar-
ter clay pipes or tile four feet underground
in parallel lines forty feet apart and empty
ing into ths sewers on the streets. These
tiles or pipss should be about foot long,
with each other by say two inch
collars or bands, loose enough to allow the
water to enter the pipes at the collar ends
oFpF3u ar fI1hk Yfln n
solid substances. Catch basins would be re-
quired in certain places. Farms are under
drained for about twenty five dollars an acre.
Te sub-drain our Green would probably not
exceed in cost two thousand dollars, and
when once done would last thousand yea g.
friend ''to the manor born," and formerly
in the profession of civil engineering, has
kindly volunteered the following paragraphs
In point
1.-The first and most important consideration
with regard to our Green relates to its sani-
tary condition. There may be reasonable
doubt whether it is entirely free from un-
v wholesome Influences. AT the northeast cor
ner, where Deacon Mansfsld's hog pen once
stood, swarm of mosquitoes, that in acti'ity |
and bloodthirsty persistence would do no |
discredit to their New Jersey brethren, de- |
msnd toll every summer of the would-be oc- |
cupants of the only bench in that quarter of |
the square. These pests may come from ths |
Ra0SS |
their birth, they make themselves heard |
and felt to some extent in every part of the |
lower Green during the mosquito season. |
There must be stagnant water somewhere, |
to which add heat and you have the elements |
Of malaria. Before the present thorough
system of sub-drainage was applied to the
old parks in New York city, no person of
delicate constitution or feeble health could
sit long in one of them without experiencing
q feeling of discomfort, and sometimes sort
Of creeping sensation like an incipient chill
This was natures warning to move on, Is
imperative to the initiated as a policeman's |
rough mandate and club of locust.
'.Sub-drainage, by drawing off the water |
that would soon stagnate, keeps the ground |
porous and opens it to the healthful Influences |
of sun and air, but for which it would be-
come musty and sour like damp and un-
ventilated cellar. By lessening evaporation |
the ground warns earlier in the spring and /
vegetation starts sooner. The surface of an
undrained soil hardens and bakes ON the first |
approach of drought, and the grass withers
sometimes in early summer for lack of mois-
ture, which porous soil would suck like
sponge from the atmosphere and keep the |
grass bright and thrifty.
Connected with this matter of drainage in |
;ts aan1tarv aspeck ia the venaraI avstem of |