The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-10

| BOSTON. Feb. 9.-One Of the most in
! teresting features of the cooperation
| which has made possible the remarkable
| park system in and about Boston is the
part taken by Harvard University What
/ the university has done is. in a way. mere
ly incidental; yet 1t has served to give TO
the municipal pa.k system of Boston prop
| er unique distinction among the park
| systems of the world. and has added an
! important link in the chain connecting the
| thousands of acres OF varied hill lake,
and river scenery now Incorporated in the
larger Metropolitan Park district of the
so-called Greater Boston"
To understand the value of Harvard to
the parks, and the parks to Harvard. one
must understand something of the scheme
OF the whole system. The Metropolitan
| Park Commission was born, legally, in
1898. after preliminary investigation and
agitation of the subject covering about two
! years. The time was ripe for such an or
sanization in that there already existed the
| Appalachian Mountain Club, composed of
! people VINO had the enjoyment and the
preservation OF natural beauty very much
at heart; and the trustees of public reser-
! land as it seemed likely could eventually
be made into parks and pleasure grounds.
The Municipal Park Commission of Bos-
ton was also successfully in operation,
and the first steps had been taken toward
what is now the inner belt, or better,
horseshoe" of the entire system This
inner horseshoe. which is now practi-
cally complete. gives a good representa-
tion. in the city proper, of what is the
fnaI .afr % .
ban systems. working together in dis
tIict by thirty-seven municipalities i'm
mediately surrounding the State capital,
and having in the aggregate a pOpula lion
of something like million and a quar-
ter people.
This million and a quarter of people
support the Improvement OF their own
territory; yet the burden is sustained in
the lightest possible way. so that the
number who know the method behind the
improvements constantly going forward
along their rivers; in the boulevards
creeping steadily from town to town; and
in the roads, bridges, and resting places
in the shadow OF their wooded territory.
Grand Landscape Architecture.
This spirit of cooperation wisely di-
rected plays its important part, also, in
the municipal park system of the city of
Boston itself. and has made possible its
many miles of gracefully connected and
charmingly varied parks. To the person
who sees them for the first time. the I'M
pulse Is TO congratulate the ciCy upon its
good fortune in having, within reach OF
the very heart of its everyday business
activities. so much of natural beauty still
remaining exactly as it came from the
hand of nature.
That the park system is actually feat
of landscape architecture is a distinct
shock to many preeonceived notions. 1t is
interesting to note that the beginning of
the whole system was based upon the
need of providing proper outlet for two
dirty, stagnant, and dangerous streams of
water If the problem had fallen to an
other mind than that OF Mr.. Frederick
Law Olmsted. in whose honor main part
of the system has just been named, it is
hard to say what would have been its So
luton. 1t is safe to say that few men
would have grasped the possibility OF
Transforming muddy flats and a stagnant
brook into distinctly English waterway
flowing peacefully through natural, yet
well ordered. landscape, and connecting
by series OF parks, each individual and
forming natural steps in the progression,
the rural charm of Franklin Park with
the natural picturesqueness of the Charles
the system, made possible by the co-ope-
ration of The city of Boston and the town
of Brookline. the waterway which runs
through the park being the boundary line
between the two.
The Arnold Arboretum Is the result of
the cooperation of Harvard University in
this special arrangement of Mr. OImsted
The Arboretum, acquired by Harvard Uni
yersity through the bequest Of James Ar
mold OF Providence. r. l.. who left the
university 500, 600 for that purpose was
from its situation, a natural part of the
proposed system. II is nearly, if not
quite, the foremost tree museum in the
world, and the largest scientific garden
existing near the heart of a great city;
in fact, it is the only genuine arbOretum,
all other tree collections being simply ad-
Juncts to botanical institutions Its i'm
portance as centre of matters horticul-
tural is shown by the fact that the num-
Der of plants now yearly distributed from
ii averages nearly 10000. II gives the
park system, as has been already said.
a unique feature among the park systems
of the world.
But the Arboretum, as 1t now exists is
almost as much to the credit OF the city Of
Boston as to that of Harvard In consid-
GRAFTON OF its value to the parks and of
the increase of educational importance
which would follow such action. an agree
ment was made some years ago. Whereby
the city constructed roads, footways, and
walls throughout the Arboretum and
bound itself to maintain them and to po-
lice the grounds, the university assuming
the care and maintenance OF the remain
ing portion-that is, the plantations them
selves.
To effect this arrangement the city took
the entire area by right of eminent do
main, and then, for a nominal sum- leased
all except the roads and walks back to
the university The period of the lease
is for 999 years, and for that period,
therefore. Harvard University controls ev-
erything in its own Arboretum except the
roads and pathways-an arrangement that
gives to the people of the Commonwealth
free access to one OF the most remarkable
gardens existing, and to science the per-
manency essential to a tree museum of
the first class. Nor is the arrangement
one that interpolates in the park system
the artifcialty of a museum, for the eff
feet of the garden is that of great forest
park, and the system and order of it's ar
rangement is observable only after ex-
animation. Within its grounds is the most
notable primeval northumberland
since the beginning by the hand of man
in Massachusetts, the far-famed Hemlock
Gorge The park is full of variety in hill
and valley: and the view from its high
est elevation-a spot historically interest
ing as the one upon which Washington
had elected to fall back in case OF ne
cessity during the siege of Boston-is one
OF the celebrated outlooks in the city. On
its border, too, are the agricultural school
of Harvard University.
The municipal park system has been Iik-
ened to horseshoe In that II bends back
at Franklin Park. Just beyond the Arbore-
tum, and, by series of connecting roads,
- lt,,rw