The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-10

the art which satisfies this popular
need by flooding a corner of it's wide
eXpanSe with a tropical warmth and
variety of color is wiser than the cold
er art which diSdainS this tribute to
the popular instinct. Counting all the
hooks and corners in which flowers
are grown in Como park their entire
area does not exceed two and a half
acres-a small part of it's 425 acres to
devote to the qualification of the keen
popular hunger for flowers after the
long pr1Vation of the bleak and dreary
fall and winter months. AS a matter
OF fact, there is no feature of Como
park that is SO attractive to the great
mass of its annual million of visitors
as It's flowers. The lily pond, in which
are displayed in splendid bloom the
rarest of tropical lilies: the -parterre.
the only instance Of formal flower
gardening in the park, which is so
placed on the ridge Of the hills as to
be hidden from visitors until they are
close to 1t, and the flowers distributed
IN clusters and beds in other suitable
cOrnerS-these are chief centers of at
traction to the multitudes of park Wis
ltors whose enthusiastic warmth of
appreciation make it manifest that the
flowers in Como park have the uni
Versal and unqualified suffrages of the
pubic, whatever the disciples of the
cold and cherries Boston school may
say.
In all the seventeen years since
work was commenced in Como park.
$2O8,OOO has been expended for it's
maintenance, $4,000 for it's improve
ment, $4,000 for the structures and
building, and it is yet in the infancy
of its development
Phalen, Too, Is Paradise.
''Phalen park, lying on the lake of
that name. four miles east of Como
park, is, next to the latter, the most
important of our parks. Including the
boulevard so far acquired around Lake
PhaIen, Phalen park embraces about
1860 acres of land, consisting mainly
OF beautifully undulating belt of
woodland on its western shore. The
lake itself has a surface area, includ-
ing its Goose lake adjunct, of 249 acres.
IL is the largest of a charming grouD of
three springfield lakes-Lake Gervais-
a mile north of it receiving the tribu-
tary waters of Lake holman. and send
ing their united overflow to Lake Pha-
len through slender stream winding
along deep vale.
1t is the plan of the park board to
dredge out this stream to a width and
depth sufficient for the passage of
motor barges. This will afford a de-
"olOI Tor boats
about three and one-fourth miles in
length. 1t is proposed to extend the
boulevard around Lake Phalen up this
enlarged channel to and around Lake
Gervais and eventually around Lake
holman. Without the latter this would
add approximately 100 acres Of land
and 1872 acres of water to the surface
contents Of Phalen park, making the
total land area 1865 acres and its wa
ter surface 431, total Of 1915 acres.
This expansion will make Phalen
park the most extensive and, in some
important respects, the most attractive
OF all our parks. It Is distinctly an
aquatic park. 1t might also be called
forest park, for the primeval woods
which clothe it's western border-and
which have, happily, been rescued from
the vandalism which has denGded the
neighborhood Of ST. Paul of nearly all its
once extensive forest growth-form one
of its most characteristic features. But
if st. Paul is fortunate in the preserva-
ton of the cool shades of this native
forest for public pleasure ground. if
is doubly so In natures precious gift
of this cluster of charming lakes adorn-
d1 with its sylvan setting, close to
one Of it's most popular residence dis
triCts and within easy reach of Its
Whole population.
Although the initial steps for ac-
curing Phalen park were taken by the
park board in 1892, ii was not until