Evening star., 1922-03-19
CITY BEAUTIFUL rs AIN
OF WASHINGTON PLANS
Long Stretches Of Restful Green, Winding
Drives and Walks Lined With Elms, Parks
and PlaSas Pictured to Art League


population. 1t is only human nature
which induces people to take ad-
vantage of the growth and improve
ment of the city to further their own
private ends"
Would Move Botanic Garden.
The original plan of linking the
White House with the Capitol by
means of a long tree-lined vista, was
regarded by LEnfant as a compost
tion great in extent and magnificent
in it's possibilities" Mr.. Moore con-
tinued.
unfortunately" he said 1.-The slow
growth of Washington. and the de-
generacy of public taste. had led to
the division of this great and COM
parks. each of which was developed
as separate entity and with little
or no relation to the other. Where.
on the west of the Capitol. LEnfant
planned an open plaza as the head or
the Mall. space was fenced off for
collection of plants brought from
abroad. In time this use was en-
larged and a so-called Botanical Gar
den grew up. Neither the area nor
the variety of soil was sufficient for
a real Botanic Garden. and the OBJ
;struction TO the Mall plan was never
compensated for by the result at
tanned. Moreover. adjacent reserva-
tions necessary to the development of
the large plan were sold, and eventu-
ally must be purchased 1t is. there
fore, essential to the realization of
the Westinghouse Jefferson-L L'Enfant
plan that the Botanic Gardens shall be
removed to another site, and that the
space so occupied shall be opened as
a plaza This will give to the west
front of the Capitol as dignitied and
noble a setting as the east front now
has. Only so can the reproach that
the Capitol turns it's back on Wash
ington be removed.
in furtherance of this large idea"
Mr.. Moore remarked, Congress located
the Grant and the Meade memorials in
full knowledge that the statuary in
question, with it's appropriate settings.
would call for a new location for the
long outgrown gardens. Congress, how
ever, has failed hitherto to find new
location for them. Two alternatives
are open. If the gardens are to be
used mainly for greenhouses to grow
plants and flowers for the legislative
department of the government, this
purpose will be subserved by the use
of ten or more acres of the new vacant
and unsiehtly James Canal space south
of the Capitol. This would result in
the vast Improvement of IL section of
the city long neglected and now prac-
ticaliy unknown This. however, is
only a partial solution of the problem.
true botanic garden is concerned
rather with trees and shrubs than with
flowers, and as such requires hun
dreds. rather than tens of acres"
Favors Mount Hamilton Site.
Mr.. Moore called attention to the
report of Agricultural Department eX-
perts on the Mount Hamilton site, on
Bladensburg road, consisting of 400
acres. which. they said, possessed more
varieties of soil suited to trees than
did any other area in the District of
Columbia. BY the purchase of the
400 Mount Hamilton acres. some 500
or 500 acres of the Anacostia lands
poses without detriment to park fea-
tures," Mr.. Moore stated. NAY, more,
that the park plans could be SO modi-
fled as to make the decrease in the
cost of development greater than the
cost of the Mount Hamilton property"
he continued. Both availability and
economy. therefore. point to the Mount
Hamilton site as the one best fitted for
the creation of a botanic garden, and
the site has the further advantage
park approach to the city from Bal
timore.''
The plan for Washington Mr.
Moore said. provides for a carpet of
greensward, bordered on each side by
four rows of elms, back of which
tivities in which the people have an
interest-museums and the like. This
carpet of green extends from the
Capitol to the monument.
-"Standing on the west terrace of
the Capitol he continued, "one sees
between two brick smokeStacks the
Washington Monument. Those smoke
stacks belong to the heating plant of
the temporary war buildings located
in the Mall. The stacks were delib-
erately SO placed in order to mark the
Mall axis. So, too, the temporary
war buildings have been located so
that the roadways and walks ex-
tending east and west shall coincide
with those in the Mall plan. AS these
buildings disappear, the roads and
walks will be made permanent and
the new planting of trees in the va
cant spaces will conform to the plan
that is to say. four rows of American
elms, lined by driveways, with walks
under the trees. Thus the park con-
nections between Capitol and White
House will be restored"
Approves Lincoln Memorial Site.
Of the location of the Lincoln Me-
mortal, the speaker declared the
structure receives added dignity by