BEAUTIFYING THE CITY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 547, 30 June 1909, Page 9

BEAUTIFYING THE CITY.

A SELF-APPOINTED COMMISSION. ' '' i ITS REPORT, ; . i f .givo a child somo sticks and a few , , of oarUi, , it. will plant tho former in tho latter, and porsundo itself that a garden . erected.V So wroto a keen observer .: ~■■?£iJluman. nature.. 'And every mother and ' i j.v": -many ifathora know it to bo true; and somo , people arguo that it js 'natural for men to :,i ; ; r P' a f !l - t ,trees and malo gardons. Somo make awful botches of thorn it is tmo, but thai • ■ notf'disprovothe. argument that, deop flown, in our nature there is a love of Naturo tht turns to tho cultivation of that which .- ; _"o<-* ,e r Earth loves to. nurture. - The natural • ifiam should; therefore be trainod in. order , to attajn tho boat results. This has not been lone u)|'tho past. > i .5 hat has been dono in rl* 8 >, f , an 7> oredit to anyone Iho.only idea seemed to bo to get a number if sapling pines or firs-dull, gloomy, and deesswg .growths, out of harmony with tho "inbT P i a ? >n clusters Little i^oublo, was,taken in.tbeir nrri,ngenKiiit, or r.:i £;"y W*Bi&.bp;% general effoct years dftor-■ ■ T 4' 3 I T, tho ""glification" (as . M test.:! »»./. s. at„s j>road,out like the tentaclea of tho octopus', T f tlge .grass or other liorbago dfsap! Md £ ,m , roodiato V oi ," jty ' and f'® sou bcofiijio sadly impoverished This has " ' W^." 19 plantation on - . .or Alt. Victoria,of. Nowto-.vn >???>. Q , uc £ n 8 Park, and, m part, at the maX Of r - T + ho troe rP lM ter S of a inarter of a century bad ignored tr « a 'and - shrubs, intended ' ■ --tho decoration. -arid enhancement of her own hills and dales kauri" W™ M* r T', • Pohutokawa, r Kauri trees could ono find n Wellington lt tllo present timo? There may bo a Sl ' wen In th° n Gardens at Taita or Botanical Gardens, but negloot has mado them a ranty. How many ™ricfomwl ,n » Swc ? t " fl °y 6 " n ? manuka could be f > ft"™ f a round about the city? Yet ■ ®^ r e°,°^' four 'Varietiesthat' are easily north A place m the city shrubberies. The'commission sets out. ST* th ° Uglltß 88 these a i u???n ,? )mmtsslon > consisting of Mr. - "A of th 6 Mi> StirtJ 1 ! A' Traiers (a local botan- !?. I » representative of The Dominion visited iVwtown Park josfcorday to "viow ,n f h an |doa of suggesting -iliS °L th ? reseno ; as a field for treo-plant-ing Most people know Non-town Park as a of meadow, half-moon in shapo, backed by a gloomy .forest of blacWrcen : an .d i beyond ,-thafc again tho ■' ridge 1 of ■ S3 " rU i l dc Z n M> .by. sonX,dv°s ■'! ' '' . in nntt!n®f .money has been spent : , .; in -putting tbs-plavuig area encom- 1 v, Ml il an<3 , wad 'n order, but no thought has been bestowed on that dreary be t of firs and piios that havo tbrivon for rt JJ7 or moro around its west south . and south-east sides. Yet as a site for dicm™bl Ua J ree "P' ftntln S tho park is really ad,i' u ra o r ®, so'tiwii one would imagine \iho has not threaded his nay under tho ' - i J r «adful troea. /hrcommis- : sion i jesforday mado a, circle of tho park 1: ; Pfit'ha;: ' through; tho ram-soaked patohos of open, t! e + i °. mln ? ncos apd seclude J i only, wait tho brain-dictated hand of man to bo recreated into botanical ' tetkl i h sure 'y must, have been 1 before tho land w JqicT baro by tho thl i ll l Kecpme along tho high path on tho jestem side, which is interlaced with the l viiiblo roots of pino, and fir tieos, tho commission noted a fi no gully that debouched trom the ridge downwards -towards the southern end of .Russoll Terraco-a spot cut * C '^J 1 S lrubb6r y- ' B°yond urL an<l coprosma, native plants 5 ore non-enistent t Round tho south- , era ond-nothmg but t/ie gloom of pines with tho bare ground beneath crackod by the insidious rootsi that destroy .the very soul of the earth. Tho grotvtli is so thick and tho ' < e lj j 50 impoverished that dozens of dead and djing pines woro espied. , Mlspjpcod Energy, v S , A had occurred in another part, It should oavo been welcomed Instead, the TJif? « worked foverishlv m its suppression, t i-Vy P'ty- Another spot tiat lends . • i .T' sllru Yv;adorhmerit>is '.that"' corner about tho sea-lion pond Directly above is a . knob \on which'.native'!n /P'ct"rMqiio;conj ■ 7^!P I ?> - a , n d l "n-rthe vlpwcr r slopes-within - eyeJ of the paths a judicious selection of Plan's would bnghtdn tho proP u 5 th< i rcorc ation ground is ap+h 9 sou , th ' and o,carl y with w ' mahu™ ti mm md m a , m '" h ungainly manure pit, is. one of those pnm 15 f 8 qtte<l uitli trees "clipped cab- ' toto' w"n 7 nfined " Snoh clipping la all very well when,, as ih the case of formal Italian gardens, thpro is some design oi mo--8 schemo, but to clip a soon as it manifests tho first sign of healthy growth is, to those who lovo troes Rscommendatlons, ion^Kog's;';;to^^''M^rt-4hat?the' mfraMn f' owto,vn P"k, an adnuraWe site for ornamental shmbberies r ' frnSfe f l ,®' 1 ' 1 ? eully leading southward ® ; -:fifo?«a'firs^l^ P!: f S tor a hrst-class ferntjy; and m conclusion tho gloomy conglomfir- . of firs;and pinesVwhich surkunf tS fifths of the Park should bo th, nne d out judiciously, and" the paths should b 0 made safe by providing water-tables whore at pre® , ■ sent noije can -be discovered.' 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