STP Fill-; DEVELOPMENT GOLDEN GATE PARK The Management and Thinning of Its Forest Tree Plantations. BOARD .OF PARK COMMISSIONERS, l-'KI-:i). I.AXY OI.MSTKD. I >\ii'\\' \\n JIM: BlHLDtHG THE DEVELOPMENT OF GOLDEN GATE PARK AND PARTICULARLY The Management and Thinning of .Its Forest Tree Plantations. A STATEMENT FROM THE TOGETHER WITH REPORTS FROM MESSRS WM. HAM. HALL, CONSULTING CIVIL ENGINEER, FRED. LAW OLMSTED, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, and JOHN McLAREN, LANDSCAPE GARDENER. SAN FRANCISCO: BACON & COMPANY, BOOK AND JOB PRINTERS, Comer Clay and Sansome Streets. 1886. Board of Park Commissioners. R. P. HAMMOND, JR., CHAIRMAN, WM. H. DIMOND, JOSEPH AUSTIN. A STATEMENT FROM THE PARK COMMISSION. OFFICE OF THE PARK COMMISSIONERS, | SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 16th, 1886. I In view of the importance of fhe subject, and the interest which has of late been taken in it, the Board of Park Commis- sioners consider it proper to make this statement, and give pub- licity to the accompanying reports. On entering upon their duty in May of the present year, after examination and upon taking advice which they consid- ered perfectly competent, they became well satisfied that the trees composing the older groups, belts, and masses on Golden Gate Park were suffering from overcrowding were, in fact, going backward in the scale of usefulness, and that many were destined to die, and the groups to lose character, if not re- lieved by thinning. Examining the early reports, on which the improvement and plantation of this place were based, it was seen that the intention of the designer was that trees should be cut away as soon as they began to interfere with each other, and that very, very many more trees had been planted than it was intended or thought possible to permanently occupy the spaces covered by the plantations. Inquiring as to the past of later dates, the Commission found that their predecessors had been deterred from carrying on this work of attention to the forest growth, because of lack of funds for the purpose, and the continual demand that money be expended for show and present enjoyment. Impressed with the gravity of the situation, continually growing worse, and just now, as regards the older and most noticeable plantations, in a most critical stage, this Commission made an appeal to the honorable Board of Supervisors, for funds to be devoted specially to the relief and betterment of the permanent forest growths in their charge. This appeal was answered by an appropriation of $5,500 from the municipal surplus fund of 1885-'6, for our use, as explained to be so very necessary. The work was commenced, but attracted undue attention, and elicited comment which the Commission believes to have been based upon misunderstand- ing of the situation and of its purpose. Realizing to the fullest extent the fact that they are but the servants of the public, and that our Park is a property of the public, in which each individual properly takes a great and active interest, they felt it incufaibent on them to have this subject well examined and explained. To this end, they called upon Mr. Wm. Ham. Hall, State Engineer, and their consulting engineer, for his report in writ- ing. It is to be remembered that Mr. Hall was the designer, as landscape architect and engineer, of this Park, and that he virtually built it, and planted the older plantations now desired to be placed under treatment. His report, under date of Sept. 1st, 1886, has been received, and is herewith presented. Most opportunely, the Commission heard about this time of the coming of Mr. Fred Law Olmsted, than whom no one is greater in the art of landscape architecture and the manage- ment of park developments. This gentleman has now been with us, and has quite carefully, and with much kindly inter- est, examined our Golden Gate Park. He speaks with an au- thority based on almost world-wide experience and observa- tion, and with a generally recognized reputation as the head of his profession in America. To more fully set Mr. Olmsted's status before San Fran- ciscans generally, we here insert an article taken from the " San Francisco Bulletin " of the 4th inst. "PARK OBSERVATIONS." " FRED LAW OLMSTED, THE LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, TAKES A VIEW OF GOLDEN GATE PARK RESERVATION." " There has been in California for near a month past, a gentleman whose name is familiar as household words to the good and solid people of New England, and the Eastern States generally, and to whom is attached an enviable reputation over a good portion of the well civilized world. This is Fred. Law Olmsted, who, at the invitation of Senator Stanford, crossed the continent to advise and plan with our benevolent Califoruian upon matters connected with the designs for the proposed University grounds, buildings, and village. Mr. Olmsted ranks first among American land- scape architects, and has a high reputation as a man of taste and wide practical experience in the laying out and improvement of parks, suburban towns, and rural neighborhoods. Indeed, he is the creator of the art of landscape architecture in America. He was the designer and original con- structor of New York Central Park, Brooklyn Prospect Park, the Buffalo Park, and a large number of other notable grounds of similar character. He is now in general charge of the works of the Boston Park Commission, which is just commencing construction of the large new Franklin Park ; and he is in advisory charge of a number of Eastern public grounds, those of the National Capital among the number. " His duty in generally advising Mr. Stanford having been completed, Mr. Olmsted is now on his way back to his labors East ; but it is under- stood that he has made an examination of Golden Gate Park, and will soon write to our Park Commission a letter of advice concerning important points in its improvement and management. He has expressed himself as astonished at the favorable development he has found at our Park, and thinks that we have every reason to hope for very interesting and satis- factory results from the Park work. Senator Stanford has done well in securing the advice of one so experienced and tasteful, and our Park Commission is fortunate in the prospect of some good advice from the leading authority on landscape architecture. " To Mr. Olrnsted's letter, this Commission next asks atten- tion. It is a thoughtful document, which the Commissioners, in common with our esteemed evening journal, fully appreciate the value of, and by which they will be guided in the hope of doing good service to their constituents. In the mean time, it seemed to the Commission advisable that they should have also the opinion of some distinctly prac- tical, able, and altogether disinterested local authority on forest tree culture and the development of large ornamental grounds. To this end, the kindly services of Mr. John McLaren, land- scape gardener, were called in to examine and report on the plantations. Mr. McLaren is a gardener, practically educated at the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens, and a number other large ground* in Scotland. He has for a number of year, had charge of the best developed large private park ground in Cal- ifornia, and has therein had experience in just such plantations as we are trying to perfect at the Park. And he is one who has studied practically and daily the subject of park growths in many of the best places in the State. His report on our charge is also annexed. In view of the concurrence of opinion by these authorit sustaining the Commission in its efforts to save the young for- ests and tree groups of Golden Gate Park, the Commission has decided to go on with its work of thinning them as begun, and hopes that it will be understood and sustained in so doing. In order that it may generally be understood in the future that the 'Commission is, in the technical affairs of its work, acting with the advice of some one competent to advise in t! particular line of work, there are appended hereto also extract from certain letters, written years ago by Mr. Olmsted, which were placed on file by the Board in 1876, but have neve, fore been brought to public notice. Respectfully presented, R. P. HAMMOND, JR., WM. H. DIMONI>, - JOSEPH AUSTIN, Commissioners. REPORT OF WM. HAM. HALL, Consulting Engineer. SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1st, 1886. The Honorable Board of Park Commissioners, San Francisco, Cal. GENTLEMEN: Your attention has heretofore been called, in a general way, to the conditions of the tree plantations at Gol- den Gate Park; but in view of the fact that there is much in this connection which seems not to be understood in some quar- ters, and that a proper appreciation thereof upon the part of all is much to be desired, the present memorandum is submit- ted for your consideration and disposal. Under the circumstances, it will not be unbecoming injnejo recall to mind some facts related to my_ former duty on this Park, tending to show thatj_do not approach the subject as a novice, or speak without authority on the special work in hand. The improvement of the Park grounds became a subject of systematic study, with the undersignejL. full seventeen years ago. The plan was designed and placed upon the ground Jy_ me. For nearly seven years JJiad. its development in charge as enffineer&andscape ajghitect^and sjipermtend^nt//.' All of /// the principal, ancfln the aggregate, full five-sixths of the ex- isting drives, were built and completed under my_care. The body of the heavy grading which shaped the grounds for oc- cupation, and which is now unseen and unappreciated, was done by my guidance. The drifting sands were all success- fully reclaimed to the first stage of the work, by the use of native and imported plants, and a considerable area set out in trees and the beach-grass, folio wing _my_study_ of the subject and by mv_labors. The older tree and shrub plantations, in the more finished grounds, which now have attained size to afford efficient protection from the driving winds, and be spec- ially noticeable in the landscapes, were set out in accordance 8 with mv thought and under my direction. In other words, the foundation of the Park of today was laidjyjne. and mucJijQf the superstructure was erected under my supervisjmL.. In saying these things^Ijlo not mearTto detract from credit justly due those who have succeeded to its management. Most of the ornamental flower-bed work which now shows so beautifully, and a vast amount of tree and other plantation work which in due time will grow into prominent notice and useful- ness, and the construction of many of the foot walks and of some parts of the drives, have since been carried out under oth- ers' superintendence. Reference is made to mvjabors on these o-rounds, only as a reminder that I know that of which this O J < * , memorandum treats the theory of the design and plantation of the place. The selection of the present Park site was made in the face of bitter opposition. It was generally believed and repeatedly uro-ed bv a good portion of the local press, that an attempt to D * * O build and maintain a Park on the dry sands and brush-covered hillocks which composed the site, would prove a costly failure. Powerful and winning pens, whose ink has within the past de- cade flowed in gratulation at the results attained and to be ex- pected on Golden Gate Park, were within the ten years before busily engaged in denouncing the selection of the place for the purpose declaring that no Park could be built there, and no verdure maintained, at any cost which the city could afford. The Presidio reservation was spoken of as the only place which could be had, whose soils were suitable for the great city Park of San Francisco, and Congress was to be petitioned to grant it to municipality for the purpose. Other propositions were made to obtain a location in the southern part of the city, and almost every other place seemed to receive more favorable no- tice than that selected. As a matter of fact, the selection has proved, and will continue, as time rolls on, to prove, a wise one. The -sands afford a warmth essential in a Park for San Fran- cisco, which a clay soil would have rendered impossible to at- tain. The surface of the Presidio reservation is all clay or closely underlaid by clay, and so was every other site spoken of except that selected. The sandy site has been handled at 9 one-half the expense which a clay location would have cost. The result speaks for itself. The theory of this whole improvement was clustered around the ideas of " repose," and " warmth, and u enlivenment." To attain these in our peculiar climate, without sacrificing breadth of treatment, and that ample accommodation necessary to meet the growing demands of a great city, and to make a park-like effect by simple and inexpensive means, was the subject of seven years' thought and work on my part, aided by a corres- pondence with specialists abroad, and by every account and il- lustration of experience elsewhere which could be collected. The forestry and landscape architecture of the place was par- ticularly the subject of consideration. What was the nature cf the landscapes which could be produced and maintained under the circumstances, at reasonable cost? What the char- acter of verdure with which the place should be clothed, and what its general plan of disposition to effect the leading ends desired ? These were the ideas and questions which led the thought and guided the work, in originally laying out and planting the Golden Gate Park. It was designed that the six hundred or more acres of the reservation including and lying west of Strawberry Hill, and its connected ridge, should be simply treated as a woodland or forest, with all the hills and ridges more or less heavily tim- bered, and the valleys covered with lower-growing shrubs or field grasses; that the four hundred or less acres east of the hill and rido-e should be treated as a more finished Park, with o its tree plantations in smaller masses or groups, principally on the higher grounds, and its several notable valleys occupied by such special features as a picnic ground; a garden includ- ing a conservatory and semi-tropical exhibit; a children's quar- ter including a dairy-house and play-grounds ; a recreation ground for sports of older people ; a lawn, with lake and water terrace ; a manor house and grounds, with concourses for car- riages and pedestrians ; and an open air concert auditorium ; and finally, that the avenue of approach for it is three-fourths of a mile from Baker to Stanyan Street should afford a means of o-ettinw to the Park against the direction of the wind, without DO D fully encountering its driving force. 10 Simplicity of design and economy of construction, improve- ment, and maintenance, were ever held in view. I was early warned from an experienced source, and confirmed the lesson by observation, that it was an easy matter to make a great garden and lawn of the Park by the expenditure of sufficient money, but that it would cost enormously to maintain *iurh a place, and that the most desirable ends of t; repose " and " warmth " were chiefly to be obtained by simpler means ; namely, a judicious shaping of the grounds, a sheltered loca- tion of roads and walks, a skillful disposition of trees and shrubbery, and the maintenance of a green covering to the ground without constant watering. Thus, the plantation work was carried out always with a distinct purpose in mind; and there was no haphazard work about it, although much was done of an experimental nature, and all with a sustained, tentative policy, and watchful regard for partial results, as affecting current action. The planting of trees was done in the expectation that full twenty-five per cent, might fail to grow, because there was no local experience under similar conditions to guide on the point, and it was not known what facilities there would be from year to year to care for the plantations. The adaptability of different kinds of trees, in our climate to the special objects in view at particular points, was not fully known, and in order that landscape effect, as well as utility and thriftiness, might be consulted in afterwards thinning the groups, many more in variety as well in number were planted, in leading groups, than it was desired and intended should afterwards stand therein. Still again, to produce a pleasing effect of verdure as soon as possible, trees were planted much closer together than it was intended they should stand, and than was required, be- cause of other reasons before given, and than future healthful growth would admit of as a permanent placing. ' With this view, certain quick-growing and hardy evergreen trees were planted in many places, to serve as shrubs in the foreground of intended tree groups to cover the ground tem- porarily, and give an appearance of shrubbery, in the absence of proper spreading plants for the purpose. 11 And, finally, to afford mutual protection against the driving winds, and the sooner to produce effectual wind-breaks to shelter the roads and walks, the trees were grouped in larger masses, and placed in far greater number within each group, than would otherwise have been done. In fine, I say that during the first six years of planting on the Golden Gate Park, full four times as many trees were set out as should, to produce well formed and thrifty trees, and permanent plantations, occupy the spaces covered by the groups and belts. And this was done deliberately, and for The reasons heretofore given ; and it was good policy, and nec- essary so to do, for the same reasons, and others collateral, but not necessary at this time to review. Furthermore, I am prepared to show that this practice of planting thick, and af- terwards thinning as the young trees commence to interfere with each other, in varied degrees, is a universal custom in the cultivation of forest growths, where systematically done, whether the object be that of business enterprise, of landscape improvement, or of growing belts or groups, to afford protec- tion from winds. This subject is one full of long, varied, and systematic experiences, the results of which constitute a body of professional knowledge not to be ignored in the improve- ment of the Golden Gate Park. European foresting accounts show that from 30 to 60 per cent, of trees planted are cut out from the time they reach the size of fish poles to that of five to six inches in diameter, and twenty-five to forty feet in height; and this is done not for the timber produced by the cutting, but as a sanitary measure- in the interest of health, vigor, and rapid and complete growth of those trees left standing to constitute the forest. In such cultivations there are the first, second, and, sometimes, third and fourth thinnings of the young plantations ; in which pro- cesses the weaker and least desirable trees are taken, where the growth is too thick for strength and health to all. After- wardswhen the woods, as a whole, are fully grown, and the final cutting commences the larger and more mature trees are at first selected, and the slender ones are given another series of years for development to the commercial standard. 12 In the plantation of parks there areas reasons for the thick- setting of trees with the view of subsequent thinning out, not only those objects which govern in ordinary forestry, but those also, which are sought to be attained as essential to park-like effect and early development to a condition for use as a park, sind to a state where ultimate landscape effect can be studied in making the thinnings. All these considerations have had potent influence in the improvement of modern parks. It is on record in printed form, and I have corroboration by corres- pondence with those specially skilled and in charge of the works, that hundreds of thousands of trees have been removed from the plantations of the Parks of New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other eastern cities, in the course and for the purposes hereinbefore mentioned. Furthermore, we do not have to go beyond the limits of our own State to find extended and successful applications of these rules of plantation. In the adjoining county of San Mateo, for instance, are many examples of grounds where, to save and fully develop large plantations of trees set for landscape pur- poses, more than half the number have been cut out within ten to twelve years after planting; and the testimony of those in charge of such places, as well as the evidence of contrast- ing results, is overwhelmingly in favor of the necessity of thin- ninw at the rio-ht times. The Golden Gate Park itself affords O O ample lessons on this point for those who are willing to learn. A few groups of trees which were thinned out in 1876, by my direction, now present thoroughly healthful, vigorous, well- branched, well-rooted, and well-formed trees in striking con- trast to the greater portion of the older plantations, as here- after described. How is it with our Golden Gate Park as a whole ? Has the complete system of forest and wooding development, originally marked out for it, been adhered to ? I answer that it has not, and that its older tree plantations are now in an abominable condition, and, with a few notable exceptions, as a whole, are rapidly deteriorating for the purposes intended and desirable ; many of the principal groups are gone almost past redemption, and the younger plantations are fast getting in the same state, and all because the necessary thinning has not from time to time, during the past ten years, been attended to. I say this not as a reflection on those who have had the place in charge, for I am told that had means been at command during the last past administration, the effort would have been made to pre- vent this evil ; and I know that during preceding administra- tions some of the necessary work was attempted, and much more would have been done, but for the manifestation of op- position to cutting any trees, which, though doubtless prompted by motives in the public interest, came from a source not versed in the practice of forestry and park construction. Now we have at Golden Gate Park trees whose natural habits would produce heads of foliage twenty-five to thirty-five feet across, near the ground, at ten to fourteen years of age, and which were planted four to eight feet apart, in 1871 to 1876, with the view of gradually cutting out full two-thirds of the number within the years down to this time, still stand- ing in the groups as planted spindling, bare-stalked saplings within the groups, and one sided shams around the mar- gins thereof in many cases not a healthy, well-developed specimen in the whole group. In this respect, the main large clumps of the older trees at the Park are rotten shams, whose period of usefulness as desirable objects in the landscapes, and as protectors from the driving winds, is well near ended ; and which, in a few years, because the individual trees are spin- dling, weak, and light-rooted, and with foliage and branches high up on the trunks only, will commence to blow down, wholesale, before the blasts and storms of winter. The over- crowding of the trees in the group, keeping out light and air, has forced a weak upward growth, and has killed off all lat- eral branches within the groups, and has left a healthy branch- in<>- and foliage on one side onlv of the trees around the mar- irms. This account relates to the tree plantations throughout the Avenue leading to the Park, but especially to the older and more noticeable plantations, with some few exceptions, in the eas- tern and more frequented part of the grounds. Throughout these parts of the Park are forest trees, of kinds whose branches should be encouraged to grow and spread, 14 from the ground, laterally, to their utmost extent, which should never be trimmed off or shortened in. standing now on the very edges of roads and walks, and there necessarily shorn of their beauty and character by the pruning hook, shears, or axe. because their spread was absolutely obstructing the pas- sage ways. These trees were never intended to stand perma- nently in such places. They were planted thus as shelter to others behind, and should have been taken out some years a-o when the proper time came, and before those in the rear and intended to be permanent had lost their foliage and vigor from overcrowding. There are thousands of trees in the older plantations of this Park, which are serving no other purpose than to kill off or ruin others, and which should be cut out. The newer plantations have been made in the manner of those set out in the early park work ; and if now properly taken in hand, the lamentable condition into which the older groups have fallen may be warded off for these younger ones. Thus, the work which should now be undertaken in the tree plantations of the Park is, in the older groups, one of re- lief and repair, and in the newer plantations on of simple pre- vention profiting by the experience so dearly bought. It is proposed to try to prevent the older plantations of pines and cypress from further smothering the individual trees of which they are composed, and in this way to prevent the further loss of lower limbs, and to promote a more vigorous growth of the best trees. To this end it is proposed to cut out the weaker trees, particularly within the groups, to clean out the dead and dying foliage and branches, to clear away trees which, by their nature, are out of place in the fore- grounds of groups, and thus to let light and air in to the indi- vidual and important trees. Having cleared away the rubbish and superfluous trees, it isjproposed in suitable cases to try to rehabilitate the groups as masses of verdure springing from the ground, by planting at proper distances from them small groups of lower growing shrubs and plants, as was done in 1875 and 1876, in the case of some groups near the park lodge, and which now present a comparatively attractive appearance. 15 It is not intended to cut out any trees or foliage which now seem to he necessary for protection from the driving winds, except at limited localities, where the condition of the planta- tions is so abominably bad, and hastening to early decay and uselessness, that a very small amount of foresight prompts ac- tion to save some part of the group, and to reform it with younger plants at the earliest time practicable. It is not intended to denude any trees of their lower branch- es, and thus apparently open up a space for the sweep of winds, except where such branches are dead or absolutely dy- ing, or where it may be necessary for the health of trees. It is not intended to destroy any tree or branch which, with any reasonable degree of foresight, can be saved and made to serve a good purpose ; and to this end it is intended to give the benefit of any reasonable doubt in retaining that which has grown, and to go over the grounds several times before ~ o o completing any one portion. In the newer plantations it is intended to go forward with the work of thinning gradually, selecting the weaker growing plants first, and cutting out those only which have commenced to interfere with their neighbors. To the unitiated, even this careful work may in some cases seem, at first glance, a rough handling of precious trees; but to any intelligent, unprejudiced person, who will carefully watch the operation, patiently learn the object in view, and the means proposed for the accomplishment in each case, and inves- tigate the subject with no other experience, even, than that so plainly apparent in this Park itself, the conclusion will be in hearty support of the work. The work of thinning the older plantations commenced some weeks ago on the south side of the Avenue, or approach to the % Park. There were in this locality full twice as many trees as could occupy the space and remain healthy, much less develop to well formed, strong rooted, vigorous and permanent trees. The lower branches of most of them were dead or dying. Many of the trees themselves were in a sickly condition, and not making vigorous growth. Through this plantation of between 800 and 900 trees the 16 dead wood has been cleaned out and tbe poorest trees cut away to the number of less than one tree in ten of those composing the groups. It is not a fact that some of the best trees were cut away. The work was carefully done, and held far within the margin of actual necessity in the locality. It will be nec- essary to go through these plantations again in the spring. This is the work which has been criticised as a ruthless cutting away of valuable trees. Attention is asked to the condition of the corresponding plan- tations on the north side of the Avenue, as viewed by going on foot into and through the individual groups. They are, as here- tofore described, immeasurably over-crowded, killing each other out, and together forming a jungle of dead under-branches on- ly hid by a fringe of verdure around the edges. To leave them in this condition is the height of absurdity, and constitutes the most flagrant neglect, which the public would regard as little short of criminal breach of trust on your part, if the subject were generally understood. As it is, the first effect of thinning these groups will be to expose to view bare trunks and trees which have lost their ver- dure on one side from crowding by others. It is not your fault that you have thus to open out the unsightly interiors of these croups, that you have to cut out trees of fourteen years of age, which should have been removed between the ages of six and ten years. It is not your fault that those remaining are bare- stalked and one-sided. But it will be your fault if you fail to do now the best that can be done with these neglected planta- tions, and it results that they are blowing down and not worth trying to save a few years hence. Attention is specially asked to the plantation which stands around the head of Conservatory Valley, behind the music stand and now protects it from the winds. It is plain to any intelli- rent observer that these trees are excessively over-crowded, are, in consequence, losing their lower branches, are spindling up as slender, weak poles, and that in a few years they will afford no protection to the place, and will kill each other out for want of air and soil-space. It took six years of growth in the virgin soil to rear that group of pines high enough to pro- 17 tect this valley. It should have been thinned gradually from that time on, so as to preserve a vigorous growth of lower branches. This has not been done. The trees are scarcely worth saving. To clean out the dead wood now and thin the O group, will result in letting the wind through, and possibly in the blowing over of some remaining trees. Moreover, the soil is impoverished by its over-crop of pines. This is the condition of things in many places on these grounds. A very careful and sustained effort is required for some years in the future to prevent a decided deterioration in what seems now to be the more highly improved parts. It is not the intention in this work to open up the grounds for costly or ornamental improvement. The motive of econo- my is the leading thought in promoting it. The desire is to save trees, and have them continue to afford the glad relief to the eve, and grateful protection from the winds, for which they were planted ; and the methods employed in the work are neither merely theoretical nor blind experiments, but are well tried, thoroughly understood,and amply justified by world- wide practice both in forest and park grounds. The prejudice against attempting the improvement of Gold- en Gate Park extended down to a period several years after the work beo-an. At the time of the inauguration of work, there O O was a fusilade directed at the management, and delay was de- sired, and experiment demanded to test the probable success of growing anything on the sire. It is even a fact that two C3 / O of the three original Commissioners were loth to accept the responsibility of the attempt, and it was upon the favorable report of the undersigned, following a careful investigation of the whole subject, that the first bonds were sold, and the work went on. When the work of grading was to be begun, there was a proposition strongly urged by outside influences, and seriously entertained, to grade off the place to a plane, like a public square, and run straight avenues athwart it, thus destroyiug all semblance of natural configuration, and all possibility of rural and true park-like effect. The Avenue leading up to the Park was to be laid out as two parallel streets, with rows of 18 trees and ii walk on each side, and a grass plat in the middle, thus opening a straight funnel for the sweep of the winds, and but adding number to the city's dusty streets, instead of, as now, affording, by its curved road and grouped plantations, a comparatively sheltered approach to the main grounds. On the other hand, when after the present plan had been adopted, and the work of grading was in progress, the idea was practically developed of retaining the general topographical configuration of the place, and planning to it opening up rea- sonably direct lines of communication from valley to valley, by partially cutting away intervening hills, where absolutely necessary so to do, and filling up unsightly hollows to give a breadth of effect, and secure open spaces of reasonable size for lawns, meadows, and concourses the cry went up that the face of nature was being ruthlessly destroyed, and money be- ing uselessly expended. At the same time, and from the same sources came a protest against making the roads so wide. A committee of a certain society, professing special knowledge of such matters, was appointed to investigate the matter. Its report condemned the extravagance of roads over thirty feet in width, and recommended that they be fitted to the ground just as it was without material cutting away of hillocks or fil- ling of hollows. A portion of the press took the matter up, and commented most unfavorably upon the work going on. The result shows that had the gratuitous suggestions offered been taken, we would now have a place akin to a contracted beer garden in plan, and in no way affording the space and relief which the Park of today presents, much less the broad land- scape effects which are being developed there. When it was proposed to reclaim the drifting sands simply by a process of cultivation upon them, the idea was denounced as fallacious and mere " theory." It was asserted that the hills would have to be, in a measure, graded down, and the whole covered with a layer of clay to prevent drifting of the sands ; that even then all plants set out would have to be wa- tered; that the entire area of the sand drift, including outside private property, would have to be improved at the same time, to prevent the Park works from being covered in by sands 1.9 drifting from the sides ; and, finally, that before anything could be done, there would have to be a great seawall of stone built along the beach, down at the line of low tide, to prevent the whole improvement being swallowed up, as fast as made, bv the in-coming of additional sands from the sea. The ob- servations and investigations which led to the adoption of the methods of reclamation, afterwards so successful on these sjinds, were made by the undersigned without authorization from any one of the Commission; and the experimental plant- ation of a few acres, which demonstrated that the first object of arresting the drift could be cheaply accomplished by simply sowing mixed barley and lupin seeds, was made with the ap- proval of only one of the Board, and was not publicly spoken of until after its success had been assured, because there were those in the city who opposed every move that looked like spending any money, or that they themselves did not under- stand and believe in. These reminiscences are here recounted to remind you that it has not been without misunderstanding and opposition that the Golden Gate Park improvement has been brought even thus far on its way to completion. There are always those who, looking only upon the surface of such subjects, want to let alone all that appears to be well enough for the time being. The conductor of public works is the employee of every mem- ber of the commonwealth, and the constructor of a Park is very generally thought to be simply making a lai'ge " garden " for each inhabitant of the city. In the opinion of many persons, it is natural for every one to know best how his garden should be made and managed ; it is natural for every body who has seen a forest to know how forests are grown and cared for ; it is natural for every one who has been to Europe, and ridden through the old parks there, to know just how they were developed, and, consequently, how to make and grow a park here ; it is natural for every one who has experience in planning and growing a home garden to know how to lav out and o o o develope a great park. And there is no greater truth than that the most skillfully developed park, to the appreciation of 20 very many persons, speaks least for its architect, because all the best results seem as by nature designed and grown, and only the filigree work, ornamental structures, and flower beds appeal to the understanding of such persons, as works of art. You thus find yourselves in charge of a trust whose nature is not appreciated by very many persons, and even by many of intelligence and opportunity for observation : and this, sim- ply because their attention never has been seriously called to the art of landscape construction and park building. In my judgment, the plantations of the Park are now, or are fast becoming, in very bad and disastrous condition. It is a thankless task to undertake their salvation. The Board of Commissioners who will let things for the future drift, and keep the surface green and bright for the time being, and add to the present "attractions" of the place, will receive passing praise, and will only share with all the rest the odium of hav- ing allowed the tree plantations to go to the dogs, when in a few years the matter comes to be popularly understood. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. HAM. HALL, Con. Civ. Eng. 21 SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., Sept. 30th, 188(>. HON. FRED LAW OLMSTEAD, Palace Hotel, S. F. Dear Sir: The Park Commissioners of San Francisco appreciate the relation which you bear to park improvement in the United States, and they believe that the people of San Francisco, also, will recognize in you the acknowledged leading authority on such art. Hence, they respectfully call your attention to a subject which has of late been under discussion here, and which the Commission believes to be, just now, vital to success in the development of a park on Golden Gate Reservation. This is, the condition of the tree plantations and other heavy growths there located, the proper method of treating these plantations for their preservation and betterment, and the general subject of developing and maintaining, in the most economical manner, an acceptable and satisfying growth of park- like vegetation, of various classes, over this reservation. In this connection, the Commission transmit a report recently made on the subject by William Hammond Hall, consulting engineer, asking you to read it, and examine the facts as presented at the Park, and to give the Commission, in such way as you see fit, the benefit of your advice on the points named, or such of them as you can touch upon, together with whatever else may occur to you in this general connection, and which your observations at the Park may prompt you to write. With an assurance of personal esteem, and a sense of the considerable service you will render this public by compliance with this request, I am, sir, Your Obd't Servant, R. P. HAMMOND, JR., Chairman Board Park Commissioners. COMMUNICATION FROM HON. FRED. LAW OLMSTED. SALT LAKE,* October 5th, 1886. R. P. HAMMOND, JR., Chairman of Park Commission, San Francisco, DEAR SIR : I have the honor to reply to your note, received as I was about to leave San Francisco. You ask that I give you in a few words the result of my impression received from the examination which I have recently made of your Golden Gate Park, and especially my opinion as to the condition of its forest tree plantations, and the necessity of thinning out the trees composing them, etc. The work of improvement of your park site, in common with that of others, naturally is divided into two classes, according to the purposes had in view the one, the creation of a park, the other, providing for its occupation and use, and the amuse- ment of people therein. The more important is that of obtaining the apparently nat- ural outlines and growths constituting a park fit for occupa- tion by a city's crowds, and suitable for the distinctly rural recreation of people, as a relief and counterpoise to the urban conditions of their ordinary circumstances of life. The attaining to this end must be largely the work of na- ture ; but that the result may be altogether suitable, as well as pleasing and interesting, obstacles to the necessities of use must be removed, the desired work of nature must be started and assisted, and the natural development of plantations be studied, guided, and encouraged in various ways. Beyond this, in the preparation of your park proper, nothing else is necessary but the provision of ways by which the results of nature's work may be enjoyed by the public without injuring and wearing them out. 1 This letter was written by Mr. Olinsted on his way East. His residence and business address is Brookline, Mass. 23 In noticing, as you ask me to do, what has been accomplished on your grounds in this way, I am able to compare the site for the proposed Golden Gate Park, as I examined it last week, and as I saw it twenty years ago, when the question of its se- lection was being discussed. And now I say that the result thus far obtained in the legitimate line of park creation, al- though as yet comparatively but little attractive to the pub- lic, or effective to the end in view, is an achievement far ex- ceeding all that I have believed possible ; and that it gives per- fect assurance that if the work so well begun is as wisely car- ried on, no city in the world will have as good reason for tak- ing pride in its park as San Francisco. The Golden Gate Park, judiciously developed, is certain to have a unique and incomparable character ; and this, not be- cause of any striving after artificial originality, but because of the inauguration of its design and growth by a thoroughly studious, inventive, and scientific exercise of judgment in grasping such opportunities as nature afforded, and in the solving of an extraordinary problem presented in the circum- stances of the locality. The creation of a park on this site in imitation of other great parks, is a result which could have been accomplished in a limited degree, by the expenditure of great sums of mon- ey, and its value would have been more than measured by its cost. But the starting of growths which will successfully come to maturity, and be maintained at small cost on this site, having a park-like effect, unique and singular though it be, and the outlining of a plan admitting of its pleasurable occu- pation for rural enjoyment, is an achievement of value to San Francisco very far in excess of its cost. This, I think, has been effected. The foundation is laid and the possibilities demonstrated. As to the other line of improvement which you are called on to carry out, it is that of providing grounds for public en- tertainment. This is done chiefly by a show of plants arranged and displayed in a manner the reverse of a natural or rural or- der. What has been done for this purpose, chiefly in the garden 24 of your Conservatory Valley, is a good piece of handicraft in the* style that has for some time past been in fashion, but from which a reaction seems now setting in throughout com- munities older than your own. Your ornamented ground and flower garden being in no re- spect the product of local circumstance, or representative of distinctly local taste or study, and its full value being already realized, calls for no expression of judgment from me as to the possibilities of its future. I will only say that I am inclined to think that it was unfortunate that ground was taken for this purpose within the territory to which the term park has been applied, because it tends to confusion of public opinion be- tween the wholly irreconcilable purposes of a rural park and those of an urban garden, and to favor neglect of the more substantial and more permanently important of the two. In my view it is most desirable that the public, to whom you are" responsible, should bear in mind that your fine gar- den ground, with its arrangements for crowds of people, its brilliancy, its bustle of carriages, and it# brass band, is to gain nothing of importance through future'growth, and that should it be swept away by a flood, or ruined by neglect or parsimo- ny, a similar and as valuable a means of entertainment could be produced in a short time, at small expense, on the same site, or in any other part of the city. It is no more an essential part of the rural park which you so much need, and in the future will absolutely require, for your people, than is a picture hung in a frame an essential part of the house which holds it. Two or three years from now it would be of little importance whether it is this year well managed or not. Lost ground in this class of improve- ment can quickly be recovered. Not so with the Park proper the permanent and really valuable portion of your charge the o-rounds at large, with their various growths of trees, and shrubs, and plants that produce, or are to produce, your rural effects. The degree of wisdom of its management today gov- erns the value of results in years to come. That which has been achieved points the way for future ac- tion. It is no longer an obscure problem. Observe and study 25 well the results before you. Unless managed with disgrace ful waste of the opportunities now offered, there is no reason why the park proper should not go on gaining in value through greater fitness for its purpose, year after year, indefinitely, [t cannot fail, under decently conservative management and sustained study of the demands which nature makes apparent to be far more attractive and useful ten years hence than now, and a hundred years hence than ten. As to the question you more particularly ask me to consider the condition and management of the forest tree growths I consider that Mr. Hall's views, embodied in the report you hand me, are unquestionably sound, and my examination of the place enables me to say that his statements sustaining them appear to me to be moderately made and accurately cor- rect. The conditions of the case are in such degree unusuaf, and the results thus far attained so conclusive of the soundnfess of the course recommended, that it-^ouljUjeunjustifiable tp turn aside from it, even if no*e*v.idence from the experience of others could be offered in support of it. His theory can stand on its own legs. But, in fact, it is sustained by ail experience the world over. No man with the slightest claim to speak with authority, can be found in the least at difference with him. I do not doubt that it was essential to the successful growth of the designed masses of foliage of the Golden Gate Park, that its trees should be planted as closely as they were. I do not doubt that it is equally essential to the growth in a healthy way of such masses that, as the trees advance in size, their number shall be greatly reduced. It is a common practice, as Mr. Hall states, after certain periods of growth, not to leave more than one out of five of trees originally planted. The best park plantations in the world (by which I mean the healthiest, sturdiest, longest lived, and most agreeable in natural aspect), have been obtained in this way. The condition of the older plantations in Golden Gate Park has now become such, through neglect of the timely, con- tinuous and gradual thinning originally intended, that very 26 many comparatively large trees have to be cut out, and in many places the older groups cannot be judiciously treated without temporarily .injuring their appearance. If to avoid such momentary apparent injury the neglect is allowed to con- tinue, the trees will soon be ruined ; that is to say, the major- ity will come to a miserable, lingering death, and those .sur- viving, instead of presenting agreeable and effective masses of foliage, will be awkward, gawky, semi-detached trees. The purposes with which the plantations have been started, both as to effects of scenery and effects of bodily comfort for those visiting the park, will then be attainable only by cutting the old trees away altogether, and starting again with new plan- tations to be better managed. In conclusion, let me counsel you, in general terms, to remem- ber that your Park is not for today, but for all time so long as you have a city. Its development is an interesting problem, no longer obscure, to be sure, but yet to be studied in a careful and sustained manner. You have your present population to satisfy and please. It is an intelligent population, beyond a doubt, and possessed of a high appreciation of good results. But it is to be expected that future populations will be more intelligent and more appreciative. The art of landscape archi- tecture is a specialty which, in its exercise, peculiarly demands a forecast of the future. The materials of the work them- selves grow and are progressive. To work with them demands sustained observation and intelligent making of deductions. I hope that Golden Gate Park may have these. It has been the ruination of many such grounds to have them pass rapidly under successive managements. The artistic direction of work on such grounds should, as far as possible, be continuous when once found fitting. It is not to be expected that the public will understand the necessity for and object of much that is done on such works. To do your duty, you will often have to sanction apparently reckless destruction of some present re- sult. Such grounds are developed as to details, by stages