promises to establish a beautiful line of parkway connecting the Boston chain of parks, either from the Franklin Park or the Arnold Arboretum, by way of the proposed Metropolitan Reservation at the Stony Brook Woods in Hyde Park and the West Roxbury District of Boston, and thence by way of Mother Brook across the Neponset to the Blue Hills. The Blue Hills Reservation lies in the towns of Milton and Canton and the city of Quincy.

The last of the three reservations established by the Metropolitah Commission up to the present time is the Middlesex Fells. Its nearness to the city, the southern boundaries but about five miles from the State House, gives it particular value as a great popular recreation ground, where the scenery of the natural wilderness can be enjoyed by the multitudes from the swarming populations near by, who in a few minutes after passing the boundaries may lose themselves in a wild region where is nothing to remind them of city life.

The Middlesex Fells Reservation lies within five distinct communities; the cities of Malden and Medford, and the towns of Stoneham, Melrose, and Winchester. Close at hand is a population of more than one hundred thousand, whose needs in the way of a great pleasure ground will thus be served on a magnificent scale, while the reservation lies within convenient reach of at least a half million people more.

The taking made by the Metropolitan Commission here amounts to about sixteen hundred acres; but as something like the same area of land and water had already been taken for water supply purposes and park purposes by the surrounding communities, the entire extent of public domain embraced within the Middlesex Fells amounts to something over thirty-two hundred acres. This reservation includes Spot Pond and the two beautiful great basins of the Winchester water supply that look like natural lakes, together with the lesser pieces of water known as Doleful Pond and Hemlock, Shiner and Western Pools.

On the easterly margin is a beautiful cascade, and the grand cliffs and crags give character to the region. The woods are for the greater part of recent growth, but in the easterly section there are some noble tracts of white pine and hemlock. In general aspect the Middlesex Fells Reservation has a similarity to the Lynn Woods, although each possesses features that give it individual character. The latter, although entirely due to local initiative and the public

spirit of the progressive citizens of Lynn - among whom particular credit belongs to Mr. Philip A. Chase, the Chairman of the local Park Commission as well as a most valuable member of the Metropolitan Commission-is naturally to be considered as belonging to the Metropolitan Park System, and forming one of its most important features. Counting its two thousand acres, the three great metropolitan reservations have a total area of more than nine thousand acres, which, with prospective additions, will carry the total to something over ten thousand acres.

Before the Metropolitan Park Commission began the work of securing reservations, there was already, in the outlying cities and towns of the Metropolitan District, about three thousand seven hundred acres of land appropriated for parks and pleasure grounds and other public purposes; including the water supply reserves of Brookline and Newton along the Charles River in Newton, Wellesley, Needham, and Dedham, which covered two hundred and fifty acres, and seven hundred acres respectively, while within the city limits of Boston, about sixteen hundred acres had been set apart for park purposes. These areas, with those which the Metropolitan Park Commission has secured, and others which it will soon acquire, make a grand total of between thirteen and fourteen thousand acres, for the metropolitan district.

Boston may thus be seen to be the most favored city in the United States, in the way of space devoted to recreative purposes, so well distributed in all directions as to meet the needs of the population most admirably. The thing most lacking throughout a great extent of the metropolitan region is sufficient space for small local playgrounds or breathing-spots. Some communities, like the city of Everett, for instance, have not so much as a square foot of public pleasure grounds.

We have already seen that there is a great work for the Metropolitan Commission remaining to be accomplished. Chief of these as yet untouched features is the contemplated reservation of Revere Beach, which may be regarded as perhaps the most important feature of all, from the recreative value which the ocean side possesses for the multitude. Then there is the important Charles River problem, to which Cambridge as well as Boston, together with Newton and several other communities along the stream are giving their direct attention, while the Metropolitan Commission and the State Board of Health are considering this matter in its

more general aspects of a recreative and sanitary character. Extensive and beautiful recreation grounds bordering that stream throughout the greater part of its course through the metropolitan district may be looked for. The connecting links between the various open spaces of the metropolitan district, in the way of parkways and boulevards, will probably be made the subject of careful study on the part of the Commission and its Landscape Architects. The natural routes for such ways presented by the topography of the region afford opportunity for beautiful features of this kind at a low cost, and assuring an immense benefit in the development of the communities through which they pass.

Considering for a moment the future development of the great wilderness reservations, we may consider it as something in this wise: The effort will be to maintain the aspects of an absolutely wild country, modified only by such means as are essential to make it accessible for the public; with good simple roads of easy grades, and pleasant footpaths and rides penetrating its depths; with shelters from inclement weather established here and there; with refectories at convenient points, and possibly good hotels where people may go for a sojourn amid natural scenes to which the conditions of these localities will give exceptional charm. The growth of the forests will be encouraged by the best precautions against fire that can be devised, together with the adoption of a system of scientific forest administration, which can be made invaluable for the country at large in the practical example thus given.

In time these reservations will be entirely covered by stately woods, penetrated by pleasant roads winding through the valleys and along the slopes, whence, from the sylvan depths, there will be beautiful vistas framed in foliage. Winding to the summits of the hills, these roads will at such points command broad and pleasing prospects. These great natural pleasure grounds will be accessible from all directions by the pleasantest of ways for riders in carriages and on bicycles and horseback, whilst steam and electric railways will furnish transportation for holiday throngs. We shall see Revere Beach and ultimately, it is hoped, Nantasket also cleared of the present unsightly encumbrances; its splendid curves of shining sands unobstructed from end to end; a wide ocean-side road running along the crest, and bordered by sightly structures which will be pleasing to see and to inhabit.

There will be direct connections with Lynn and its beautiful woods, as well as with the shores of Nahant and Swampscott, by the fine old Parkway of Lynn Common.

With its streams running clear and unpolluted, and with green and pleasant banks, and with its bay-side and ocean-side reaches free and beautiful; with its playgrounds and blooming, tasteful gardens, its miles of charming drives, its thousands of acres of parks and public woodlands, the "Greater Boston," as the home of a happy, intelligent, and truly prosperous people, will then be a city worthier than ever of fame.

[Since the above paper was prepared the Metropolitan Park Commission has taken between 500 and 600 acres of woodland wilderness in the West Roxbury district of Boston and the town of Hyde Park, and named it the Stony Brook Reservation; it has also taken, in conjunction with the Boston Park Commission, lands for connecting this reservation by a picturesque parkway, with the Boston park system at the Arnold Arboretum, with the intention of ultimately extending it to the Blue Hills. The Legislature has also authorized a loan of $500,000 for the taking of Revere beach, $300,000 for the taking of lands along the Charles River, and $500,000 for the construction of boulevards and parkwaysthe latter as a relief to the unemployed.- SYLVESTER BAXTER.]

DISCUSSION.

Jacob W. Manning said that about 1880 he became connected with the Middlesex Fells Association, which was organized under the inspiration and leadership of Elizur Wright of Medford. During that season a meeting of the Association was held at Cheese Rock, on Bear Hill, in Stoneham. Cheese Rock is the smooth, abrupt, northerly termination of the top of Bear Hill. Its nearly flat upper surface comprises several square rods, and its altitude is sufficient to command an extended view of the country to the north, the east, and the west. As the speaker was unable to attend this meeting, he sent his son, Warren H. Manning, then a minor, to observe the proceedings and report to him. This young reporter was much impressed by the strong interest and public spirit manifested by those present, but especially by the activity and physical vigor of Mr. Wright, who, though then seventy-five years old, climbed a bare-trunked cedar tree near by, with the

agility of an athlete, and hung out a flag to indicate the place of meeting. The natural beauty of the surrounding landscape, and the capabilities of the whole Fells district for improvement as a public park, were discussed by the earnest orators, as was also the heroism of the first settlers of New England. Long, wood-road rambles over the territory were included in the exercises of this gathering. Later in the year Mr. Manning attended meetings of the Association in Mr. Wright's office, which was in the American Insurance Co.'s Building, then on Milk Street, Boston. Among those present at these gatherings were John Owen and Wilson Flagg, of Cambridge; Colonel Lyman Dike, of Stoneham; L. L. Dame, of Medford; S. W. Twombly, of Winchester; Judge Churchill, of Milton, and several other gentlemen. In 1881, another field meeting was held at Middlesex Fells, Cheese Rock being headquarters. It was late in the summer, and was a very warm day. There were several ladies in the company. The exercises were chiefly those of exploration. To inspect the Fells (an area of four thousand acres or more) in this manner, one has to pass over a greatly varied surface; here an area of low swamp land; there a tract covered by impenetrable thickets of shrubs, and climbing or trailing vines; again over rising ground; up and over broken ledges, and bold crags of the most dangerous, breakneck character. Again one would be in ideal woodlands of tall forest trees of many species, covering an area many acres in extent, of lands suitable for cultivation, either as farms, gardens, or orchards. The thoughts inspired by such surroundings, found expression sometimes as follows,-Romantic drives could easily be made here, leading to retired mansions that wealth might erect! What a grand park this would make! These and similar remarks were frequently heard as the party wandered through this wild region. In those early meetings, the interest in the scheme was strong; and if the thought occurred to any of those present, that a long time would elapse before some practicable plan would be adopted to secure a system of forest reservations, and the question came into mind when such a plan would be consummated—certainly these feelings did not then generally prevail in the gathering. Finally it was suggested that the General Court be petitioned to enact a law under which it could be done. The petition, numerously signed, was presented to the Legislature of 1882, and referred to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, of which Hon.