[215] By the “Commons Act 1876,” powers were given to acquire and lay out commons for purposes of public recreation, etc.
[216] Upon this latter point Vide 24 & 25 Vic. c. 61, s. 21.
[217] As a preservative against the malicious disfigurement of wooden seats, I have seen the following inscription placed upon some seats in an old public park, “Never cut a friend,” and it had apparently the desired effect.
[218] As an instance of the size and importance works of this description may assume, the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, is an example. It covers an area of 2000 acres, of which one half is forest, one quarter is grass, one-eighth roads, and about 70 acres is water. One of the most beautifully arranged public parks in this country is Sefton Park, Liverpool, where the most perfect arrangements of lawns, plantations, lakes and drives, have been carried out.
[219] ‘A Treatise on Pruning Forest and Ornamental Trees,’ by A. des Cars, translated from the 7th French edition, with an introduction by Charles S. Sargent, etc. Published by A. Williams and Co., Boston, U.S.A., 1881.
[220] In Paris in the year 1880, there were 90,000 trees in the streets, besides 20,000 more in the cemeteries. (Vide Report of Mr. Till, the Borough Surveyor of Birmingham, 20th December, 1880.) There are also upwards of 8000 seats in public places; the trees and seats costing nearly 100,000l. per annum to maintain.
[221] Vide ‘The Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris,’ by W. Robinson, F.L.S., 1869, p. 128.
[222] Vide ‘L’Architecte,’ 20th November, 1880, p. 370.