were squatters of the lowest class living in hovels. The construction of the Central Park, and the opening of the streets in its neighborhood, changed the whole character of the surrounding region. In the ten years succeeding the commencement of work upon the park, the increased valuation of taxable property in the wards immediately adjacent was no less than fifty-four millions of dollars, affording a surplus of three millions after paying the interest on all the city bonds issued for the purchase and construction of the park, a sum sufficient if used as a sinking fund to pay the entire principal and interest of the cost of the park in less time than was required for its construction.
A similar instance of the profitable conversion of a deserted and forbidding region into a rich and elegant quarter of a city, is afforded by the Park des Butte Chaumont in Paris.
It occupies the site of old abandoned slate quarries, the precipitous walls and rough excavations of which have been converted into picturesque scenery by judicious treatment and tasteful planting, so as to give it the appearance of a wild mountain gorge. The result has been that its vicinity has become a rich and elegant quarter, simply because it has been made attractive to the large and constantly growing class who are seeking pleasant residence sites within easy access of their places of business.
These illustrations will suffice to prove the truth of my assertion, that the objects of most essential importance to a city in the creation of a park will be attained by selecting for its location a site which is naturally undesirable or even repulsive and converting it into an attractive quarter, rather than one which combines all the elements of beauty and health, and as a consequence is so desirable for residences, that it can only be had at great cost.
The Illinois State Dairymen’s Association will hold its next annual meeting at Champaign, December 17-19, 1884. Champaign County Agricultural Society has adopted a resolution, pledging aid in getting up a first-class meeting.
REMEMBER that $2.00 pays for The Prairie Farmer one year, and the subscriber gets a copy of The Prairie Farmer County Map of the United States, free! This is the most liberal offer ever made by any first-class weekly agricultural paper in this country.