I have recevd your note asking advice about the Middlesex Fells project. The scheme when I visited the ground was yet so indefinite and my observations were so cursory that I do not know upon what points advice is needed which I am qualified to give.

You use the word park however with reference to the project and I have heard something said of the fitness of certain localities for particular purposes which indicated a disposition to associate, with the main purpose, various side shows such as are generally thought of in connection with a park scheme—some of which would lead on to structures and to a garden like treatment of parts of the property.

This will perhaps justify me in stating what I think to be the most important lesson of my professional study. Since this began thirty years ago, I have not only been in supervision of several large parks and numerous smaller grounds but have a number of times personally reviewed the principal public grounds of Europe & closely followed their history. In all I have found the difficulty of pursuing anyone leading purpose through a series of years in a consistent and single minded way the chief source of inefficient managmnt, extravagance & waste.

[511]

This difficulty lies mainly in an unrecognized conflict between interest in the main & interest in minor motives of the works in question. Hence I say that I have learned nothing of more importance than the wisdom of rigidly limiting the objects to be pursued on each piece of ground and of developing in the highest degree whatever may be the distinguishing characteristics of each particular property.

I may add that lovers of nature without special experience seldom realize how much more difficult it is to obtain and preserve in much frequented public grounds what is asked for under the name of simple natural aspects of scenery than to secure the most elaborate and finished gardening effects.

The natural drift of men in prosecuting improvements of ground is almost irresistably to the undue multiplication of features & incidents and to formality and fussiness. The capacity and disposition to apply art to the concealmnt of art though much talked of & professed is exceedingly rare.

Therefore it should be kept in mind that when as in this case the impulse of an undertaking comes from an appreciation of the beauty & use of absolutely wild sylvan scenery it is most desirable to avoid complicating the purpose of preserving & developing such scenery & making it available to the public with any other of the more generally recognized purposes of public parks and gardens.

If the scheme succeeds as soon as the work is well under way it will be found that all the means that can be obtained for it will be inadequate to do all that is desirable in respect to its initial purpose in a thoroughly excellent manner.

There will be a question whether the results of the general policy which it is my aim to suggest would be of sufficiently varied popular interest to obtain public support. I recognize that there is a misled & misleading public opinion in this respect which at the outset may have to be somewhat boldly met but I am confident that after a short time, the pride and pleasure which the public interested would have in a ground perfectly unique in character, that character being consistently sustained in all its borders with artistic completeness & finish would be much greater than it would be in any ground of more complex & sophisticated character.

The topography of Middlesex Fells is most unsuitable for a park. To give it a park character and adapt it to ordinary park managemnt and use would be an absurdly costly operation.

What is adviseable & what can be done cheaply, profitably and with a wise and noble beneficence, is to take it as it stands, develop to the utmost its natural characteristics, and make it a true retreat not only from town but from suburban conditions.

The few structures and blots of cultivation which already mar its natural character should be removed; operations for its public use either inconsiderately crude or out of keeping through unnecessary nicety should be avoided; the intrusion upon its prospects of all objects and scenes incongruous [512] with its natural characteristics should be as much as possible guarded against; every inducement should be offered visitors to ramble and wander about and the least possible temptation should be put in their way to come together in clusters, crowds and throngs; most of all everything of a show, museum or toy shop order, everything smart or splendid, everything spectacular, sensational, bustling and fussy should be kept as far away as possible.

I trust that this advice is not needed but if you think it will tend to strengthen sound convictions and intentions it is heartily at your service.

I know something of the difficulties and don’t want to complain or say that matters can be better ordered. Especially I don’t want to cross Mr Cobb but as he has I believe twice officially reported that the police of the capitol grounds is satisfactory, I think that I ought to tell you how very unsatisfactory [513] it is to me. When I last went on the ground with Cogan I noticed that some plants which I had seen before had disappeared; asking him about them he said they had been stolen, and immediately pointed out several plants that had apparently been pulled up by the roots & left on the ground within a few hours. He said that this was of daily occurrence and that at least 3000 plants had been pulled up and most of them taken away since last spring. Afterwards he begged that I would not have the temporary rail about the rockwork of the summer house taken down and urged that additional barriers should be made. I then spoke to the watchman of the beat explaining to him that it was of first importance to prevent boys from leaving the walk while the summer house was still a novelty and to guard against bad habits being started. I told him that on Sundays especially, he must give special attention to this, if necessary giving his entire time to it, everything else being of comparatively small consequence. He promised me to do so and to repeat what I had said to his relief. I also begged Mr Cobb to give the matter his special attention and reinforce my instructions to the watchman.

I asked Cogan to report to me if there should be any disorder and today I have a note from him saying:

“I am very sorry to be obliged to report further injuries to plants &c.—at the summer house on Sunday a hundred people were on the roof and rock-work during the day and made beaten paths all about.”

He had twice previously reported (as I instructed him to) that ivy had been jerked violently from the walls, broken and pulled up. He has also reported that boys continue to play at night among the choice evergreens (as I have seen them) and have lately done serious injury to them.

I have written to Mr Cobb — had written him before getting this last report from Cogan. I know that he can’t be expected to give much personal attention to these matters and especially on Sunday. And I don’t suppose that anything can be done to secure greater police efficiency. Still I think I ought to submit the matter to you and I suggest for one thing that from this time to winter at least it would be better to reduce the day force if necessary to have one or two active men on at night, and that the day watchmen should be instructed not to patrol the roads, there being less need for them on the roads than anywhere else. I also suggest the employmnt of a detective. Is it not wrong that where plants are disappearing by the thousand, year after year, arrests should hardly ever be made or the petty rascals punished?

The whole difficulty—apart, of course, from the all pervading political difficulty—lies in the fact that with the single exception of Cogan, who counts for little, the professional training and habits of all in authority on the grounds, from Mr Cobb to the watchmen themselves, make it hard for them to regard what is wasted in the manner I have indicated as of any serious consequence. To me it is the soul of the affair, without which the engineering and architectural work and even much of the coarse planting is but what the foundations & rough brickwalls of the Capitol are to the carvings of the marble.

[514]

I hate to add a feather’s weight to the load you have to carry but having written yesterday to Cobb suggesting that he should speak to you about a night watch, I thought that I had better frankly let you know how different his point of view may be from mine. I really don’t mean to complain or ask what may be impracticable.