of it 40 ft. wide, and a walk opposite of the same width, with borders of lawn-like ground on each side, the whole space being 300 ft. in width. In the original design this avenue was expected to become the fashionable promenade of Paris; but, probably because it was not in the outset sufficiently well shaded, fashion pushed further out to the road on the south bank of a new lake in the wood 1⅔ m. in length, where no tolerable provision had been made for it. To meet the demand, the original drive on the lake was widened to 45 ft., and a pad or bridle path introduced by its side, 40 ft. wide. Under ordinary circumstances the greater part of the visitors to the wood concentrate on these roads and the adjoining walk. There were in the whole wood of Boulogne before 1870, when a considerable space both of the old and new planting was cleared in preparation for the defence of Paris against the Germans, 1,009 acres of wooded land, 674 of unshaded turf, 75 of water surface, and 286 of drives, rides, and walks (not including the race track). The race ground of Longchamps, which is a part of the property, contains 195 acres, the ground leased to the acclimation society for a zoological garden, 50 acres, and the leased amusement garden, the Pré Catalan, in the midst of the wood, to which a charge for admission is made, 21 acres. There are 36 m. of public drive (including the old straight forest and departmental highways), 7 m. of ride, and 15 m. of walk. The larger part of the pleasure drives are 25 to 36 ft. broad, the widest 48 ft.; the rides 12 to 17 ft.; the walks 8 to 12 ft. The wood of Vincennes, similar in other respects to that of Boulogne, contained an ancient castle which was the centre of a great military establishment, and a large plain in the midst of the wood, used as a training ground. This has been maintained, but in other respects the design for improvement has been similar to that for the wood of Boulogne, the principal difference being that the accommodations and attractions for foot visitors at Vincennes are relatively more important. The extent of the ground is 2,225 acres, of which about half is wooded. There is a race course on the plain, and a lake of 60 acres. The public ways, not including the race track, take up 183 acres. There are no large parks within the fortified lines of Paris, but several beautiful place parks and gardens. (See Paris.) A detailed account of them and of their admirable method of administration may be found in Robinson's “Parks, Promenades, and Gardens of Paris” (London, 1869), and one still more complete in Les promenades de Paris, by M. Alphonse, the chief designer of the recent improvements. The extent of the public recreation grounds within the fortified lines of the city is about 250 acres. The area of suburban grounds commonly resorted to for recreation and maintained at public expense, not including those too far away for an afternoon excursion, may be estimated at 20,000 acres. The extent of pleasure drive maintained by the municipal government is 87 m., being about 3 m. of roadway to each square mile of the city, or, counting the parkways (boulevards) shaded and with asphalt driveways, over 7 m. to the square mile. New York has less than a quarter of a mile to the square mile. — The parks and open spaces of London are very numerous, and their total extent is larger perhaps than that of those belonging to any other metropolis of the first magnitude. They are very various in area, ranging from one to several hundred acres. It has been long recognized that London owes a great deal of its physical and political health to its parks and open spaces. All the year round they act as great lungs to the mighty city, while in summer and even to a lerable extent in winter they are the Sun- day resort of the weary workers. The open spaces of London are not confined to any quarter.
The East End has Victoria park (300 acres); Finsbury park (115 acres), too new to be so pleasant to the eye, but still rapidly becoming what it is intended to be; and the half dozen “downs,” “fields,” and “commons” that go under the general name of Hackney
