This mode of taking possession of and improving the whole district at first must leave to posterity a grand idea of the patriotic interest which prompted it. While Lafayette Park, in front of and north of the White House, was graded as early as 1826, it was not planted and really developed as a park for some time after that. In 1853 the Clark Mills statue of Jackson was placed in it as its central feature. Similarly, the equestrian statue of Washington brought about the improvement of Washington Circle at the westerly end of Pennsylvania Avenue. Garfield Park, now one of the most beautiful parks in the city, was graded and to some extent improved in 1838, in connection with its use as a nursery for trees to ornament the public grounds and Pennsylvania Avenue. A botanic garden, which had been talked about from the very first, and was finally brought to a head by the necessity for providing for the botanic collection of the Smithsonian Institution, was gradually established at the east end of the Mall between First and Third Streets. It did not become a really important feature of public benefit to the city until 1852, when it was placed in the hands of William R. Smith, who had had experience in Kew Gardens in England and made sufficient progress for the Botanic Garden to be described in 1859 “as a pleasant place to visit, with gravel walks, bordered with box, rare plants, and trees.” How little these parks were needed then to give the requisite touch of nature in urban surroundings and to what extent the National Capital still retained its character of a few scattered settlements in the midst of farm land is shown by the fact that the one or two which had been improved had to be fenced in to protect their young trees and shrubs against the cattle, goats, and sheep that roamed the streets. As late as 1870 the danger to pedestrians from the domestic animals allowed at large was the subject of protest in formal speeches in Congress. During the Civil War many of the public reservations were used for camps, hospitals, and drill grounds, which use naturally did not help their appearance.