In Bergen the old orchard on the Merselis farm, near Orchard street, called the Merselis Grove, was for years a resort for picnic parties. To-day there is the Caledonia Park; the Blakely Wilson Homestead, on Baldwin avenue, belonging to a private corporation and hired out to associations for picnic and games. The only city parks are Van Vorst Square and Hamilton Park, which were originally given to the town of Van Vorst, the first by the Van Vorst family and the other by John B. Coles, the founder of the town, and the four park corners at the intersection of Washington and Grand streets. A few years ago, when there were still acres of woodland between Jersey City and Bergen Point, where people could go for a day's outing, there seemed less need for city parks, but with the growth of the city and the vast increase of the manufacturing population, there is necessity for the establishment at different points of small parks and play grounds as breathing places for the crowded portions of the city. At present the Boulevard or County road is the great resort on Sundays and holidays, when it is crowded with people in vehicles of all characters, on bicycles and afoot. JERSEY CITY OF THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE. What of Jersey City to-day? It has been said that when the plan of the tide-water canal on the western border of the little city started on Paulus Hook failed to be carried out, that it was a blow to the prosperity of the city. Perhaps it was, but when the consolidation of all the towns in Hudson County was started in 1869, the movement embodied greater possibilities for the city than were ever dreamed of by the associates. The first effort failed of its complete realization, but it will eventually be carried out. Last winter legislative action was begun looking to the including of the whole of Hudson County in the Jersey City of the future, thus giving it an area of nearly thirty-nine thousand acres, and a magnificent water front of about seventy miles along the Hudson, the Kill von Kull, Newark Bay, the Passaic and the Hackensack, giving the city almost unlimited business possibilities. The city is already the center of several of our great railroad lines, and year by year is steadily growing in commercial strength and population, which is now nearly one hundred and ninety-six thousand. Situated as it is, it combines magnificent residence locations along the Heights, from the northern limit of the county to Bergen Point, with the business sites of the lower portions of the city on either side of the dividing ridge. Nature has been lavish of her gifts to our city; from almost any point of the Boulevard are magnificent views, unsurpassed in any city in the country. We already have many beautiful streets and buildings, both public and private residences, and each year is adding to their number.