To advise his corporation upon the value, suitability, and desirability of any site that is intended for use as a public park or recreation ground, and after its acquisition to adapt it for the requisite purposes. To effect this it must be drained and laid out with carriage-drives, walks, lawns, flower-beds, plantations, and sometimes streams, waterfalls, and lakes. He must design and erect the necessary lodges, entrance gates, fences, shelters, seats,[217] band-stands, and fountains, and must afterwards superintend the maintenance of these and the rest of the works in connection with the pleasure ground. It would be impossible to lay down any rules for the guidance of a surveyor in carrying out these works, for each case must be dealt with as its exigencies require, and a great deal of common sense, as well as engineering, architectural, and artistic skill must be displayed by him in carrying out any works of this description, details of which could not possibly be given in a book of this size dealing with so many subjects.[218] A few suggestions may, however, be of some service on these points. Public playgrounds for children should be composed of large, level, well-rolled, gravelled spaces, with a few trees for shade, and some sheds for shelter. Turf soon gets spoiled and worn bare, when it is not so pleasant as well-rolled gravel, as it is far more dusty in dry weather and very damp in wet, besides having an uncared-for appearance. In public parks, shrubs planted singly directly on the lawns without any beds around them have a very pleasing look, although it adds somewhat to the difficulty of mowing the grass. The grass itself is greatly improved if it is well dressed with manure in the spring and constantly watered all the year round. Paths should be gravelled in the autumn, care being taken to wait until all the leaves have fallen, which are swept up and removed at once. A good fence for a path, if any protection is necessary, is either a strained wire fence or cast-iron hoops representing bent sticks. They are both cheap, and stand well against weather and rough treatment. A very economical and neat border to the footpaths can be made from the old used-up flagstones from the foot pavements of the streets, these cut up and placed on edge, especially if in conjunction with a pitched channel gutter of pebbles, look remarkably well. Ornamental flints make a pretty border, but they are nasty things for a child to fall upon. For flower-beds a flat border or edge of ivy has a very telling effect. If there are ponds or lakes in the park there should be a broad path or road close to the water’s edge. It is surprising what a great advantage in effect this has over the plan of leaving a strip of green between the path and the water.