inequality it is only necessary to give the altitude of a few well-known points. The White House grounds, for instance, are fifteen feet above mean low-water; Capitol Hill, one mile east, is about ninety feet above. Pennsylvania Avenue, connecting the two, is below high-water mark. Observatory Hill, two hundred and sixty rods west of the White House, is ninety-six feet above tide. Yet between Observatory Hill and the Capitol, in 1876, lay a ridge one hundred and three feet above tide-water. These hills were cut down, the ravines and hollows filled up, and the site of the city made as nearly level as was desirable to insure perfect drainage.

Lastly, as the crowning work, the planting of the streets and squares with shade trees was begun. A "Parking Commission," composed of William H. Smith, Superintendent of the Botanic Garden, William Saunders, Superintendent of the Horticultural Division of the Department of Agriculture, and John Saul, a local nurseryman, was organized, and began its work with skill and energy. The first trees were procured from the city nurseries, but as they could not be obtained in sufficient quantities, and of the varieties needed, the commission soon established its own nurseries, in which most of the trees now shading the city were grown. From the spring of 1872 the planting and care of trees has been steadily practised in Washington under the care of this commission, and the result is seen in the masses of shade, which form the most charming, distinctive, and sanitary feature of the city.*

*The following list of the number and varieties of shade trees planted in Washington up to June 30, 1887, will be found of interest :

When Congress came together in December, 1873, it found the old site but a new city. Between Capitol Hill and the White House stretched a beautiful park with gravelled drives and green lawns. The bluffs along the river bank had been graded into quays, paved with granite blocks, and made easy of access. Rock Creek had been bridged, and Georgetown Heights and the West End were near neighbors. The ancient sand-banks, gulfs, and unsightly commons had been graded, turfed, and set with trees and shrubs. The grades of Capitol Hill had been adjusted to those of the city, and in place of the yawning canal was a noble mall, a grand market, and depots in the most approved style of architecture.

kempferü

Willow (laurel-leaved). . . . . . . . Salix pentandra...

5,365

7,050

43

454

854

78

And the streets-they had been covered with the most noiseless and durable pavement that ingenuity and experience could construct, embowered in trees. and green borders of grass plots inclosed in panels of post and chain, while at the points of junction appeared new squares, circles, and triangles, in which flashing fountains, noble statuary, green-turfed terraces, and parterres of flowers appeared to gladden eye and heart. No such transformation of a city had ever been effected outside of the pages of good Haroun Alraschid.

The effect was seen in the greatly accelerated growth of population and rise in value of real estate. From 109,199 souls in 1870 the city has increased to

lars had been thought promising. In the now fashion

conservative land-holders and house-owners. Other syndicates acquired other tracts, and covered them with still more elegant structures. At last, in 1875, the English Government erected its beautiful Legation

building on Connecticut Avenue, and the status of the West End as the fashionable quarter was fixed. To-day the former hillocks and swamps are covered with miles and miles of elegant residences, with clean, smoothly-paved streets, public squares, flowers,