As superintendent of planting in Central Park and landscape architect to
New York City for nearly thirty years, Samuel Parsons Jr. (1844-1923)
was a last direct link to Vaux and Olmsted. His widely read 1915 book
summed up the theories and work that had inspired America's first
generation of landscape architects. Francis R. Kowsky's introduction
explores Parsons's contributions to the nascent field and his defense of
Olmsted and Vaux's vision for Central Park.