STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 39 



Reports of the Chicago and St. Louis parks are very interest- 

 ing reading, as each city has thousands of acres in parks, and ex- 

 pends hundreds of thousands of dollars, annually, to improve and 

 keep them in order, and the money is well spent, as the thousands 

 visiting them will testify. In regard to trees for park planting, I 

 think the Maple and Elm stand at the head of the list, especially 

 hard Maple and American Elm. In other native trees we have Ash, 

 Walnut, white and black. Oaks of numerous varieties. Wild Cherry, 

 Kentucky Coffee, Mulberry. Hickory, Hackberry, Linden, Locust, 

 Box- Elder, Persimmon, Paw Paw, and numerous others. In hardy 

 shrubs we have Syringas, Altheas, Spireas, Hydrangeas, and numer- 

 ous othei's that, planted in groups, mixed, have a line effect. Hedges 

 of evergreen are highly ornamental — Norway Spruce, Arbor Vita3 

 and Hemlock, being the best. Plants should occupy an important 

 place in a park. 



Persons contemplating planting a park should first establish 

 near their proposed grounds a park nursery of forest trees, ever- 

 greens, shrubs and plants, for it is better to remove the trees but a 

 short distance. Parks are sometimes made by removing large trees 

 from the forest, this is expensive, and with the best of attention 

 some of them will die. Then, it is convenient to have trees to re- 

 fill, and it must be for all time to come, for you will have to refill a 

 park every year, the same as you do an orchard. 



In planting park trees, great pains must be taken to dig large 

 holes, say at least four feet in diameter, and two feet deep, using the 

 best of soil to set the tree in.- Stake well — ^on no occasion let the 

 sod form up to the tree. Heavy mulching or constant cultivation is 

 absolutely necessary, for two seasons at least. I often set my trees 

 in the center of a circular bed, from six to eight feet in diameter, 

 planting verbenas around the edge of the circle, and have the flow- 

 ers and trees do well. It requires constant watchfulness to make 

 the trees live the first season, and it will never do to neglect them 

 afterwards. Borers and other insects will have to be looked after 

 the same as fruit trees. Trimming should be done early in the 

 spring, before the sap starts, for we want wood growth on a park 

 tree. The grading of roads and paths, rock and rustic work, if 

 judiciously done, add to the beauty of the park. But these are only 

 secondary, the first thing in a park is shade trees, and plenty of 

 them. In laying out a park, every piece of land has its peculiar 

 adaptation to the way it should be laid out, no set rale can be fol- 

 lowed, and no landscape gardner would lay out a park until he had 

 first seen the land proposed for that purpose. 



I hope no one will defer planting until he can employ a special 

 artist to ])lan the grounds, but will plant judiciously of ornamental 

 trees, shrubs and plants, to make home attractive to their families 

 as well as the passer-by. The humblest land OAvner can do this, for 

 in a great many parts of the country the trees can be had for the 



