564 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



James B. Shea, first deputy commissioner of parks, of 

 Boston, who discussed the matter of costs of maintenance, 

 and said that much money may be spent on parks, but 

 something to induce the people to avail themselves of 

 their beauties must be devised to lure them there. Other 

 speakers were John H. Dillon, chairman of the Boston 

 park commission ; Joseph McCaffrey, supervisor of play- 

 grounds of Providence, R. I., and George A. Parker, su- 

 perintendent of public parks, Hartford, Conn. Questions 

 were asked and answered and the discussion was at all 

 times interesting. 



George H. Hollister, manager of the Park Institute, 

 introikiced Mayor Dennis J. Murphy, who got a lot of 

 applause from the park men. 



James B. Shea, deputy park commissioner of Boston, 

 said, in part: 



"It is, of course, to the larger cities of the country that 

 we must look for advanced information on many of the 

 matters which relate to parks and playgrounds. It would 

 not be amiss, therefore, if I should present a few statistics 

 from the great bulk of matter collected during the past 

 few years. The city of Greater New York has a park 

 system comprising an area of 8,600 acres, maintained at 

 an animal expense of $2,860,442, exclusive of the amounts 

 expended for construction purposes, which, while varying 

 according to the needs, total at least $1,000,000 annually, 

 in addition to the first mentioned amount. This area re- 

 duced to units means an acre to each 642 persons, or 1.56 

 acres to each 1,000 persons. 



"The New York park system had its beginning in 1851. 

 In 1853 a start was made in taking land for what is now 

 called Central Park, embracing as you know all that ter- 

 ritory between 59th street and 106 street, longitudinally. 

 and from Fifth avenue to Eighth avenue, an area of 7~6 

 acres. 



"It is a difficult task to give reliable statistics on the 

 park and playgroimd system of Chicago, as the activities 

 of this great city are divided among a dozen or more 

 separate executive bodies. The total annual expenditure 

 of the communitv is, however, greatly in excess of $.\- 

 000,000. In this city is to be found the latest won I in 

 playground development. In the management of its 

 activities also it has shown the lead and we of other cities 

 are obliged to pay attention to it. 



"Now about Boston's park and playground system. 

 Since 1877, the year of establishment of a park commis- 

 sion, there has been expended $9,000,000 for land and 

 $11,000,000 for construction, a total of $20,000,000. Of 

 this amount $3,000,000 was spent for the purchase and 

 development of 42 playgrounds. The total area contained 

 in the above is 2,500 acres. In addition there are upward 

 of 80 small parks, acquired previous to 1877, eight beach 

 bath houses and 15 bath and g}'mnasium buildings open 

 all the year. 



"It is not sufficient that we select suitable sites for our 

 parks and develop them on the most artistic lines, or that 

 we furnish a jjlayground with a modern gymnasium and 

 all the facilities for sports, and then say to the public. 

 'There are your parks and there are your play-grounds, 

 go in and enjoy yourself.' Oh, no, we must devise some 

 way of enticing the ])uhlic into our carefully prepared 

 beautv spots." 



INSECTS ON PARK VEGETATION. 



i!v Fkich. C. Grek.n, Kikide I,si..\\I). 



I note by the last issue of our official organ, the presi- 

 dent has given us our orders and we must obev to the 

 best of our ability. So I will trv and outline our 

 method of checking the insect pests we have no fight. 



In Providence parks, during the late fall and winter 



months we spray for scale, San Jo?c being our worst 

 enemy in that line, although oyster shell scale is bad on 

 certain trees, especially young White Ash, Willows, and 

 Lilacs, but the San Jose scale attacks a very large num- 

 ber of shrubs and trees, especially Cydonicas, or Japan 

 Ouince, Rosa Rugosa, Cratagas, Cotomasters, Ribes, 

 Alalus, and Sorbus, Acujiaria or Mountain Ash, which is 

 a beautiful tree in the great cities of Seattle, Wash., and 

 Portland. ( )re. We use Scalecide altogether, as it does 

 not discolor the branches like lime sulphur, neither is it 

 caustic if blown by the wind on the hands and faces of 

 men while using same. \\'e find it good for a summer 

 spray if used according to directions. We use it on 

 broad leaved and coniferous evergreens whenever we 

 find scale on same, also for pine louse on pines, and lace 

 ily on Rhododendrons. We also hunt for the eggs of 

 Gypsy Moth and creosote them by using a sponge on 

 long bamboo poles, with ladders for climbing the large 

 trees. I might say we spray with arsenate of lead in 

 spring as soon as the leaves unfold, which takes care of 

 the Gypsy ^loth. Brown Tail and Tussock Moths and 

 Caterpillars, also Elm Leaf Bettle, which is our worst 

 pest and disfigures our Elms very badly if not attended 

 to early in the season. We have to keep a sharp lookout 

 for a second brood of this pest which has been known to 

 creep on us unawares and destroy the beauty of some 

 of our best trees before being noticed. 



For Brown Tails' nests, it is very necessary to keep 

 plenty of light tree pruners on hand and a number of 

 men who are not afraid to climb. It will keep them busy 

 most of the winter to get the nests if badly infested. We 

 kee]i men on the ground to pick up the nests as fast as 

 they are clipped off. and these, when collected, are 

 promptly burned. 



For the tent caterpillar, it is best to inspect all shrub- 

 bery during the winter and as far as possible peel off. the 

 nests, which may be found quite readily after one be- 

 comes acquainted with the small brown patches, almost 

 like a piece of chewing gum, squeezed around the young 

 shoots ; for any that may be overlooked we find the best 

 method is to go at them as soon as the small web is seen 

 and strip them off by hand : this is the surest way to clean 

 them and does not injure the trees like the asbestos torch 

 or kerosene burners, which invariably leave a large half 

 of the caterpillars, which drop from the nest when the 

 heat is first applied. These of course increase and mul- 

 tiply, and it seems that New England roadside beauty 

 will soon become a thing of the past if some means are 

 not adopted to fight this scourge. I see some writers 

 recommend cutting down the wild cherries ; if this is done 

 it will rob the poor birds of the one wild fruit they enjoy 

 as much as the cultivated cherries and other fruits ; this, 

 of course, will drive them to eat our cultivated fruit, and 

 along will come some one else and prn|)ose to destro\ the 

 birds, and so it goes. I find that the caterpillars will 

 readily adapt themselves to other foods after they have 

 eaten up all the wild cherry foliage near any given spot, 

 so after the wild cherries are destroyed they will soon 

 find some other shrub or tree to devour in the same man- 

 ner, and where will it end ? Naturallv we shall have to 

 destrov all vegetation if we intend starving tlie caterpillar. 

 I believe the control is simple if the effort is made, but 

 it must be made by all property owners at the same time. 

 When the Gypsy Moth arrives in large numbers this will 

 have to be done or every green thing will be eaten and 

 our beautiful woodlands will be as bare in July as in 

 December. It seems strange that it is so liard to con- 

 vince peonle of this fact who havve not seen large col- 

 onies of the Gypsy JMoth caterpillar at work. 



