IRISH GARDENING 





A MON'IHLV JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



MAia II 

 1912 



Notes on Gardens and Orehard r!'J^^''^ 

 Work in America. 



HOT 



[Conliniu'U.) 

 By Sir F. W. M.k.rk, M..\. 



I 



r is onlv luonly-five years since 

 thu city of Rochester embarked 

 on a system of public parks, 

 owned and controlled by the city, 

 but so much progress has been made 

 tliat Rochester is now one of the 

 loading park cities in the I'nited 

 States — in fact its proportion of 12 

 per cent, of parks and playgrounds 

 o'i the tc^tal city area is higher than 

 in any other city in the United 

 States. An enactment was obtained 

 permitting the city to spend ;£J'6o,ooo 

 as a beginning on the acquisition of 

 lands for parks and park drives ; 

 further, to spend a sum not exceed- 

 ing^i,ooo per annum for the employ- 

 ment of a surveyor and assistants. 

 .\ board of commissioners was ap- 

 pointed, not necessarily composed 

 of members of the corporation only, 

 but including leading citizens who 

 were interested in the project, and 

 so a start was made. Out of the original fund 

 some 550 acres were purchased, and four of the 

 large parks were started — viz., Genesee Valley 

 Park, Highland Park, Seneca Park, and Maple- 

 wood Park. Other land was purchased later, and 

 citizens, stimulated by the good results of the 

 work being done, have presented over 600 acres 

 to the commissioners, including 484 acres 

 which now form the Durand-Eastman Park, so 

 that there are this year over 1,500 acres divided 

 into parks, playgrounds, and drives, and they 

 are still being added to. .AH this was not at- 

 tained without a hard fight. There was much 



opposition from the selfish, the false economist, 

 and the man who refuses to look beyond to-day, 

 as well as from those who were honestly afraid 

 of committing a then comparatively small city 

 to such a huge annual expenditure as the up- 

 keep of such a park system entailed. Many of 

 the last-named are no^ among the most en- 

 thusiastic supporters of the commissioners. 

 These commissioners are not paid any salary, 

 but they work and persevere, and have managed 

 to overcome all obstacles, to please most of the 

 citizens, and to give the latter something to be 

 proud of, and of which they can legitimately 

 boast. Since the initiation, Jlr. C. C. Laney has 

 been superintendent and engineer, filling this 

 important position to the complete satisfaction 

 of every one. Mr. Laney is one of those quiet 

 enthusiasts who knows his work thoroughly, 

 and does his work thoroughl)-, and contrives to 

 impart his enthusiasm to all concerned in his 

 branch of administration. He is fortunate in 

 having as an assistant Mr. John Dunbar, and 

 in the Vice-President Mr. W'm. Barry, of El- 

 wangcr and Barry's .Nurseries, a gentleman to 

 whose knowledge of plants and trees and to 

 whose generosity and hard and devoted work 

 much of the success of the Rochester park 

 development is due, Mr. Laney has a staunch 

 friend and supporter. To understand why and 

 how citizens ungrudgingly spend over /'30, 000 

 per annum on parks, playgrounds, park drives, 

 and street planting, as the citizens oi Rochester 

 now do, one must grasp the part these institu- 

 tions play in the life of the people of all classes. 

 Here again climatic conditions are an all- 

 important factor. Shade is wanted during the 



