iSgS. 



• GARDENING. 



263 



HORTICULTURAL BUILDING. TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPOSITION. OMAHA. 



PARK NOTES. 



In the development of parks thoughtful 

 consideration should be given totheques- 

 tion of future maintenance. Additions 

 to improved sections, from year to year, 

 requiring increasing appropriations, are 

 apt to be forgotten or ignored by those 

 entrusted with the responsibility of mak- 

 ing provision for the maintenance of 

 parks, the result being that the charac- 

 ter of maintenance falls below the stand- 

 ard required to give satisfaction to the 

 public. Each new path or extension of a 

 drive, and each new plantation adds to 

 the cost of care. It behooves, then, the 

 park maker to keep this fact prominently 

 before him, and to eliminate from his 

 plans all expensive embellishments, all 

 unnecessary paths or roads or other fea- 

 tures entailing large expense for subse- 

 quent care. The tendency' of the day is out 

 of all proportion to the benefits derived. 

 Large ranges of glass are maintained for 

 growing tender plants for bedding; this 

 is an expensive leech to satisfy and makes 

 large drafts on the maintenance account. 



Simplicity of design in park construc- 

 tion is the most pleasing to the eye, and 

 simplicity in design carries with it eco- 

 nomical maintenance. Wide stretches of 

 grass and masses of trees and shrubs are 

 among the most important elements in 

 park scenery. In combination they pro- 

 duce our finest landscape effects and offer 

 attractions varying with each season. 



Natural groupings of native or hardy 

 plants are more effective than ephe- 

 meral floral displays of exotic bedding 

 plants, while the labor and care of main- 

 tenance is very much less. Hardy plants, 

 too, have the "additional merit of interest 

 and length of season. From the pushing 

 through the snow of the snowdrop in 

 the spring until the last anemone has 

 succumbed to the freezing breath of win- 

 ter, what a succession of beautiful forms 

 greet the eve from month to month. 



Roads and walks serve no purpose but 

 that ofutilitv. Their care is an expen- 

 sive burden, therefore they should never 

 be laid out where not absolutely neces- 



sary; excellence of construction makes 

 easy the subsequent care. 



Park buildings should be plain in design, 

 of good construction and materials, with- 

 out elaborateness of finish either inside or 

 outside; common brick, ivy covered, will 

 in most cases meet the requirements with 

 the least expenditure for maintenance. 



Narrow strips of grass bordering drive- 

 ways may be somewhat more cheaply 

 maintained by planting them with shrubs 

 of low growth, in a solid mass. This 

 method has been adopted for several 

 years past by the Brookline, Mass., Park 

 Department on its driveways, and the 

 effect is very good. The plants used are 

 Rosa lucida, Berheris Thunbergii, vibur- 

 nums, cornels, rhamnus, etc. The variety 

 of bark coloring makes the winter effect 

 very pleasing, nor is the effect at any 

 time monotonous, so varied are the 

 changes from colored bark to budding 

 leaves and bloom, and from bloom and 

 fruit to autumn colored leafage. 



The general lack of adequate funds for 

 maintenance work in parks is a matter of 

 serious thought for park managers. 

 Money and time spent in construction is 

 nullified if subsequent care can not be 

 given to roads, walks or plantations. 



The difference between success and fail- 

 ure lies sometimes in the neglect of little 

 things, whether the cause of neglect is 

 beyond the control of the park manager 

 is scarcely considered by a generalizing 

 public. J. A. Pettigkew. 



mixture of two-thirds blue grass and one- 

 third red top may be used to good advan- 

 tage, as a good effect can be produced 

 quicker in this way, and the blue grass 

 will ultimately take entire possession of 

 the lawn. R. 



LAWN GRASSES AND WfllTE GLOVER. 



Ed. Gardening: — I note in your issue 

 of May 1 a reference to a "good and well 

 kept lawn of bluegrassand whiteclover. " 

 In this locality (Cook count3\ 111.) a lawn 

 can not be good and well kept unless 

 thoroughly watered. Whiteclover, while 

 very desirable for grass plots which 

 receive no water, other than that sup- 

 plied by the rainfall, is not to be recom- 

 mended in other cases. Blue grass is the 

 grass for lawns, and the ideal lawn for 

 this climate should consist entirely of 

 blue grass. As this is slow of growth a 



GHENT QUINQUENNIAL SHOW. 

 An international horticultural exhibi- 

 tion has just been held (April 16 to 

 24) by the Royal Agricultural and Botan- 

 ical Society of Ghent, Belgium, and was a 

 very extensive and successful affair. The 

 society is about 90 years old, and thisisits 

 l(53rd exhibition, being the fourteenth 

 international one, the latter exhibitions 

 being held every five years. 



Toronto Horticultural Society, 

 Toronto, Ont. — This society has a 

 membership of 100, including amateur 

 floriculturists, leading commercial grow- 

 ers and gardeners of public institutions. 

 The society has a government grant in 

 addition to thedues of its members, and its 

 meetings are made valuable and interest- 

 ing by papers and discussions upon the 

 several lines of value to its members. 

 The society gives an annual chrysanthe- 

 mum show in November. 



Salt Lake Countv Horticultural 

 Society, Salt Lake, Utah — The ques- 

 tion of spraying was brought before this 

 society on May 7 by the State Board of 

 Horticulture, which is taking active steps 

 to teach growers that greater care must 

 be exercised in producing sound fruit. 

 The Idaho inspectorhasnotified the Utah 

 board that in ease fruit from Utah is as 

 badly infested with worms as was the 

 case last year its importation into Idaho 

 will be prohibited. To expedite the eradi- 

 cation of the pest the board has prepared 

 suitable rules for the disinfection of 

 orchards. The board believes spraying 

 to be efficacious and points to the results 

 obtained by Tames Barker, of North 

 Ogden, S. 0. Neilson, of Fairview, and 

 William Wadleigh, of Pleasant Grove, as 

 a demonstration of the worth of the pro- 



