190 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



bery ; nor in any case have we noticed any 

 effort made to make the place inviting to the 

 waiting traveller by rustic or other seats In 

 shady spots. On the other hand, the places 

 are to be seen and not touched; they are 

 guarded by ugly and forbidding palings, and 

 woe betide the passenger who would dare to 

 set foot inside ! We commend the action of 

 the Rio Grande Railroad in deciding to park 

 nearly all of its stations in Colorado and 

 Utah, and in placing this work in the hands 

 of capable men to prepare suitable plans for 

 the same. 



PARK DEVELOPMENT. 



It will take much time and much effort on 

 the part of the members of our improvement 

 clubs to educate public sentiment so far in 

 favor of park development in Ontario, that 

 the large sums required for the best work 

 will be freely voted. Newark, N, J., has 

 spent $938,000 for improvements to Branch 

 Park, and $41,000 in improvements to East 

 Side Park, besides similar amounts for many 

 other parks in the same city. Toronto and 

 Hamilton have as yet done very little in this 

 direction. 



THE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



1HAVE just completed a tour among 

 the horticultural societies. My spec- 

 ial mission was to point out to them 

 the aim and purpose of the societies, the 

 character of the work they are supposed to 

 be engaged, and the results hoped for. I 

 hope to contribute a series of articles to this 

 department during the summer months, set- 

 ting out in detail my conceptions of the 

 work, and my experiences gained during the 

 past few weeks. For the present I will 

 only intimate that the purpose of the horti- 

 cultural society is not to distribute seed po- 

 tatoes nor any other work that properly be- 

 longs to the agricultural societies ; but, on 

 the contrary, to beautify the home, to purify 

 home life, to promote a greater love of home 

 by making it and its environments more at- 

 tractive, and thereby lay the foundation of a 

 patriotism worthy the land that we possess. 



Nature has done much for us ; we have a 

 beauteous land, but as yet we are not doing 

 much for ourselves with the natural advan- 

 tages we possess. There is much work for 

 the horticultural societies and the Civic Im- 



provement League to do. Upon this, or 

 these topics, I will dwell in detail later. I 

 might suggest, however, as a good begin- 

 ning, that the Civic Improvement League 

 appoint a strong delegation to wait upon the 

 great railway companies and request them 

 to do something in the way of cleaning up 

 their station grounds and freight yards. I 

 may just here instance the pretty and pro- 

 gressive town of Orillia. The first impres- 

 sion the visitor gets of the town is exceed- 

 ingly bad, all owing to the wretched disor- 

 der about the railway premises. 



I must not forget that I promised several 

 societies to give a list of hardy roses in this 

 issue. Beginning with the dark shades, the 

 following list will cover the range of colors : 

 Baron de Bonstetten, Gen. Jacqueminot, 

 Alfred Colomb, Lady Helen Stewart, Mad. 

 Chas. Wood, Magna Charta, Francois 

 Levet, Mrs. Sherman, Crawford, Common 

 Moss, Crested Moss, Mad. Plantier, and the 

 climbing Caroline Goodrich. 



Mitchell. T. H. Race. 



