272 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



in beautiful surroundings among people 

 whose income obliges them to take care of 

 their own lawns. This prize gave possibly 

 the most satisfactory results of any ofifered 

 the previous year. A member and inter- 

 ested friend of the association has offered 

 eight prizes of five dollars each to go to a 

 boy and girl in each of the four quarters of 

 the city as divided by the association, who 

 can show the best flower bed planted and 

 cared for by himself or herself. The boy 

 or girl must not be over sixteen years-of age. 

 The offer of these prizes was published 

 several times in each of the city papers. 

 Neat circulars were printed and distributed 

 to the pupils of the various schools until the 

 offers were thoroughly understood. Ail 

 applicants must file the notification of then' 

 entrance in the contest by the 15th of June, 

 and as soon after as possible the awarding 

 committee will visit the premises of all con- 

 testants and examine them from gutter to al- 



ley. Another visit is paid in August and 

 another in September, after which the com- 

 mittee announces the winners. No one 

 knows the days the committee chooses for 

 its visits, and the prizes are awarded strictly 

 on the merits of the premises as found. 



Fig. 



2607. The Same Road After Being Im- 

 proved By the Local Society. 



PAEK8 A*ND GARDENS 



BY THE EDITOR. 



IT is a remarkable fact that only of recent 

 years have public parks become numer- 

 ous, for previously parks and gardens were 

 exclusively private property, and none but 

 the wealthy could have the full benefit of 

 such luxury. 



Nowadays a great change is coming over 

 the nations, and even the governing bodies 

 of our towns and cities are coming more and 

 more to appreciate the great value of such 

 breathing spaces for the health of all classes, 

 as well as for their enjoyment and recrea- 

 tion. 



Perhaps the highest ideals of park beauty 

 are to be seen in Great Britain, where the 

 magnificent parks connected with private 

 estates have cultivated public taste in that di- 



rection and led to a universal demand upon 

 governing bodies to provide similar privi- 

 leges for the people at large. So rapidly 

 has this spirit developed in that country that 

 already there are more than one thousand 

 public parks and pleasure grounds in the 

 British islands, of which two hundred are in 

 London and fifteen in Glasgow. The total 

 area of the parks of London is about 19,000 

 acres, and that of Glasgow 1,000. 



Nor is the United States laging at all be- 

 hind ; for since Boston and Chicago have 

 taken the lead in establishing magnificent 

 park systems, the whole country seems alive 

 with enthusiasm, and even our own Canada 

 is waking up to her wonderful possibilities 

 along this line. 



