MUNICIPAL PARKS 129 



off clean, or to a joint, where fresh twigs will soon 

 sprout and fill in and make good the gaps. Often 

 they are cut leaving a piece of wood, which decays 

 back to the young growth, and rots into the sound 

 part of the tree. 



Some of the worst enemies of the gardener are the 

 electric power-stations. The trees suffer terribly from 

 the smoke they emit. Even healthy young shrubs and 

 bushes, such as laurels, are destroyed by it. In a very 

 short time they become completely dried up, brown, and 

 shrivelled. In a memorandum on the Electric Power 

 and Supply Bill of 1906, the First Commissioner of 

 Works pointed out these disastrous effects. He says, 

 " The case is not entirely one of the emission or con- 

 sumption of black or sooty or tarry matters. The 

 other products of combustion, such as sulphurous and 

 sulphuric acid, with solid particles of mineral matter 

 or ash, are very deleterious to vegetation." It appears 

 from the report of Dr. Thorpe, of the Government 

 Laboratory, that the production of sulphuric acid could 

 be " much diminished, if not entirely prevented, by 

 pouring lime-water on the coal before it goes into the 

 furnaces, but from the look of trees in some neighbour- 

 hoods this precaution does not appear to be taken." 

 These hindrances are often very disheartening, and the 

 many and serious difficulties that have to be contended 

 with, must never be lost sight of in any review of 

 the parks. 



In every case the park is thoroughly appreciated by 

 the inhabitants, and no one can overestimate the 

 health-giving properties of these lungs of the city. It 

 would be vain repetition to point out the fact in each 

 case, or to picture the crowds who enjoy them on 



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