ArRiL 22, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



161 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office: Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sargent. 



ENTERED AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-OFFICE AT NEW YORK, N. V. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, ic 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles :— The Obliteration of Public Parks 161 



The Flavor of Apples in England 61 



Thrinax in Florida C. S. S. 162 



The Tannin Value of Some North American Trees Henry Trimble. 162 



Grape-fruit and Shaddocks. (With figures) . D.Morris. 163 



New or Little-known Plants: — Lavatera iusularis. (With figure.) 



T. S. Brandegee. 164 



Cultural Department : — The Water Garden J. N. Gerard. 165 



Cannas T. D. Hatfield. 166 



Greenhouse Climbers Edward J. Canning. 166 



Ouvii"andra fenestra! is IVilliam Tricker. 167 



Cvanide of Potassium as an Insecticide in Glass Houses G. IV. O. 167 



Ksempt'eria rotunda, Eranthis hyemalis, Adonis vernalis N. J. R. 167 



Correspondence : — Buckleya Again T. H. Kearney, Jr. 168 



Calochortus in Southern California Jennie Kruckeberg. 168 



Recent Publications 168 



Notes.. 169 



Illustrations: — Pumelow or Shaddock, globular fruit, Fig. 23 163 



Pumelow or Shaddock, pear-shaped fruit. Fig. 24 163 



Grape-fruit, as sold in New York, Fig. 2s 163 



Forbidden-fruit, as sold in New York, Fig. 26 163 



Lavatera insularis. Fig. 27 165 



The Obliteration of Public Parks. 



THE consolidation of three great libraries of this city 

 has revived the project of erecting a monumental 

 building to contain them in Bryant Park, where the reser- 

 voir now stands. Whether the reservoir ought to remain 

 where it is or be taken down depends, of course, on its 

 usefulness. It ought to stand as long as it is needed for 

 the water-supply of the lower part of the city, and while it 

 serves this purpose it will continue to be a dignified struc- 

 ture with a distinct aesthetic value. If, on the other hand, 

 it is of no real use, it should be torn down, for, however 

 well proportioned its lines, a mass of stone like this can 

 have no real beauty unless it means something. If its 

 removal is once determined, arguments for erecting the 

 library on its foundations are something like these : It is 

 the duty of the city to erect such a building somewhere ; 

 the location is central and accessible ; the city will have to 

 pay nothing for the land ; no park space wrill be curtailed, 

 because the library will occupy fewer square feet than the 

 reservoir does, and Bryant Park, which adjoins it, will be 

 enlarged rather than encroached upon. 



On the other hand it is argued by a large and influential 

 class of citizens, some of them trustees of the consolidated 

 libraries, that if the city acquires a block of open ground it 

 should by all means retain it for park purposes. Under a 

 mandatory law the proper officers of the city have within a 

 few weeks condemned two areas larger than that covered 

 by the reservoir, one on each side of Broadway in thickly 

 settled districts, and they will soon begin to tear down the 

 buildings now occupying this land and convert it into parks. 

 This has already been done at Mulberry Bend. Another 

 block will be condemned within a year, and the city is 

 authorized by law to spend a million dollars per annum for 

 this purpose. It would seem, therefore, a singular incon- 

 sistency to continue the purchase of park land in the heart 

 of the city every year and then to cover up park space 

 which is already owned by the city. 



At a recent public meeting in behalf of free libraries, Mr. 

 Andrew Carnegie asserted that he would never advocate 

 the surrender of a foot of park land for any other purpose 

 than for a library of the particular kind which he favored. 

 And this is precisely what makes these repeated attacks 



upon public parks so dangerous. The reasons for each 

 proposed infringement seem overwhelming to the promo- 

 ters of this particular movement, and in general these are 

 projects which in themselves are highly praiseworthy. 

 Rapid transit was a crying need, and therefore the city 

 gave a railroad corporation permission to invade the Battery 

 and to make a blackened ruin of a large portion of that 

 beautiful green. Now equally strenuous advocates are 

 asking for the confiscation of a still greater portion of this 

 park for a loop for the same railroad. When the city 

 wished to give land for a great federal building a large por- 

 tion of City Hall Park was sacrificed in the same way, 

 another piece was covered over by the Tweed Court House, 

 which also was called a public necessity, and now, ' ' for this 

 purpose only," some friends of this library wish to cover 

 up another possible park. The trouble is that next year 

 there will be other reasons quite as cogent for using some 

 other park for some other purpose. Mr. Carnegie would 

 be willing to give a park for a library, but for nothing else. 

 There are other people who hold that the city owes a debt 

 of gratitude to the Academy of Design which it can only 

 liquidate by giving this institution a building place in one 

 of the parks. In the name of charity another association 

 may soon demand park room for a hospital, and even now 

 some enterprising citizens are asking for a section of 

 Central Park to be devoted to a permanent exhibition for 

 the glory of the metropolis. 



The only safe rule is to refuse absolutely to divert a sin- 

 gle foot of park space from its legitimate use. If the city 

 can afford to give any of its public land it can still better 

 afford to give money. Why is it not wiser to give the 

 library enough to buy the land it needs than it is to give 

 away park space and then pay a million dollars for a park 

 of the same size somewhere else? If the reservoir is torn 

 down, this will be the only open space along Fifth Avenue 

 from Twenty-third Street to Central Park, and every foot of 

 the land is needed for a pleasure-ground. The policy of de- 

 molishing solid blocks of buildings to secure open spaces 

 shows that the people have begun to realize that these are 

 essential to their health and comfort. Having learned this, 

 they should be educated to consider every encroachment 

 upon the park space of the city as an invasion of their rights, 

 which they should be prepared to resent as they would 

 resent the destruction of any other public property. 



We have received a circular from the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, London, in which special prizes are 

 offered for dessert apples and pears. These are called the 

 Veitch Prizes for Flavor, and they are offered at cve-iy fruit 

 and flower meeting of the society for the coming year, 

 with a first and second prize for the best-flavored apple 

 and a first and second prize for the best-flavored pear. Six- 

 fruits of each variety must be shown, and the judges are at 

 liberty to cut any three of them. The exhibitor must guar- 

 antee that the fruit exhibited has been grown entirely out- 

 of-doors, and he must state on the name card whether it 

 was grown on a wall, bush or standard, together with the 

 aspect of the tree and its geographical location, the nature 

 of the soil in which it stands, and when he knows it, the 

 stock on which the scion was grafted. The fruit isju< 

 bv points, twelve being the maximum, and these points 

 are distributed in the following proportion : For flavor, 

 six ; for quality, three ; for appearance, two, and for 

 one. It is explained that "quality" is intended to mean 

 the degree of smoothness or meltingness of the flesh (the 

 absence of grit), or in the case of early apples, crispness 

 and juiciness of the flesh may be considered. Quality, 

 therefore, refers mainly to the texture of the flesh. Appear- 

 ance, of course, includes color and beauty of form ; but size, 

 which counts only one-twelfth in the estimate, does not 

 mean that the largest fruit receives the highest marking. 

 There is a type size which invests the fruit with its greatest 

 value for table use, and this is counted perfection. Enor- 

 mous specimens are not preferred, since beyond a certain 

 point size is a defect in dessert fruits. 



