October 15, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



497 



GARDEN AND FOREST, 



rUBHSHKL) WEEKLY HY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING. CO. 



Office : Tribune Building, New York. 



Conducted by Professor C. S. Sarg 



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



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1890. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Editorial Articles: — A Park Association 



Names for County Roads 



Jeannette Park, New York. (With illustration.) 



A Japanese Floral Calendar //. Yoshida. 



Nematodes in the Chrysanthemum Professor Byron D. Halstcd. 



Plant Notes : — Some Recent Portraits 



New or Little Known Plants :— Gerbera Jamesoni. (With figure.). W. Watson. 



New Orchids R. A. Rol/e. 



Foreign Correspondence : — London Letter W. Watson. 



"Cultural Department : — An Alpine Border J. N. G. 



Rose Notes W. H. Tallin. 



Notes on Shrubs y m Q m jr 



Growing Hippeastrtims 



Achillea serrata, fl. pi., Anemone Japonica E. O. Orpet. 



Vallota purpurea M. Barker. 



Spraying against Pear Blight B. D. II. 



The Forest:— The Forestry Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition 



Correspondence : — Improper Pruning F. D. O. 



Forest Destruction R. D. W. 



Spring or Fall Planting ? B. E. Fernow. 



Recent Publications 



Notes 



Illustrations :— Gerbera Jamesoni (reduced one- third), Fig. 64 



Jeannette Park, New York 



AGE, 



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A Park Association. 



THIS is peculiarly an age of organization. In nearly 

 every branch of science, of trade, of industry, and 

 even of sport, we have national associations meeting in 

 annual conventions. These associations have, for the 

 most part, proved to be powerful instrumentalities for the 

 promotion of their particular ends. They bring men to- 

 gether for the interchange of ideas upon subjects of mutual 

 interest; they give to men living in widely separated parts 

 of the country the advantage of personal contact with each 

 other, and they provide the opportunity for agreement upon 

 concerted lines of action to forward the ends they have at 

 heart. There is one great popular interest, however, in 

 which, as yet, no steps have been taken toward organiza- 

 tion. That is, the important service of public parks. It is 

 time that some action of the kind were taken. The public 

 park movement now extends to nearly all parts of the 

 country, and popular interest in the subject was never 

 before so great. By organization this movement can be 

 greatly assisted, and much can be done toward making 

 the popular interest more active and intelligently effec- 

 tive. 



Most of our leading American cities have now important 

 park undertakings in hand, and many of the smaller ones 

 have become alive to the value of public pleasure-grounds, 

 and have taken practical steps to secure them. The for- 

 mation of a public park association could hardly fail to 

 make this movement still more widespread and to increase 

 the popular interest in the subject. The publication of the 

 proceedings of such an association, and their discussion in 

 the press, would have a marked educational effect upon 

 the people. The true purpose of parks would be more 

 widely comprehended, and the danger of their abuse and 

 maladministration would be correspondingly diminished. 

 The meetings of the association each year, now in this 

 city, now in that, would advance the park interests in the 

 various localities. The several great cities of the country 

 would each desire to be honored with a meeting of the 

 association, and there would be a friendly rivalry amono- 

 them in the matter of worthy preparation for the event. 



Each would desire to have its parks made most attractive 

 for the occasion, special attention would be given to the 

 subject, and the improved aspect of the pleasure-grounds 

 of the city would be likely to be so marked that a subse- 

 quent falling off would be more difficult, and the result 

 would be a permanent improvement. A spirit of emula- 

 tion would also induce cities that had not yet given atten- 

 tion to the subject to undertake the establishment ofpublic 

 parks. 



We would, therefore, suggest the formation of an Amer- 

 ican Public Park Association, to comprise the commission- 

 ers, trustees or committees in charge of the public parks 

 and pleasure-grounds of the various cities and towns, also 

 the authorities in charge of national and state parks or 

 reservations, such as the Yellowstone and the Yosemite, the 

 Niagara Falls, and the proposed Adirondack reservations 

 in New York, and the proposed White Mountains reserva- 

 tion in New Hampshire. Organizations like the Massa- 

 chusetts Trustees of Public Reservations, the proposed 

 body in Massachusetts for the preservation of beautiful 

 and historic places, should also be included, and an indis- 

 pensable element in the membership would be the land- 

 scape-architects or gardeners engaged in park work, and 

 also the superintendents of public parks and pleasure- 

 grounds. 



It would be well to make the Association continental, 

 rather than national, in its scope, after the plan of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 

 American Forestry Association and other important bodies. 

 It would thus include not only Canada, but also Mexico, 

 for in the latter country the institution of public pleasure- 

 grounds, particularly in the shape of urban gardens, is a 

 universal one, and much could be learned in that quarter. 

 Appropriations from the various municipalities to defray 

 the expenses of officials attending the meetings of the Asso- 

 ciation would be eminently proper, for the advantages 

 gained from such conferences would return the expendi- 

 tures manifold. 



The meetings of the Association could not fail to be oc- 

 casions of exceptional interest and enjoyment. They should 

 be held annually in the various large cities of the country 

 where public parks have been established, at some favor- 

 able time during the pleasant seasons of the year, ranging 

 from late spring to early autumn. Perhaps, owing to the 

 peculiar nature of the object, it might be well not to have 

 the time for meeting fixed for any special week, or even 

 month, since an examination of the parks of the place of 

 meeting would be one of the features of the occasion, and 

 therefore the time most favorable should be chosen. The 

 time of year which would be most favorable for meeting 

 in a Canadian city, for instance, might be extremely un- 

 favorable in a southern city. It should also be the aim to 

 hold the meetings successively in widely separated por- 

 tions of the country, in order to make the influence of the 

 Association as extensive as possible, as well as to give an 

 agreeable contrast of environment to the various gatherings. 

 The subjects for discussion would have a wide range of 

 character and would be practically inexhaustible. They 

 would include questions of the maintenance, the manage- 

 ment and the use of parks, and of their adaptability to 

 various purposes. Landscape-gardening, with all its pos- 

 sibilities and limitations, would always furnish themes for 

 discussion. Much information could be imparted and 

 learned by means of lantern-slide exhibitions illustrating 

 notable works completed or in progress. Visits to the 

 parks of the city where the meetings might be held, be- 

 sides excursions to places of scenic interest in the neigh- 

 borhood, would all help to make these conventions events 

 of educational value. 



The power for good proceeding from such an association 

 would be noteworthy in bringing about better methods of 

 administration, in extending the influence of men who are 

 recognized masters in the art of park design, and in elevat- 

 ing and popularizing the standards of good taste, and in 

 checking meretricious and evil tendencies. 



