September 7. 1892. 



Garden and Forest. 



421 



GARDEN AND FOREST. 



PUBLISHED. WEEKLY BY 



THE GARDEN AND FOREST PUBLISHING CO. 



Office : Tkiuune Builuing, Nkw Yoric. 



Conducted by 



Profeaaor C. S. Sargent. 



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



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1892. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articlbs :— The Boston Metropolitan Park Commission 421 



The Bot.inical Garden of Dublin 422 



Overland in tlie Cayuf^a Country. — II Professor L. H. Bailey, 423 



Notes un the Flora of Sniythe County, Vii"p:inia. — IV. .A7nta Murray Vail, 424 



Nrw or Little-known Plants: — Smilax glauca. (With figure.) 424 



Entomological; — Notes on Two Troublesome Borers J. G. yacic, 426 



Foreign Correspondence : — The Roclv-garden at Kew. (With figure.) 



IV, IVatsojt. 



Cultural Department : — Summer Greenhouse Climbers - ..,M, Barker, 



Roses IV, H. Taplin, 



Iris Lorteti Professor M, Foster, 



Onions at the North Carolina Experiment Station. ./'r^fjj(7r W, F, Massey, 430 



Torenia Fournieri, Tom Thumb Dahlias G, 430 



Correspondence ;— Some New California Plants Carl Purdy, 430 



Spiraea Aruncus .,Lora S, La Mance, 431 



Recent Publications 43' 



Notes 43' 



Illustrations : — Smilax glauca, Fig. 70 425 



The Rock-garden at Kew, Fig. 71 427 



426 

 428 

 429 

 429 



The Boston Metropolitan Park Commission. 



THE Metropolitan Park Commission, which has lately 

 been organized for the area known as Greater Bos- 

 ton, marks an important step in the progress of the park 

 movement in the great cities of this country. The Com- 

 mission is one of investigation, appointed by the Gove'rnor, 

 to inquire into the needs of the cities and towns in the 

 vicinity of Boston, and to report to the Legislature in 1893 

 a plan for the provision of ample open spaces in the terri- 

 tory under consideration. The limits of the territory are 

 not defined, and the scope of the investigations in this 

 respect, as in others, is left to the discretion of the com- 

 missioners. The establishment of this Commission is an 

 outcome of the organization of the Trustees of Public Reser- 

 vations, and a direct result of the conference of Park 

 Commissioners and others interested in the subject called 

 by the Trustees last autumn, and held at the oftice of the 

 Boston Park Commission, an account of which was given 

 in Garden and Forest (vol. v., page 62). That such a 

 commission has already been authorized is a sufficient 

 indication of the rapid growth of public sentiment in favor 

 of public recreation-grounds. Fortunately, the members 

 of this Commission are admirably qualified for their work. 

 They are all well known, not only as men of broad public 

 spirit, but they have been generously and intelligently 

 active in many worthy projects for establishing and main- 

 taining public parks and for preserving for public use 

 places which have a special value from patriotic associa- 

 tion or intrinsic beauty. 



It is probable that the scope of the inquiry undertaken 

 by this Commission will be sufficiently broad and thorough 

 to enable the city to deal intelligently with all the impor- 

 tant park problems which now confront it. Among the 

 features of the investigation ought to be the reserva- 

 tion of large woodland and hilly areas like the Middlesex 

 Fells' and the Blue Hills ; of points of marked picturesque, 

 historic or traditional interest like the "Appleton Pulpit," 



in Saugus, with its neighboring lake-scenery, and the 

 Waverley Oaks in Waltham ; of the various lakes or ponds 

 in the metropolitan region ; of the margins of the rivers 

 and streams, including the beautiful expanses of salt-marsh 

 bordering their tidal estuaries ; of spaces by the sea-shore 

 sufficient to permit water-side recreation ; of the reforesta- 

 tion of the islands in Boston harbor ; and, finally, a study 

 should be made of the important question of sufficient 

 playground and breathing spaces throughout all the terri- 

 tory in the suburbs of the city. 



A population of something like a million inhabitants is 

 included within the territory which will probably be cov- 

 ered by the investigations of the Commission. There are 

 many passages of strikingly beautiful scenery within 

 this area, but the population is increasing so rapidly 

 that every year sees lamentable encroachments upon 

 some of the most charming landscape passages. There is 

 now an opportunity to deal comprehensively with the sub- 

 ject, and to secure the permanent reservation of precious 

 natural features which many another city with a liberal 

 and far-seeing policy in regard to park matters would have 

 regarded as of priceless value had they existed in its 

 neighborhood. Indeed, Chicago has gone to the trouble 

 of creating, at great cost, landscape-effects which at best 

 are quite inferior to many a scene already existing in the 

 neighborhood of Boston and only need to be preserved. 



Fortunately, the public mind is becoming alive to the 

 importance of definite action in the near future, and if the 

 Commission reports a plan covering the ground most thor- 

 oughly it looks as if the power of popular sentiment might 

 effect its adoption. Already in a considerable number of 

 the separate communities interested steps have lately been 

 taken looking toward the acquisition and improvement of 

 public grounds, and local park commissions have been ap- 

 pointed. But small communities are apt to deal with 

 such matters solely in relation to their own locality ; and 

 they can hardly be expected to treat them as parts of some 

 general system, especially if no such system has been 

 planned. Besides, in places growing as rapidly as the Bos- 

 ton suburbs are growing, there are always matters demand- 

 ing immediate attention and large outlays, such as sewers 

 and sidewalks to construct, roads to improve, school- 

 houses to build, water-works to extend, and these take 

 precedence of works of an "ornamental" character, as 

 parks and playgrounds are too apt to be regarded. Where 

 park improvements have been taken in hand in these places 

 the methods employed and the results achieved have usu- 

 ally presented an unfavorable contrast to the comprehen- 

 sive way in which the great central municipality has dealt 

 with the subject, both artistically and practically. It there- 

 fore seems desirable that the entire metropolitan region 

 should be treated as a unit in the planning of a system of 

 parks and other open spaces. 



Altogether, the formation of this Commission seems to 

 us an event of more than local significance. There are many 

 American cities which are expanding as rapidly as Boston 

 is, and which are in immediate need of provision for future 

 parks. The report of this Commission ought to be an im- 

 portant contribution to the literature of the subject, and it 

 will have a special value if it carefully considers the ma- 

 chinery and methods of administering a system of city 

 parks after they are once established. 



In his article, entitled "The Tilden Trust Library : 

 What shall it be .'' " published in Scrihners Magazine 

 for September, Mr John Bigelow declares that, as regards 

 this question, "the press of New York has a manifest 

 duty, for it is only through the press that the best judg- 

 ment of her citizens can be evolved, and the public authori- 

 ties properly encouraged and sustained in giving that 

 judgment fit and adequate support." In the performance 

 of this duty we feel impelled to say that our views differ 

 from those of Mr. Bigelow as regards the proper location 

 for this librar)'. 



