July 7, 1897.] 



Garden and Forest. 



261 



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 SFCOND-CLASS MATTER AT THE POST-uFFICtt AT NEW YORK, N. Y. 



NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1897. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 



Editorial Articles : — The True Function of City Paries 261 



Forestry in Pennsylvania 261 



Private Forestry and State Forestry. — IV C. A Schenck. 262 



Pomegranates and Oleanders in California Villages. . . . Charles H. Shinn. 263 



The Agricultural Prospects of Alaska /]/. IV. Gorman 263 



Foreign Correspondence -.—London Letter IV. Watson. 264 



New or Little-known Plants: — Lonicera gracilipes (With figure.) 266 



Plant Notes 266 



Cultural Department: — Cultivation of the Calochortus J.N. Gerard. 267 



The Abelias G. IV Oliver. 267 



Irises in Late June J.N. Gerard. 267 



Flower Garden Notes IV. N. Craig. 267 



Correspondence : — Licorice Root B. 268 



The Bladder Nuts Dansie DandridgeMbi, 



Periodical Literature . . "268 



Recent Publications : — The Spruce Forests of Maine. — II 269 



Notes 270 



I llustration : — Lonicera gracilipes, Fig. 34 265 



The True Function of City Parks. 



THE President of the Board of Education of this city has 

 made a proposal to the Board of Public Parks, of which 

 this is the essence: "There are few among our public- 

 school children who are able to recognize when they see 

 them the various grains, the production of which constitutes 

 so large a portion of the wealth of this country. I suggest, 

 therefore, that you prepare a small piece of ground in Cen- 

 tral Bark, say, two hundred feet long and fifty wide, and 

 divide it off into distinct lines so that there can be sowed 

 in the first division of the space wheat, in the second oats, 

 in the third barley, in the fourth rye, and in the fifth corn. 

 The crops can be allowed to grow until ready for harvest, 

 when they can be cut, laid in shocks and sheaves, and 

 allowed to remain for such a time as would be desirable 

 for the continuance of this object-lesson. " 



Persons who are familiar with the history of our city 

 parks are not surprised at any attempt to divert them from 

 their primary purpose. Long before the lower half of Central 

 Park was completed the Park Board was urged to display in 

 the lake a model fleet of the different kinds of sailing craft, so 

 that school children could learn the difference in build and 

 rigging between a ship and a schooner. An eminent educator 

 petitioned that the north meadow should be laid out as a 

 map of the United States, with the chief products of each 

 commonwealth growing in its proper latitude and longi- 

 tude as an object-lesson in home geography. Haifa dozen 

 years ago an elaborate scheme was devised in Boston for 

 locating small insectaries, aquaria and zoological collec- 

 tions in different parts of that city park system, with each 

 group of animal life surrounded by the flora of that portion 

 of the world in which it flourished. And since catalogues 

 could never grow as rapidly as these museum collections 

 would increase, it was advised that educated persons in 

 different branches of biology should be stationed near each 

 collection to answer questions and give instruction to 

 visitors. 



The trouble is that the zealous people who wish to trans- 

 form the parks into places for public education and scien- 

 tific research, or devote them to military parades or to 

 public meetings for the advancement of religion or any 



other good cause, forget that the primary purpose of a rural 

 park within reach of a great city is to furnish that rest and 

 refreshment of mind and body which come from the tran- 

 quilizing influence of contact with natural scenery. Of 

 course, people, young and old, can skate on the lakes in 

 the winter, and listen to music which is provided in the 

 summer, or play golf or ball where arrangements for such 

 games are possible, but all these additions when they are 

 successful are made subordinate to what should be the 

 controlling purpose in the design and maintenance of such 

 pleasure-grounds. Anything which interferes with the 

 restful quality of the scenery in so far destroys the highest 

 value of the park. 



There is no need of offering specific objections to the 

 proposal of President Hubbell. We dissent from his 

 opinion that this growing crop of grain would be "orna- 

 mental," and we apprehend that if he would reflect upon 

 this point he would agree with us that a square piece cut 

 out of the turf in the north meadow, for instance, and 

 planted in a checker-board of different colors of grain or 

 stubble would not enhance the quiet beauty of the scenery. 

 But if a beginning was made in this direction, why stop 

 with five patches? Anyone can see corn or oats or rye 

 growing in their season within the city limits, and why 

 not add buckweat, the sorghums and millets, which are 

 not so well known, but which are of growing importance 

 to our agriculture every day. Besides these there are im- 

 portant leguminous forage plants worth knowing, and 

 there are few city boys who can distinguish Kentucky 

 Blue Grass from Red-top. Then there are Flax and Hemp 

 and other fibrous plants, and no end to the different 

 varieties of vegetation which enter largely into the econo- 

 mies of our every-day life. But the simple fact is that a col- 

 lection of agricultural and economic plants is not a park, 

 and it cannot be made into a park any more than a museum 

 can develop into a library. The ideas are distinct and they 

 maybe conflicting. No doubt, education is a good thing, 

 and scientific research is a good thing, but refreshment of 

 mind and body is also a good thing, and it is an especially 

 desirable relief from the nervous eagerness and intensity of 

 the life in modern American cities. Why not leave the parks 

 to furnish this rest, instead of turning them into cheap 

 adjuncts of the university extension movement? 



Forestry in Pennsylvania. 



E are too often overwhelmed with discouragement 

 because honest and persistent efforts at disseminat- 

 ing rational views on the subject of forestry seem to pro- 

 duce such meagre results, but it should be remembered 

 that the enlightenment of public sentiment is slow work, 

 and while the fruits of educational labor are not always 

 manifest at once, the seeds of good ideas may nevertheless 

 be germinating for future harvests. Half a dozen years 

 ago no sane man would have hoped that any one of the 

 forest laws enacted by the last Pennsylvania Legisla- 

 ture would pass. But many earnest men and women have 

 been writing and talking and memorializing until a public 

 opinion has been developed which makes almost any good 

 legislation in this direction possible. It is very plain, too, 

 that the report of the Forestry Commission which was pub- 

 lished last year has done much educational work in that 

 state, while the influence of its Forestry Bureau, created the 

 year before, has been constantly exercised for good. 



The act which will probably give delight to the greatest 

 number of intelligent people in the country is one which 

 creates a great reservation at the head of each of the 

 important rivers of the state, the Delaware, Susquehanna 

 and the Ohio. Each of these reservations contains 40,000 

 acres or more, and since the bill passed the Senate with 

 only one negative vote, it is more than probable that 

 they will be greatly extended hereafter, and that this 

 measure is the beginning, not only of systematic pro- 

 tection of forests, but of a conservative practice which 

 will provide increasing forest supplies for the future. It 



