Park Department 
27 
enjoyed by hundreds of people during the period of frozen 
weather. After making a test of resistance we calculated that 
the ice was perfectly safe after it had frozen to three inches ; 
and as the weather in this latitude does not permit of skating 
very frequently, we find it meets with the approval of the general 
public, and gives a great deal of pleasure by allowing them to 
use the ice whenever it reaches a thickness of three inches. An 
average of about one thousand people were on the ice during the 
skating-days. 
In the summer there is splendid boating on the water, which 
covers an area of about three acres, and affords recreation of 
many kinds, and also adds wonderfully to the embellishment of 
the park. The innumerable boats are constantly in use by the 
children of the neighborhood, and in fact the body of water is 
inadequate to accommodate the great demand for boating during 
the hot summer evenings. This is partially due to the very 
liberal rates made by Mr. Frank Daugherty, who has the boating 
privileges in the parks, he allowing the children to ride on the 
lake for one cent per ride. 
masWtiflton Park 
To keep Washington Park in condition has been a very per- 
plexing question during the past summer. In the spring of the 
year grass-seed was sown and the flower-beds planted with 
canna, geranium, musa ensete, and acalypha. There were also 
placed in the basin during the summer from six to eight varieties 
of nymphse (water-lilies). They have done remarkably well in 
this part of the city, and the experiment suggests that we can 
grow very successfully in the downtown districts a quantity of 
these lilies, which would add very materially to the collection of 
planting, as the aquatic garden is numbered as one of the most 
attractive features in parks of other cities. 
