480 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
people rhey are to serve rather than when the}' are as- 
sociated with the larger parks ; but there are good argu- 
ments in favor of providing playground facilities in con- 
nection with large landscape parks. Wherever this is 
done. I believe it to be a wise policy to so design the 
layout that it will be perfectly evident to any intelli- 
gent observer that there are two distinct tracts of land, 
a playground and an adjacent landscape park, not a 
utilitarian and relatively unlovely playground in a land- 
scape park. 
Never put anything in a park primarily devoted to 
beautv of scenery which does not upon the whole con- 
tribute, directly or indirectly, to the public enjoyment 
of that particular kind of scenery. If, for reasons which 
are clearlv convincing, some such thing, incongruous 
with the scenery, must be placed on laud which has 
been a part of such a park, there should be a definite 
decision to withdraw either a portion or the whole of 
the park from service as primarily a place of scenic 
beauty, and to devote the land so withdrawn primarily 
to certain utilitarian purposes, retaining only such 
beauty of scenery as is compatible with the efficient 
accomplishment of those utilitarian ends. 
As I have said elsewhere*, in most of the objects with 
which we are concerned beauty is, and ought to be, an 
absolutely incidental factor. \Ye want as much beauty 
in them as possible, but only that sort and degree of 
beauty which is compatible with a high degree of utili- 
tarian efficiency. This is clearly the case with play- 
grounds, just as it is with reservoirs or pumping stations 
or chairs and tables. Some things, however, are of value 
wholly or primarily for their beauty, and if they have 
any direct utilitarian value it is secondary and inciden- 
tal. This is the case with a painted landscape and with 
a landscape park or an ornamental garden. The extraor- 
dinary difficulty of balancing artistic gain and loss 
against utilitarian gain and loss in detail, and the mani- 
fest weighting of the scales in favor of the utilitarian 
side whenever this process is followed, make it im- 
portant to segregate sharply from the vast majority of 
things those which belong to this latter class. The first 
question in regard to any one of these things, valuable 
primarily for their non-utilitarian beauty, is — can we 
afford it? If not, we give it up; if it is portable we sell 
it to some one who can afford it : if it is real estate, like 
a landscape park, we either sell it or use it for some- 
thing else in which the beauty-value is secondary to the 
use-value. If we can afford it, we direct our efforts 
toward conserving and making available its beauty, and 
steadfastly refuse to use it for anything that will im- 
pair its beauty. 
The importance of sticking firmly and even obstin- 
ately to this principle, that in certain park lands set 
apart primarily for the public enjoyment of their beauty 
nothing must be done which impairs that enjoyment, 
depends on the fact that where an alteration is proposed 
in any beautiful landscape, it is much easier to see and 
to state any utilitarian advantages of the change than 
it is to see and to state convincingly the artistic dis- 
advantages. If an injury to the scenery is to be justified 
on the ground that it is "only a little one" and that it 
permits the attainment of some valuable practical end, 
the same argument applies to a thousand other proposi- 
tions the cumulative effect of which on the scenery would 
be ruinous. 
To sum up these rather vague remarks, I would say: 
First, make your playgrounds as shipshape and orderly 
and as attractive in appearance as you can — wherever 
they are placed. Second, combine them as far as prac- 
ticable with facilities for other kinds of recreation not 
primarily dependent on the quality of the scenery ; but 
still make that scenery as pleasant as you can without 
waste or loss of practical efficiency. Third, when deal- 
ing with any piece of park land the prime purpose of 
which is to give enjoyment by its beauty, do not on any 
account thrust into it a playground or any other so- 
called "improvement" which will impair its beautv. 
* Landscape Architecture fur January, 19M. 
FOREST PRODUCTS WIDELY USED. 
TN addition to the ordinary uses of wood with which 
we are familiar, we are dependent upon the forest 
for a variety of products whose appearance does not 
indicate their origin. Numerous as these products are, 
and as extensive as is their use at the present time, 
science is constantly learning new constituents which 
enter into the makeup of wood and is finding new uses 
to which these constituents and those already known 
can be put. Powder, disinfectants and artificial silk are 
among the products obtained in whole or in part from 
wood. 
Charcoal, as everyone knows, is essential for the man- 
ufacture of black powder. All of the acetone used as a 
solvent in making nitrocellulose powders is derived from 
acetic acid, a product of hardwood distillation. Great 
Britain, it is said, is dependent upon the United States 
for acetone used in making cordite. Black walnut is a 
standard for gunstocks, and has been so much in demand 
for the past two years that our supply of this valuable 
wood has been considerably reduced and other woods, 
notably birch, are being substituted. From Europe comes 
the complaint that there is a shortage of willow for mak- 
ing wooden legs. 
Pure wood alcohol is the only substance which can be 
converted commercially into formaldehyde, which is uni- 
versally used for disinfection. The experts at the Forest 
Products Laboratory have conducted extensive experi- 
ments on the production of grain or ethyl alcohol from 
wood and have been successful in experimental work in 
raising the yield and lowering the cost of production. If 
this process can lie put on a commercial basis, the for- 
esters say, it will result in putting the millions of tons 
of coniferous sawdust and other material which is now 
wasted even' year to a profitable use. 
By converting cellulose, one of the elements of wood, 
into a gelatinous material, known as viscose, a wide field 
is opened up for the utilization of wood waste, and a new 
line of products, varying all the way from sausage cas- 
ings to tapestry, is added to the already lengthy list. 
Many of the so-called "silk" socks, neckties and fancy 
braids now on the market contain artificial silk made 
from wood. 
About nine-tenths of all the paper which we use is 
made from wood. Besides the detailed investigations of 
the methods of making newsprint paper, and of the pro- 
duction of paper from woods hitherto unused for that 
purpose, which have been conducted, kraft paper, which 
compares favorably with the best on the market, has been 
produced experimentally at the Forest Products Labora- 
tory from longleaf-pine mill-waste. This kraft paper is 
brown in color and is very much stronger than ordinary 
papers. It is used for a variety of purposes, and, cut into 
strips, is spun or twisted into thread which is then woven 
into onion and coffee bags, matting, suitcases and wall 
covering, similar to burlap, and furniture closely resem- 
bling that made from reeds, as well as other articles of 
common use. 
