PARK AND CEMETERY. 
sr 
Two members of the Milwaukee 
Park Commission recently visited the 
Capitol at Madison to argue in favor of 
a bill now before the legislature for in- 
creasing the park tax from 5-10 to 7-10 
of a mill. This, it is estimated, will in- 
crease the revenue of the Milwaukee 
commission about $40,000. 
* * * 
William B. de las Casas, chairman of 
the Metropolitan Park Commission' of 
Boston, in a recent stereopticon lecture, 
gave some interesting facts and figures 
about that great park system. It con- 
nects 30 or 40 cities and towns, and has 
cost about $14,000,000. The total area 
of its holdings is 10,053.70 acres, of 
which 9,380.25 acres are classed as res- 
ervations, and the remaining 673.45 as 
parkways. This includes 7,326.63 acres 
of woodland, 47 miles of river front- 
age, 9.86 miles of beaches and 35.55 
miles of parkways. The work 
is constantly growing and more 
land will be acquired as oppor- 
tunity presents itself. 
* * * 
The executive committee of 
the American Association of 
Park Superintendents held its 
midyear meeting in Manches- 
ter, N. H., in March, for the 
purpose of making arrange- 
ments for the ninth annual 
meeting and outing of the or- 
ganization, to be held at Toron- 
to, Can., August 6, 7 and 8. 
The association has a mem- 
bership of eighty, composed of men 
who are actively identified with 
the management of park systems 
in the principal cities of the Unit- 
ed States and Canada. Senator Byron 
Worthen, of Manchester, is president 
of the association. In attendance at 
the session of the executive committee 
were John A. Pettigrew, William J. 
Pettigrew, William J. Stewart and 
John W. Duncan, Boston; John F. Co- 
well, Buffalo, N. Y. ; F. L. Mulford, 
Harrisburg, Pa. ; C. E. Keith, Bridge- 
port, Conn., and Mr. Worthen. Follow- 
ing the business meeting Mr. Worthen 
did the honors by entertaining the vis- 
iting members of the association at din- 
ner at a local hotel. Messrs. William 
McElroy and Fred K. Ramsey of the 
Manchester board of street and park 
commissioners and other local guests 
were also present. 
Another evidence of the remarkable 
development in motor machinery is the 
appearance of the first motor road roller 
which has just been put on the market 
by the Austin-Western Co., of Chicago. 
It is manufactured entirely of American 
material and machinery at this compa- 
ny’s immense plant at Harvey, near Chi- 
cago, and is the first motor road roller 
ever made or sold in this country. This 
machine is the result of thorough in- 
vestigations of every type of rolling 
machinery in use, and the success of 
motor rollers in England and France 
induced the company to manufacture 
this one for American use. The mo- 
tive power is a simple gasoline engine 
somewhat similar to those that drive 
automobiles, which dispenses entirely 
with the boiler of the steam roller, 
leaving only the working parts to be 
attached to the frame. It does away 
with smoke, needs no water, coal, or 
FIRST AMERICAN MOTOR ROAD ROLLER. 
specially licensed engineer, and abolish- 
es many other ills the boiler is heir to. 
It marks a big step in advance in road 
rolling machinery. Descriptive litera- 
ture may be had from the Austin-West- 
ern Company. 
* * * 
From the Annual Reports 
At the annual meeting of the Quincy 
Boulevard and Park Association, Quin- 
cy, 111., President Edward J. Parker re- 
ported that all of the indebtedness for 
park sites had been wiped out with the 
exception for the purchase of Sunset 
Heights, recently noted in these col- 
umns. The total receipts for the year 
were $13,894. Mr. Parker, who has for 
many years been the leader in park 
work in that city, was elected for the 
twentieth time president of the asso- 
ciation'. 
The fourth annual report of the park 
board of Lowell, Mass., is a well print- 
ed illustrated book giving detailed ac- 
counts of the improvements in each of 
the parks. The total expenditures for 
the year amounted to $15,149. Super- 
intendent Chas. A. Whittet urges that 
the city acquire as early as possible all 
the property it can on the banks of the 
rivers and canals for park purposes. 
Improvements were made at the en- 
trance of Rogers Port Flill Park and 
Hovey Square was re-graded and 
turfed. Under Mr. Whittet’s direction 
an energetic campaign has been carried 
on against the browntail and gypsy 
moths. Fifteen thousand nests were re- 
moved from the street trees during the 
year and eighty thousand nests from 
trees on private property from which the 
city received $1,200 from the property 
owners. The appropriation for the motlv 
destruction was $5,000. Mr. Whittet is- 
also the city forester and during the 
past year nearly all of the dead and im-- 
sightly trees in the city, numbering 218,'. 
were removed. 
The eighth annual report of the park- 
commission of Hopedale, Mass., tells of' 
the building of a new band stand, the- 
construction of an extra tennis- 
court, and the addition of one- 
acre of territory. The wood- 
lands have been thinned out to. 
give the better trees a chance 
to develop, and the park super- 
intendent has co-operated with- 
the board of health in treating, 
the stagnant pools with petrol- 
eum for the extermination of 
mosquitoes. 
The annual report of the 
board of commissioners o f 
Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, 
Mo., notes that the greatest im- 
provement of the year was the 
reconstruction of gutters, curbs and 
drives in the eastern two-thirds of the 
park. About 4,723 feet of granitoid 
guttering was laid during the last two 
months of the year. The heavy and 
increasing use of the drives which will 
be greater with the projected im- 
provement of King’s highway have 
made serious problems of mainte- 
nance. The expenditures for the- 
year amounted to $24,847. 
* * 
A Correction 
In the article on “Rose Culture in 
Public Parks,” in our last issue, one 
of the illustrations of rose pruning was 
labeled “Manure covering to be put on 
after 3 to 5 feet of frost.” It should 
have read “3 to 5 inches” of frost. 
