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PARK AND CEMETERY. 
PARK NEWS. 
Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, now the 
largest city park in the country, em- 
bracing over 3,300 acres, was originally 
established by accident as a site for 
the city water works. It then in 1825 
included four acres and was known as 
Fairmount Gardens. 
:{< Jji Jjc 
One of the illustrations on this page 
shows a view of the pretty little park 
in Aladison, Inch, which is cared for by 
the Daughters of the American Revo- 
lution. The si^e was an old abandoned 
graveyard and had long been an eye- 
sore to the community. The picture 
shows graphically what a transforma- 
tion has been wrought. The park is 
well kept, and improvements have been 
made from time to time to add to its 
attractiveness. 
* * 
Great damage to plant life in Golden 
Gate Park, San Francisco, is threatened 
by the proposed construction of one 
of the largest copper smelters in the 
world, now in progress at San Bruno. 
Though the smelter will be located some 
miles from the park, it is greatly feared 
that the noxious fumes will be wafted 
by the sea winds over the grounds, and 
the result, in time, will be the destruc- 
tion of the plant life there. The board 
of park commissioners consider the dan- 
ger imminent,' and are very active in 
their opposition to the erection of the 
smelter. Strong efforts are being made 
to have work on the smelter discon- 
tinued. This the smelter company de- 
cline to do: they argue that the usual 
course of the winds would blow the 
poisonous fumes out to the ocean. But 
in case winds should veer, to be on 
the safe side, the company would pro- 
vide a chimney 400 feet high to prevent 
the wind from carrying gases over the 
park shrubbery. However, the park 
commissioners decided that the risk was 
too great, and a resolution was adopted 
asking the smelter company to discon- 
tinue the construction of a plant at that 
point. If the resolution is disregarded 
an injunction suit will be begun in the 
United States Court. There promises 
to be a big legal fight over the case. It 
is also claimed that the fumes will 
eventually destroy the forests, orchards, 
gardens, crops, berry plants, flowers, 
etc., in the country for a radius of miles 
around San Bruno. The company pro- 
pose to erect a smelter that will cost 
$5,000,000, and have unlimited capital. 
From the Annual Reports 
The annual report of the park board 
of Worcester, Mass., tells of the im- 
portant work in detail in the sixteen 
separate parks which include a total of 
over 1,000 acres. The total expendi- 
tures amounted to $27,136 for mainte- 
nance and $9,464 for improvements in 
■addition to an expenditure of $54,900 
for the purchase of the Green Hill 
property. 
The annual report of the park com- 
missioners of Wilmington, Del., is the 
usual beautifully illustrated book giving 
details of the financial operations and 
improvements made during the year. 
The total area of parks is now 292 
acres, including four large parks and 
ten small squares and open areas. The 
total expenditures for the year amo.unt- 
ed to $35,557. Out of bond issues of 
$50,000 and $30,000 made respectively 
in 1901 and 1905 there is still available 
$15,000 for improvements and $27,000 
for purchase of land. Construction has 
begun on a re-inforced concrete bridge 
346 feet long across the Brandywine 
and the work is to be finished this 
season. Two tracts of land were added 
to the park system during the year. 
The annual report of the park com- 
mission of Harrisburg, Pa., and report 
of Superintendent F. L. Mulford tell 
in detail of the numerous improvements 
at the Reservoir, its maintenance, the 
work on the grass plots on State street. 
the river bank and the Twelfth street 
playground, where excellent results 
have been obtained. Some idea of the 
nursery work on the island is given 
w'hen it is shown that 70,000 cuttings of 
shrubs were planted, seven acres being 
set out with 50,000 shrubs and 3,900 
young trees in addition. Over 1,600 
feet of seed beds over six feet wide 
are now on the island, some with plants 
ready to move. There have been made 
100,000 cuttings to be planted this 
sprmg. There were 46,000 plants, worth 
?4, 047.45 taken from the nursery ef- 
fecting a saving of over $4,000 in cost 
of plant.s. Mr. Mulford estimates at- 
tendance at the parks at almost three- 
quarters of a million. The total ex- 
penditures for the year amounted to 
$43,383, and there has been spent on 
the park system since March 23, 1903, 
$194,772.95. The report shows that 4,333 
feet of land have been given to the city 
along the river front. Of the 877 acres 
plotted for the park system 476.41 acres 
have been acquired. 
At the annual meeting of the park 
board of Rochester, N. Y., it was rec- 
ommended that $10,000 a year be set 
aside for the care of street trees. To 
do this work properly the superin- 
tendent estimated it would require at 
least four gangs of men to trim trees 
that needed it and to cut down dead, 
dangerous and crowding trees. The 
president’s report recommended a 
number of improvements, among 
them the development of the tract 
known as Pike’s Quarry. The treas- 
urer’s report showed receipts for the 
year of $104,901, and expenditures of 
$98,726. 
JOHN PAUL PARK, MADISON, IND. 
