PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
Vol. XVII Chicago, August, 1907 No. 5 
An Upheaval in Central Park, New York 
In consequence of a severe condemnation of physical con- 
ditions in Central Park, New York, from many sources, the 
superintendent, a political appointee,' was dismissed by the 
Park Commissioner of the Borough. The City Club im- 
mediately communicated with the Commission suggesting 
that the office of Superintendent of Parks be made what it 
should be; and, generally, there promises to be an upheaval 
in park affairs which it is earnestly hoped will result finally 
in their divorce from politics. There is trouble also in the 
Borough of Bronx. The showing up of conditions in Cen- 
tral Park should awake the citizens of New York to the 
disgusting effects of politics in their parks. Abuses have 
been so flagrant and methods so diameterically opposed to 
standard ideas, that it is surprising that so important and 
rich a metropolis should present such a contrast with other 
cities where parks are established and controlled by ability 
and wisdom. Experts who examined the park four years 
ago recommended resurfacing for its worn out soil, and it 
seems that the interim of neglect makes this measure and 
the reconstruction of the roads imperative. The commis- 
sioner estimates that this will cost $150,000, and says he can- 
not get the money. Dr. Britton, of the New York Botanical 
Garden, says the resurfacing can be done for $50,000. Which- 
ever sum is necessary, the first requisite is an expert super- 
intendent, who shall be absolutely independent of political 
influence. The richest and largest city in the country is in- 
deed poor, when its most famous park is allowed to decay 
for lack of money. Perhaps some one of the generous mil- 
lionaires whose automobiles are credited with ruining the 
roads, will donate this small sum. Perhaps the commissioner 
instead of getting the legislature to keep the automobiles out 
of the park, could get the license fee on the machines in- 
creased, and devote the extra sum to repairing the park. Or 
public contributions might be called for to relieve this pov- 
erty-stricken city. 
Ng V(g Ng 
The National Forests and the Public 
The magnitude of the public interests involved in the 
“national forests” policy, rapidly being established under 
accepted business principles, is scarcely yet intelligently ap- 
preciated. A better understanding may be readily gained 
by a study of “The Use Book,” a pamphlet quite recently 
Issued by the Department of Agriculture Forest Service 
comprising the regulations and instructions for the use of 
the National Forests. It is really a clear manual for “public 
information as to the policy of the National Goverment” and 
has for a principal object the explanation of “just what the 
National Forests mean, what they are for, and how to use 
them.” The preservation and exploitation of large forest 
areas by the government is solely for the benefit of every 
citizen of the country equally, and it is far from its policy 
to conduct them as preserves for any particular interests 
whatever. The method of the book is to print the regulations 
singly in bold type and to follow each with all the informa- 
tion and instruction that are at present to hand concerning 
the object and effect of each rule and regulation. This 
naturally leads to a very complete explanation of the govern- 
ment’s work, as well as to the uses to which the forests are 
to be applied both in their economic and material relations 
to the welfare of the people at large. Under present condi- 
tions the forests are managed by the people in their own in- 
terests, and it is evidently the intention to use every means 
“to meet the desires and wants of all forest users half way,, 
by dealing with them in the main directly on the ground, 
and in all cases with the utmost practicable dispatch and 
freedom from red tape. The Use Book will go far to 
correct misapprehension of the government policy in regard 
to its forest preserves as well as to instruct everyone in their 
immense value to the people. 
Vg Ng Ng 
The St. Louis Civic League 
St. Louis, Mo., is to be cordially congratulated, not onljr 
upon the work of its Civic League, but upon the sustained 
principles upon which its executive board carries on the work. 
This is recorded in “A Year of Civic Effort, ” which contains 
the addresses and reports submitted at the last annual meet- 
ing, and by one of the most elaborate publications on “A 
City Plan for St. Louis.” which has ever been produced 
by an organization of citizens. In fact, the encomiums which 
have been passed upon it from all interested sources must 
have been an inspiration to renewed efforts by the officials 
of the League. “A City Plan” comprises the reports of the 
several committees appointed by the Executive Board of 
the Civic League to draft a city plan, and it is copiously 
illustrated with examples from other cities and countries, 
and interspersed with maps and plans which give it an im- 
portance quite unique. In a word it is impossible to do it 
any justice whatever in the limited space at command. It is 
an invaluable addition to the literature on the subject of the 
“City Beautiful.” Aggressive conservatism seems to be the 
bed-rock policy of the St. Louis organization, and it has al- 
ready accomplished remarkable results. 
Ng Ng Sg 
Landscape Gardening in Agricultural Education 
It is possible that the most telling effect of the past ten 
years’ campaign in the cause of outdoor improvement is the 
influence it has had in broadening out school education. The 
many directions in which this may be observed, in giving the 
subject a few moments thought, is remarkable. Arbor Day, 
school gardens, later, the tentative efforts to introduce ele- 
mental agriculture into the rural schools, and lastly, the in- 
troduction of the subject of landscape gardening as a part 
of the agricultural college course, really owe the credit for 
their rapid development to the growth of public sentiment in 
favor of the improvement of our homes and public places, 
upon which the realization has been forced that to Anally 
succeed in making a beautiful America, education to that 
end must begin at the bottom. To the University of Illinois 
should be given the credit for being the first institution to 
make compulsory a study of landscape gardening in 
its agricultural course, in order to bring about better 
outdoor conditions for our farm homes. It is certainly 
desirable that all phases of outdoor improvement should march 
in unison, as related to both town and country, so far as it 
is possible to encourage such conditions ; but it is equally cer- 
tain that rural improvement would lag far behind were the 
fact not at last appreciated that the rural school must im- 
prove its educational scope to correspond in degree with 
that of the city schools. Returning to the action of the Uni- 
versity of Illinois in including a certain amount of elementary 
landscape work in its agricultural course, it is in every way 
a most commendable effort. There seems to be very little 
natural ability in the average farmer in this line, and to make 
it a part of his education will soon lead up to the solution of 
tlie problem of improving country home surroundings. 
