173 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
most showy species: Crataegus Arnoldina, 
C. pedicillata, C. Durobrivensis, C. Pring- 
lei, C. foetida, C. coccinoides, C. Dunbari, 
C. ferentaria, C. formosa, C. beata, C. 
Holmesiana, C. Laneyi, C. spissiflora, C. 
Deweyana, C. opulens, C. Arkansana, C. 
Champlainensis, C. anomala, C. Canadensis, 
C. Canbyi. 
This paper brought forth quite a dis- 
cussion as to hardiness, etc., of many 
varieties of trees and shrubs. Dr. 
Frank Baker, of the Zoological Park, 
Washington, D. C., introduced the sub- 
ject of “Some Ways of Making Parks 
More Popular,” and this broadened out 
into quite a lengthy discussion. Dr. 
Baker advocated the use of parks along 
more utilitarian lines than is at pres- 
ent the case in many cities, and that 
more attention and room be given to- 
out-door games, school gardens, and 
zoological collections. The suggestions 
regarding games, play-grounds and 
school gardens, were most favorably re- 
ceived by all present. The suggestiori 
regarding zoological collections was not 
so well received. 
The following officers were elected 
for the ensuing year : 
President, John F. Cowell, Buffalo, 
N. Y. 
Vice-Presidents: John Chambers, 
Toronto, Can.; G. X. Amrhyn, New 
Haven, Conn.; John Dunbar, Ro- 
chester, N. Y.; J. W. Thompson, 
Seattle, Wash.; Jackson Dawson, 
Boston, Mass. ■ , 
Secretary-Treasurer, F. L. Mulford, 
Harrisburg, Pa. 
Saturday morning was devoted to 
an automobile ride through several 
sections of the city. Visits were 
made to the Riverdale Zoological 
Park, the Rosedale Ravine Drive, 
Reservoir Park and the Upper Can- 
ada College grounds. 
A short business' session was held 
on return to the city, when votes of 
thanks were passed to the officials of 
the City of Toronto, and especially 
to the Park Boards and Entertain- 
ment Committees and to Park Com- 
missioner John Chambers and his as- 
sistants for their efficient arrange- 
ments and for the many courtesies 
shown the delegates during the con- 
vention. 
The new president, John F. Cowell, 
has been a constant worker for the 
welfare of the association. He has 
served on many committees and has 
been several times a vice-president. 
He has been connected with horticul- 
tural pursuits all his life, and for the 
past eleven years has been Superin- 
tendent of South Park and Director 
of the Botanical Garden of Buffalo. 
F. L. Mulford has made an able 
secretary the past year, and his re- 
election will be a gratification to all 
the members of the association. 
Those attending the convention 
were : 
John Dunbar. Rochester, N. T. ; W. M. 
Shepardson, Naugatuck, Conn. ; G. X. 
Amrhyn, New Haven, Conn. ; J. S. Pearce,. 
London, Ont. ; H. W. Busch, Detroit, Mich.; 
Chas. A. Whittet (and wife), Lowell, Mass.; 
Dr. Frank Baker, Washington, D. C. ; Theo, 
Wirth. Minneapolis, Minn.; Fred Nussbaum- 
er, St. Paul, Minn.; C. E. Keith, Bridge- 
port, Corn.; A. Pinoteau, Montreal, Que. : 
J. Henderson, Montreal, Que.; Henry Frost 
(and wife), Haverhill. Mass.; John Cham- 
bers, Toronto, Can. ; W. L. Cukierski, Grand 
Rapids, Mich.; John F. Cowell (and daugh- 
ter). Buffalo, N. Y. : E. H. Perry, Niagara 
Falls, N. Y. ; Isaac Kelly, Lawrence, Mass. ; 
.John W. Duncan, Boston, Mass.; J. W. 
Rodgers, Cincinnati. Ohio; Wm. H. Don- 
aldson. Buffalo, N. Y. ; Arthur Hay, 
Springfield, III.; J. G. Morley, Los Angeles, 
Cal.; F. L. Mulford, Harrisburg, Penn.; E. 
A. Kanst, Chicago, III.; E. P. Adams, 
Omaha, Neb. ; Alderman Robillard, Mon- 
treal, Que.; J. Crepeau, Montreal. Que.; A. 
G. Chambers, Toronto, Ont.; John Cham- 
bers. Toronto, Ont.; Edward R. Mack, Wil- 
mi'igton, Del.; A. Herschede (and daugh- 
ter), Mr. Wiggins, Springfield, 111. 
IMPROVING SOIL IN CENTRAL PARK, NEW YORK 
The appointment of the new su- 
perintendent for Central Park, New 
York, as noted on another page, 
promises well for the park and sug- 
gestions are being made for renovat- 
ing the worn out soil. 
Four years ago an expert commis- 
sion thoroughl}" tested the soil and 
examined the conditions of the vege- 
tation in Central Park. They found 
many things not as they should have 
been, and recommended a thorough 
remedial course of treatment. To 
carry out these suggestions the com- 
sioner asked for $50,000 for renovat- 
ing the land and' $50,000 for cleaning 
the lakes. Neither sum was forth- 
coming and the period of ruinous 
neglect was continued. 
Since then no comprehensive plan 
for restoration has been formulated, 
and four years more of drain upon 
the soil, with nothing to offset it, has 
greatly aggravated the conditions re- 
ported by the Willcox commission. 
Dr. N. L. Britton, of the New York 
Botanical Garden, who was a mem- 
ber of that commission, now roughly 
estimates that the work of renovating 
could be done for about $50,000. 
Dr. Britton in a local interview tells 
of the work as follows: 
“The sod in Central Park is all 
right, mechanically, but it is greatly 
lacking in plant food. That want 
must be supplied, and the drain on 
the food should be lessened. In the 
course of our test we dug 137 holes 
in various parts of the park, so as to 
get a comprehensive idea of the soil 
conditions. The depth of good loam 
mixed with organic matter, that is, 
decayed vegetation — which forms the 
plant food — averaged ten inches. But 
that was four or five years ago. In 
the meantime nothing has been added 
to that soil, and a great deal has been 
drawn out of it by the growth of 
trees and shrubs. A lawn should have 
a heavy top dressing of natural fer- 
tilizer at least once in five years, but 
as the park lawns have not had that 
nourishment, something more helpful 
is needed now. 
“If it were my work I would handle 
that park now just as a prudent far- 
mer would handle a lot of worn-out 
acres that he wanted to make produc- 
tive. I would plough up all those 
great areas of greensward and seed 
them down with crimson clover. Then 
I would plough the crop under and 
put the ground back to grass. That 
would put the lawns, as such, out of 
commission for a year, but I think 
the public w'ould approve. 
“Crimson clover takes comparative- 
ly nothing from the soil. It lives on 
the nitrogen which it takes out of the 
atmosphere in great quantities, and 
when the crop is ploughed under, all 
that nitrogen, together with the great 
mass of fibre in the plants, is given to 
the soil. Nothing will do as much 
for worn out land as such a crop. 
That treatment would put the lawns 
in shape for ten years more, providing 
they had at the end of five years the 
top dressing. 
“There are 853 acres in the park. 
After subtracting the roads, building 
areas, lakes, rock ledges, and forest, 
there must be about 450 acres which 
require soil renovation. Of that 200 
acres are in large lawns. It is on 
those that I would put the clover crop. 
A hundred acres, perhaps, are split 
up into lawns and scattered grass 
plots too small for farm treatment. 
They should receive a liberal top 
dressing. The one hundred and fifty 
acres left, we will say, are covered by 
the shrubberies and trees other than 
those of the forest areas. 
“More top soil should be added in 
many sections where the rocks come 
too near the surface to allow suffi- 
cient room for the storage of plant 
food and for root growth. 
