PARK AND CEMETERY. 
196 
T 
PARK NEWS. 
park, on -condition that the Alton 
Granite Co., and St. Louis Traction Co. 
will give to the city Rock Springs 
Park to be used in connection with 
his own gift. The entire tract will 
comprise about 120 acres. 
Jersey City, N. J., is to purchase a 
site for a park on the west side of the- 
Palisades, comprising one hundred 
citj' lots, and commanding a fine view 
of the Hackensack and Passaic rivers. 
The purchase price of $46,000, and a 
sum for improving it the coming year 
has been appropriated. 
Hogg Memorial Park Lake Associa- 
tion of Austin, Tex., has been incor- 
porated to acquire a tract of 21.58 
acres of land, Austin, and to establish 
thereon a public park and erect a 
monument to the memory of former 
Governor James S. Hogg. The incor- 
porators are General William R. Ham- 
b}-. 11'. M. Imboden and W. D. Shel- 
ley. 
The Billings estate has agreed to 
donate to Superior, Wis., eighteen 
acres of land for park purposes. The 
estate some years ago gave forty acres 
to the city. 
Superintendent Charles A. Whittet 
of the Park Department of Lowell, 
Mass., in charge of the work of ex- 
terminating the gypsy moth in that 
city, is sending out the following no- 
tice to property owners: “You are 
hereby required on or before Nov. 1st, 
1907. to destroy gypsy and brown tail 
moths on all your property in this 
cil}'. This notification is in accord- 
ance with chapter 381, acts of 1905, as 
amended by chapter 268, acts of 1906, 
which requires cities and towns to de- 
stroy eggs, ' caterpillers, pupae and 
nests of the gypsy and brown tail 
moths under heavy penalty for failure 
to comply with the provisions of the 
law. If a property owner fails to de- 
stroy such eggs, caterpillars, pupae 
and nests, then the city or town is re- 
quired to destroy the same, and the 
cost of the work, in whole or in part, 
according to the value of the land, is 
assessed upon and becomes a lien oh ' 
the land. (See section 6, chapter 381.) 
The mayor asks owners and tenants 
to co-operate with the city in its work 
on highways and other public grounds 
by doing effective work on their prem- 
ises. Citizens who have cleaned their 
premises of the moths, but find their 
trees endangered by the neglect of 
. owners of adjoining estates, should 
niake complaint to the Superintendent. 
The infestation of a residential neigh- 
borhood by the neglect of a few will 
not be tolerated.” Then follow direc- 
tions for proceeding against the pest. 
Samuel Parsons, Jr., for forty years 
Landscape Architect and Superintend- 
ent of the Parks of New York, was 
appointed Park Commissioner for the 
boroughs of Manhattan and Rich- 
' mond. The appointment is only tem- 
porary, however, as Mr. Parsons con- 
sented to accept the position only 
until the Mayor can find a suitable 
man. Mr. Parsons succeeds Moses 
Herman, w'ho was recently appointed 
a City Magistrate. Mr. Parsons and 
John H. Beatty, the new Superintend- 
ent of Parks for Manhattan and Rich- 
mond, are compiling an estimate of 
the amount of money required to re- 
make Central Park. New York will 
be asked to spend $863,570 for the 
items of “labor, maintenance and sup- 
plies” in the administration of the 
parks of Manhattan and Richmond 
during 1908. Mr. Parsons in speaking 
of the repairs necessary to Central 
Park in a local interview said: 
“The water supply should be mod- 
ernized. This year they gave us 
$100,000 for this purpose, which was 
fine as far as it went. But it will take 
from $150,000 to, $200,000 more to in- 
stall an adequate water supply sys- 
tem. The old pipes, laid forty or 
fifty years ago, are now virtually use- 
less, breaking constantly and compell- 
ing the tearing up of the park in 
many spots. Then comes the subject 
of soil. Central Park lies on a barren 
foundation of rock. The condition of 
the soil has deteriorated into almost 
complete uselessness since the earth 
was laid fifty years ago. Much of it 
has been washed away. It must be 
remembered that south of Ninetj^- 
sixth street pretty much all of the 
park is artificial. The soil that re- 
mains is impoverished to the last de- 
gree by the crowds that throng over 
it and the draft made on it by vegeta- 
tion. The heart is worn out of it. 
The remedy lies in the cultivation of 
the park with pick and plough where 
feasible, the laying of a coat of 
healthy new mold not less than a foot 
thick and preferably 'eighteen inches, 
and then the liberal use of fertilizer. 
While serving the purposes of a gen- 
eration ago, the roads are unfit for 
present uses. Since the automobile 
came into such wide use the rqads 
have gone to pieces rapidly. We have 
not enough gravel for even repair 
purposes. It is becoming a question 
as to whether the driveways should 
not be relaid in asphalt blocks to 
withstand the heavy automobile traf- 
fic, but this is to be avoided if pos- 
sible, for artistic reasons. The shrub- 
bery needs rearrangement, retreat- 
ment and fertilizing. Some of it 
should be cut out and new shrubs 
planted. The one item of rustic wood 
work is a large one in rehabilitating 
the park. They have been patching 
the rustic arbor near the dairy for 
twenty years, and it is still almost a 
wreck. The stables and machine shop 
are in a state of absurd dilapidation. 
Tile bottoms of the lakes need clean- 
ing. Paint is needed everywhere. The 
walks nearly all need repair or re- 
placement. In short, as I said, the 
park needs remaking.” 
^ ^ >j< 
The 47th annual report of the Park 
Board of Hartford, Conn., for the 
year ending April 30, 1907, contains 
detailed financial statements and item- 
ized account of the work of main- 
tenance and improvement, and the re- 
port of Superintendent George A. 
Parker, telling of the year’s work in 
each of the parks. The expenditures 
for improvements were $14,343.74 and 
for maintenance $43,671.38. The 
school garden in Colt Park, main- 
tained by the Civic Club, is reported 
as successful, and one of the illustra- 
tions shows the children at work in 
it. The rose garden in Elizabeth Park 
is also illustrated, and it is estimated 
that 215,000 people visited this park 
during the year. 
Tlie Report of tlie Metropolitan 
Park Commission of Massachusetts 
for 1906 shows that this park system 
is maintaining the high standard 
which made it famous and is gradual- 
ly extending its limits. The system 
now includes 10,081.98 acres located 
in 39 towns and cities about Boston. 
About 493 acres of this are in the 
city limits of Boston. 
Part of Revere Beach Parkway from 
Charles Eliot Circle, a total length of 
three and one-half miles, was last year 
treated with Tarvia, by day labor un- 
der supervision of the Engineering 
Department of the Commission. The 
following is a detailed account of the 
cost and the materials used: 
(■Continued on page 213.) 
