219 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
MASSACHUSETTS CONFERENCE on RURAL PROGRESS 
When it was proposed to celebrate 
the fortieth anniversary of the Mas- 
sachusetts Agricultural College, its 
new president, Mr. Butterfield, very 
wisely suggested that the observance 
take the form of a conference on 
rural progress. The plan was car- 
ried out, and the conference was 
held during the first week of Octo- 
ber, occupying four days. 
The success of the occasion fully 
justified the anticipation of Presi- 
dent Butterfield and established, it 
seems, a good precedent for other 
celebrations which might profitably 
deal more with the future and what 
it has in prospect and less with the 
past and what it has done or failed 
to do. 
A number of organizations co-op- 
erated in the conference, among them 
being the State Board of Agricul- 
ture, the State Grange, the Massa- 
chusetts Civic League, the Y. M. C. 
A., church and library clubs; the aim 
being to cover as nearly as possible 
everything which had to do with 
rural conditions. A wide range of 
material was naturally offered, but 
we shall in this brief review be able 
to consider only those things dealing 
with village improvement, covered 
mainly by two programs provided by 
the Massachusetts Civic League; a 
round table on village improvement, 
and a lecture by Mr. Henry Turner 
Bailey interpreting the civic improve- 
ment campaign in America. 
At the round table, Mr. George L. 
Munn of Easthampton talked on 
“Getting Together; the Fundamental 
Concept.” Mr. Munn said that the 
main difficulty with improvers is that 
they too often start out on indepen- 
dent lines, either as individuals or as 
small groups of individuals, and that 
they do not realize that the first ele- 
ment in improvement work is the 
substantial welding together of the 
entire community into one group, 
working for the interest of all. He 
pointed out particularly the necessity 
of interesting and securing the co- 
operation of the leaders of every 
group whatever its origin This is 
the method of the politician, and it is 
the method which must be used by 
those interested in improving condi- 
tions if they are going to succeed in 
their work. 
Mr. Edward J. Canning of Smith 
College spoke on the place of sys- 
tematic planting in improvement 
work. He showed that a definite, 
preconceived plan for planting for 
home grounds, public buildings, streets 
or parks is as necessary as a precon- 
ceived plan for the erection of a 
building. This plan necessarily in- 
cludes the placing of the building, 
which may, by avoiding expensive 
grading and by taking advantage of 
natural features, often save the own- 
er many times the cost of his ex- 
pert advice. Notwithstanding the 
numerous books and magazine arti- 
cles on the subject, there is a prevail- 
ing opinion that any man may lay 
out his own grounds, and the results 
are easily observable. A trained 
worker lays out each individual piece 
with reference to neighboring pieces, 
so that each piece is not only a unit 
of satisfactory development, but a 
harmonious part of the whole, wheth- 
er it be in a street or group of build- 
ings. The desire for this and its val- 
ue is growing, as is manifested by 
the fact that many colleges and uni- 
versities are now employing the high- 
est grade of talent; park depart- 
ments. are doing the same; home 
owners also, and lately many manu- 
facturing and business houses have 
employed landscape designers to im- 
prove the appearance of their prop- 
erty. One of the latest additions is 
that real estate companies are appre- 
ciating the value of this work and 
are beginning to lay out their grounds 
definitely and artistically, so that 
each man who purchases a lot may 
know something of what is to be his 
environment. 
Mr. Christopher Clark of North- 
ampton gave an eight minute survey 
of eighty years. For eighty-one 
years Mr. Clark has lived in the Con- 
necticut valley, and throughout a 
large portion of that time he has been 
one of the most active men in devel- 
oping an artistic environment. He 
told of the love of trees which the 
Connecticut valley people brought 
with them from their old homes in 
England, and pointed out how the 
results are manifest in practically ev- 
ery Connecticut valley village and 
town. One has only to go through 
the streets of Old Hadley, Deerfield, 
Greenfield or Northampton to see 
the truth of the statement. As city 
forester of Northampton for twenty- 
three years, Mr.' Clark has had much 
to do with the appearance of the 
trees • in that city, and he has ' used 
as much as twenty barrels of cement 
in filling up the cavities of a single 
tree in order to stop decay. Such 
trees have since sent out new branch- 
es and offer chances for a long life. 
Mr. Clark is called for in many parts 
of the valley and may be known as 
the tree doctor of Massachusetts. 
Mr. Herbert C. Parsons outlined 
the work of one year of the Civic 
League of Greenfield. He stated that 
one of the major accomplishments 
of the League was that it had 
cracked the complacency of an old 
New England community. It did 
this so effectively that within a short 
time the supporters of the, new de- 
velopment were obliged to hasten the 
adjournment of a town meeting in or- 
der to keep the town from voting 
itself bankrupt for improvement pur- 
poses. Shattuck Park, fifteen acres 
costing $9,000, was the first step; re- 
lief from the excessive smoke at the 
roundhouse a second; satisfactory 
marking of the streets; the removal 
of an old dye house and the substi- 
tution of a modern building; securing 
by gift and purchase one hundred 
acres of Rocky Mountain for park pur- 
poses; and the purchase of a new li- 
brary site which may ultimately be 
surrounded by quite a larke park were 
other accomplishments of the League. 
Professor J. H. Sawyer told of 
Easthampton’s contribution to the 
work. Through a long period of 
years the Easthampton organization 
has given its attention to the small 
things of the town, with the result 
that today it is one of the most 
beautiful villages in the state. With 
