PARK AND CEMETERY. 
285 
The barns and storehouses of the 
Minneapolis park system were totally de- 
stroyed by fire March 2, the rowboats, 
hay, paint and gasoline making eaSy fuel 
for the flames. Practically all of the 
park equipment was lost. 
^ ^ ^ 
Considerable interest is being taken 
looking to the enlargement and improve- 
ment of the parks of Chattanooga, 
Tenn. Superintendent Lambert of East 
End Park reports this park too small to 
accommodate the large Sunday crowd 
and it is hoped to acquire additional land 
in the immediate future. Plans for the 
improvement of Boynton Park, an his- 
toric Battle Mountain overlooking the 
city, are to be made by Howard Evarts 
Weed of Chicago. Mr. Weed will also 
make plans for the planting of a sev- 
enteen-acre tract surrounding the Na- 
tional Cemetery. Mr. Weed recently 
gave his lecture “A More Beautiful 
.America” under the auspices of the Park 
Commissioners and this proved a great 
aid in the education of the people as to 
the needs and purposes of parks. He 
also lectured in Knoxville, as the legis- 
lature has authorized that city to issue 
bonds for $.50,000 for park purposes, and 
the Park Association of Knoxville hope 
to get a favorable vote on the propo- 
sition at an early date. Mr. Weed re- 
ports one of the most immediate needs 
of Knoxville is the removal of the wires 
and poles from the business district. 
* * 
The ordinance creating a board of 
park commissioners for Salt Lake City, 
Utah, and defining its powers has been 
found defective, practically giving the 
board no powers in the matter of raising 
a tax for its work. The question has 
been assigned to H. J. Dininny as city 
attorney and the wishes of the park 
board will he incorporated in an ordi- 
nance amending the present one. Park 
Superintendent Byhower is, however, 
making systematic plans for extensive 
street tree planting. Notices are to be 
sent to all property owners on the streets 
that are to be improved stating the num- 
ber and kind of trees the commission 
intends to plant and giving them instruc- 
tions as to whether the present trees 
are adequate. The owners of property 
will also be asked to sow grass on the 
boulevards and to mow their lawns in 
front of their sidewalks. If these fail 
to meet reasonable requirements on the 
part of the board, the superintendent 
will be authorized to assess the cost of 
the work on the property. Lombardy 
poplars will be strictly barred from the 
list as trees of that variety are al- 
ready the most numerous in the city. 
One kind of a tree will be planted on a 
street with a r-iew to a harmonious re- 
sult. The following is the list decided 
upon by the hoard : Second avenue from 
Canyon road to Popperton — Norway 
maple and western sycamore ; First ave- 
nue from A street to Popperton — Elm 
and linden, European variety; Brigham 
street from State to the reservation — 
Silver and sycamore maple ; First South 
street from State to the reservation — 
.Ash-leaved manic (boxelder) and syca- 
more maple ; Sixth East street from 
Brigham to Third South — Sycamore 
(occidental); Main street from Fifth 
to Ninth South — Black elm and Euro- 
pean linden; Second West from West 
South Temple to Warm Springs — Caro- 
line poplar and Bolleana poplar. .All 
dead and diseased trees on these streets 
will he cut down and new ones substi- 
tuted. 
* * 
FROM ANNUAL REPORTS 
The annual report of Superintendent 
C. C. Laney of the park board of 
P.oche.'^ter, N. Y., shows many improve- 
ments made. .At Seneca Park a boat 
dock was built, and in Genesee Valley 
the athletic grounds prepared for use. 
A floating dock twenty-four feet square 
was built for the Park Band and a new 
swimming pool house with two shower 
baths, thirty-nine lockers, etc., was built. 
The main building is 57 by 40 feet. At 
Highland Park fifteen thousand mixed 
evergreen shrubs and trees, including 
stock raised from cuttings and seeds, 
small stock bought from home and Eu- 
ropean nurseries, and donated from the 
Arnold Arboretum, were planted in the 
park ntirsery on Highland avenue. One 
thousand mixed evergreens, consisting 
of white, Scotch, Austrian, Jack and 
scrub pine, and hemlock, spruce and bal- 
sam fir, were planted on the slopes on 
the north side of the park. The e.xten- 
sion of the cement walk at Highland 
Park, begun last year, was completed. It 
was laid in varying widths of eight to 
ten feet through the northeast comer of 
the shrub collection to the east corner 
of the reservoir. 
Park Commissioner Joseph 1. Berry, 
of the Borough of the Bronx, New York 
City, tells in his annual report of some 
interesting forestry work. In each park 
foresters were employed in felling trees, 
cutting out broken branches and dis- 
eased trees and cleaning out underbrush. 
Many trees have been cut down and dis- 
posed of at public auction to the highest 
bidder. Wherever an old tree has been 
cut down a young one has been planted 
in its place. Also, wherever it is found 
necessary to dig up a tree, unless in low 
swamp lands, the roots are entirely 
cleaned away and the soil replaced and 
made ready to receive young trees. A 
large quantity of hay grown on the park 
lands was sold at auction during the 
year, the cutting being done by the pur- 
chaser under departmental supervision. 
The annual report of Tower Grove 
Park, St. Louis, notes that the benefits 
of the old state law prohibiting the 
operation of manufactories of certain 
kinds near the park were supplemented 
by the passa.ge of a city ordinance still 
further restricting the class of buildings 
permitted in this territory. Such legis- 
lation is gratefully welcomed as miti- 
gating the smoke nuisance, with its 
deadly effects on vegetation. Trees and 
shrubs were lost in considerable num- 
bers, almost wholly from the oldest in 
the park, of which there are now few 
left. Following a sleet storm in the mid- 
dle of January, 147 loads of branches 
were hauled away from the grounds. 
The increase of smoke in the air, very 
marked in the past decade, constitutes 
a menace to the trees and other woody 
growths, and insect pests thrive, as den- 
sity of population causes a lessening in 
the number of birds, the natural enemies 
of these insects. The water garden, un- 
der the efficient direction of the super- 
intendent, Mr. James Gurney, not only 
maintained its reputation for the suc- 
cessful growth of the two species of the 
royal water-lily, but exhibited many nov- 
elties in hrffirid lilies which attracted 
much attention. Expenditures for the 
year were $24,588.32. 
A total of $1,500,000 for parks in the 
forthcoming city bond issue has just 
been recommended by the Board of Su- 
pervisors of San Francisco. The allot- 
ment was as follows; For Telegraph 
Hill, $500,000; Twin Peak, $100,000; Po- 
trero, $500,000; Bay View, $100,000; 
other parks, $200,000. The recommen- 
dations for the bond issue to date reach 
$31,000,000. While no disposition of 
this last sum was determined, it is prob- 
able that a site near the water front 
will be selected for the expenditure of 
most of it, ex-Mayor Phelan referring 
to the possibility of parking a portion 
of the old historic Rincon Hill. 
