40] 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
do the work, in each district. I find men 
with nur.sery experience good for this 
charge. They should know trees and 
shrubs, be able to direct the planting and 
care of them and the care of walks and 
lawns, have a sense of order and clean- 
liness, and be able to handle small gangs of 
men. In this way one of the most impor- 
tant features of successful park manage- 
ment can be secured; that is to say, the 
well-being and appearance of trees, shrubs, 
and all that goes to make pleasing park 
landscapes. The responsibility placed upon 
the gardeners has the effect of inducing a 
spirit of emulation among them, to vie with 
each other in efforts to surpass in excel- 
lence of work. 
As to the greenhouse and flower garden, 
I am of opinion that such features should 
be confined to one spot, and call the place 
a garden. The promiscuous dotting of flow- 
er beds and splashes of color in parks is 
inharmonious, and it is certainly expensive 
as compared with results. Furthermore, I 
have found such a system provocative of 
jealousy. One locality thinks it is not 
equally favored as another, and, in the effort 
to appease, further extension is made; and 
thus it goes on, until what is really a florid, 
unnatural, and evanescent feature of park 
adornment attains an undue prominence, 
equaled only by its cost. This criticism 
applies only to exotic bedding plants. 
Hardy, perennial plants and spring bulbs 
can be naturalized in the grass and on the 
borders of shrubbery, and in a natural and 
effective manner. This style of gardening 
can be handled by the district gardeners. 
If, however, you have greenhouses and have 
exotic bedding out to do, a competent plants- 
man will be required for the head, with a 
sufficient corps of gardeners. 
The barn foreman, by reason of his close 
association w’ith the teamsters, I find to be 
the best head under which to place street 
sprinkling for dust suppression; otherwise, 
teamsters are subject to the gardener or 
foreman of the district in which they may 
be at work. 
Old or partly disabled men can be used 
for paper-picking or cleaning up, under the 
charge of the district gardeners. 
Road-making and road repairs require a 
special equipment, w'hich it is economy to 
keep steadily employed. With regard to 
grading, I prefer to do it with the park 
force. Park grading is so simple, just so 
much ma.terial to be moved, that it is 
more of the nature of adapting surface con- 
ditions, W’hich cannot be sufficiently ex- 
plained by plans and specifications to en- 
able one to profit, yet such can be done by 
intelligent foremen under proper direction. 
Road-making I have also found to be more 
than compensated for in quality, if a little 
more costly W’hen done by the park force. 
A repair department effects a saving of 
time and money. This may include carpen- 
ters, plumbers, blacksmiths, painters, ma- 
chinists, and pipe-fitters, a harness-maker, 
a grinder, and a saw-sharpener. These can 
be all under one foreman. A little machin- 
ery and pow’er is also a great convenience. 
As to purchases, a good practice is to 
have samples submitted %v-ith proposals, and 
select for recommendation to the board ac- 
cording to quality as compared with price, 
keeping the samples for reference. All 
re’quisitions for supplies should be referred 
to the assistant superintendent, thence to 
the superintendent for approval. 
For convenience in entering into the 
books, each foreman or gardener in charge 
of men should make a daily report of ex- 
penditures under the proper account for 
labor, which footing should correspond with 
his time-book total for the same day, suit- 
able blanks being furnished to each foreman 
for this purpose. 
Small parks or playgrounds do not need 
the supervision of a foreman; w'orthy labor- 
ers can be appointed to the charge with a 
slight increase of pay; if more than one 
man is needed, common laborers can be de- 
tailed to assist. I find this plan to work 
very well. 
For conducting the play or w'ork in chil- 
drens’ playgrounds w'e’ employ women, pre- 
ferably school teachers, as they have better 
control over the children. They are avail- 
able for this w’ork each day after 4:15 p. m., 
and on Saturdays, also each day from 9 
a. m. until 6 p. m. during school vacation. 
The gardeners and foremen in charge of 
small gangs on maintenance work should 
be furnished with tool-boxes on wheels for 
the ordinary tools needed in this work, they 
should also have portable sanitary closets; 
these conveniences prevent much loss of 
time. Foremen of construction gangs should 
have portable shanties, with cook stove 
and the attendance of a boy before lunch 
time to warm any food which may require 
w'arming. Little attentions of this charac- 
ter are much appreciated by the workmen, i 
The care of materials and tools is hard 
to regulate under any inexpensive system; | 
the simplest is to have a general storehouse ' 
in charge of a storekeeper, who shall issue , 
stores only on the requisition of a foreman, 
charging the issue to the signer of the 
requisition. When stores are given out to 
replace broken tools, the broken tools i 
should be handed in to the storekeeper as ; 
evidence. The storekeeper should be alert 
to investigate any suspicious requisitions. 
As to the number of men required for I 
maintenance work, no estimate can be given, 
so much depends upon the quality of the 
work and the amount of money available. 
Statistics of the cost per acre for park 
maintence in various cities in the United 
States show' that the cost varies from over 
?700 per acre to less than $100 per acre. 
A query from the question box for a 
good sand-spreading machine was an- 
swered by Mr. West, who recommended 
a small push cart in which the sand 
passes through the bottom and falls on 
a wheel suspended horizontally and ro- 
tated by a belt. The sand is thrown off 
by centrifugal force and distributed 
very evenly. For small work those an- 
swer very well and for larger jobs one ■ 
could be built on the same principle. 
Another question which brought out 
much discussion was as to whether, in 
small cities, it is wiser for the park 
superintendent to maintain his own t 
greenhouse or to buy what he needs 
from local florists. There was a wide | 
difference of opinion on the subject. 
Arthur Hay, Springfield, 111. ; C. E. i 
Keith, Bridgeport, Conn. ; J. W. Thomp- 
son, Seattle; W. H. Dunn, of Kansas 
City; H. S. Keffer, of Cedar Rapids: 
J. W. Rodgers, Cincinnati ; W. R. Adams, 
Omaha, and Mr. Wirth were among the 
speakers. Park men from the larger 
cities, who gave opinions, were gen- 
erally agreed that the park greenhouse 
is an advantage, while some of those 
from smaller cities, who have only about 
$300 a year, or less to expend, thought 
it cheaper to buy from florists. 
Tuesday evening was the association's 
night at Lake Harriet, and with a pro- 
gram by the Minneapolis Park Band es- 
pecially dedicated to them, and a sail 
on this beautiful little lake, they were 
not for a moment allowed to forget that 
they were the city’s guests. The pro- 
gram makes such interesting reading 
that we print it herewith : 
1. Park Superintendents of U. S. A. .Bellstedt 
2. Overture — “Botanical” Cowell 
3. Waltz — “Bulletin and Dues” Mulforcl 
4. Cornet Solo Selected 
Mr. Herman Bellstedt 
5. Selection— “Runaway” Amrhyn 
Intermission. 
6. Conglomeration — “No Dust Nor Flies 
on Us’’ West and Dunn 
7. Polka Eccentric — “Statistical” Parker 
8. Greeting from the E'ast — “Hello, Hello, 
Connecticut” Keith 
9. March — “Minneapolis Makes Good” 
Guetter 
Dedicated to Supt. Theo. Wirth. 
Wednesday’s all-day tour of the park 
system in automobiles, covered most of 
the principal parks and drives, in a 
PLAYGROUND, LOGAN PARK. 
