PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
Vol. XVIII Chicago, October, 1908 No. 8 
The National Flower Show 
The National Flower Show, to be held in the Coliseum, 
Chicago, next month, under the management of the So- 
ciety of American Florists, promises, to be an event 
of unusual interest both to the public and those specially 
interested in the growth and distribution of flowers and 
plants. A large committee of the Florists’ association has 
been devoting its combined knowledge, experience and 
ability to the cause, to the end of insuring a great success, 
and the affair should be one of comparative magnitude, 
because of being, on the one hand, of national significance, 
and on the other, from having so immense a field from 
which to gather material. We should expect from the 
coming Flower Show a decided growth of sentiment in 
favor of the larger use of flowers and flowering plants in 
home and outdoor improvement, and we hope to see it a 
grand success. 
Public Art 
The two issues of “L’Art Public,” the “Review” of the 
“Institut International d’Art Public,” and published at 
Brussels, Belgium, the permanent headquarters of the 
Institute, are the best exponents of what is known as civic 
betterment that have come, to our notice. If you would 
wish to know the length and breadth of this subject as 
it applies to countries old in art and civics, almost an 
overwhelming idea of its ramifications is supplied in this 
publication. No. 1, issued in June, 1907, opens with an 
essay on Public Art, by Fug. Broerman, the leader in 
the work, and under the heads of: National Traditions; 
Safeguarding of Sites and Patrimony of Art; Artistic 
Evolution of Cities; Aesthetic Culture and General 
Chronicle, numbers of articles and valuable papers are 
given, superbly illustrated, and written by people of 
authority on the various subjects treated. No. 2, pub- 
lished this year, in addition to a similar summary as 
above, contains details of the organization and laws of the 
Institute. In the list of correspondents we note the names 
of several Americans prominent in the movement for civic 
betterment in the United States. The work of the Insti- 
tute is to promote the diffusion of theoretical and prac- 
tical public art, tc put into execution the resolutions of 
the International Art Congresses and to arrange for their 
reunions, etc. In future issues of this journal we hope to 
extract, for the benefit of our readers, some of the valu- 
able matter contained in these reviews. 
Ng Ng 
Concrete in Park and Cemetery Work 
The use of concrete for construction purposes in parks 
and cemeteries is rapidly spreading, and with reason. The 
facility with which it can be manipulated, its strength 
when adequately and properly reinforced, and durability, 
make it a material of great adaptability in almost every 
kind of building requirement; in fact, it is hardly con- 
ceivable, in a general way, where its limits of availability 
are to be found. Almost every kind of building construc- 
tion offers successful examples of concrete work, and, 
moreover, in the matter of artistic design with appro- 
priatene.ss to the surroundings, the artist and designer 
have practically no check to their best ability, so far as 
the working of this, material is concerned. In this and suc- 
ceeding issues will be found illustrated articles on con- 
crete work as executed in the West Side and Lincoln 
Parks, Chicago, from which may be gathered much inter- 
esting information. Although the articles presented are 
particularly devoted to park construction, the main facts 
are equally applicable to cemeteries, for concrete would 
be an economical and permanent material for many cem- 
etery requirements. The essential needs of good concrete 
do not altogether rest with the quality of the materials 
used, but, perhaps, in the care and knowledge displa;ycd 
in their fixing and manipulation. This must never be 
lost sight of, for upon it depends strength and durability. 
^ 
Cemeteries and the Monument Business 
The propriety of a cemetery corporation embarking in 
the monument business within its cemetery gates, is a 
question which will admit of but one reply from the great 
majority of cemetery officials. The injection of anything 
that partakes of the nature of trade into cemetery man • 
angement tends to minimize the standing of the organiza- 
tion in its relations with the lot owners, and is most cer- 
tainly antagonistic to the higher considerations linked 
inseparably with the cemetery and its associations. In 
point of fact, and to illustrate, while it is well known 
that numbers of cemetery corporations are organized for 
profits, this is, of necessity, made subsidiary, from all 
points of view, to the improvement and care of the 
grounds, and the encouragement of everything that tends 
to cemetery ideals, it being fully realized that this gives 
the best assurance of influencing the sale of lots, and con- 
sequentl}^ the reputation of the cemetery. There is noth- 
ing, probably, that detracts more from the beauty of the 
cemetery entrance and its development than the close 
proximity of a monument dealer’s establishment, and it 
is not out of the way to presume that, could the majority 
of cemetery officials have their way, no such conditions 
would exist, even on the outside, except at a reasonable 
distance from their gates This is from the point of view 
of modern cemetery requirements. 
Sig Ng ViP 
Progress in Forestry 
The Year Book of the Department of .A.gricu Iture for 
1907 contains very instructive articles on the progress 
of Forestry in this country. The last ten years has wit- 
nessed simply a marvelous development in the realiza- 
tion of the value of forest culture, and, whereas, previous 
to that time very little general interest was taken in it, 
the rapid destruction of our timber resources has brought 
the subject so close heme that from an “almost unknown 
science, it has become a useful, growing profession;” and 
there are now several professional schools of hi.gh rank. 
Indeed from what could be counted on the fingers, the 
number of trained foresters has grown to over 400. Fig- 
ures have been often given but repetition is to invite 
interest in this national question. The national forests 
have increased from .19,000,000 acres of unused and uti- 
jirotected tracts to 16.5,000,000 of improved and protected 
forest lands; ten of our states own state forests cared 
for by trained foresters, and the membership in forest 
associations has grown from 1,500 to 15, .100. Such hgures, 
and many others that could be cited, will servo t'>. im 
press upon the reader the great importance of this woi'k. 
