157 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Gardening, with occasionally some 
slight addition for the pleasing essays 
in the Horticulturist. These writings 
indeed show a man of great refine- 
ment of character, a man of rather 
severely voluptuous tastes, of some- 
what aristocratic temper, retiring and 
sensitive, fond of everything beauti- 
ful., but with a taste influenced by the 
spirit of his time toward the curiosi- 
ties of beauty, a man highly appre- 
ciative of the natural landscape but 
still more passionately fond of trees; 
shrubs, and fruits. We must not for- 
get that Downing — like hundreds of 
his followers — was a nurseryman be- 
fore he was a landscape gardener, 
and this fact had a marked influence 
on all his work. 
If we are to form any fair judg- 
ment of Downing, however, we must 
not stop here. We must rather draw 
our conclusions largely from the dis- 
ciples who followed him. Every great 
artist or teacher leaves a group of 
disciples behind. These men work 
over and put into effect the ideas of 
the master. Judged by the number 
The experienced gained in the East 
in the control of the street tree prob- 
lem by a legally constituted Shade 
Tree Commission has been' highly 
gratifying, and such legislation should 
be enacted in every state in the 
Union. The value of shade trees in 
a municipality can hardly be over- 
estimated, and this, as a many-sided 
fact, is being more and more appre- 
ciated as practical examples multiply. 
Mr. Fred’k W. Kelsey, whose name 
is well known in these columns from 
his connection with the Essex County 
Park System of New Jersey, gives 
us some interesting information on 
this subject in the following: 
The long-standing controversy over 
the question of appropriate tree plant- 
ing in Commonwealth avenue, Bos- 
ton, is a convincing object lesson in 
favor of the Shade Tree Commission 
laws, as now in force in some of the 
states. The initial act in this kind 
of legislation was passed in New Jer- 
sey and approved March 28th, 1893. 
As chairman of the committee 
which framed the bill, I then gave 
the subject considerable attention; and 
our recommendation that the law be 
made as simple and direct in its pro- 
visions as possible was adopted. The 
practical results in the many cities 
and towns where the act has become 
operative have effectively demon- 
strated the need and adaptability of 
and character of his disciples An- 
drew Jackson Downing’s name is the 
most illustrious in the entire history 
of American agriculture, horticulture, 
or landscape gardening. He has been 
the model and the beau ideal of every 
pomologist, fruit-grower, and nursery- 
man, as well as the direct inspiration 
of almost every native landscape gar- 
dener which our country has pro- 
duced. Every nurseryman who has 
grown trees and shrubs in America 
during the last fifty years has had 
some fairly definite notions of im- 
proving his own grounds, of helping 
his neighbors to improve theirs, and 
of helping in the beautification of 
public places. His ideas of these 
things have been taken en bloc from 
Downing. From the ranks of these 
nurser 5 rmen have come a majority of 
our best landscape gardeners; and the 
completeness with which they have 
been controlled by Downing’s ideas 
would be pitiful had the results been 
less satisfactory or the leadership less 
worthy. 
(To be continued) 
such a law for every municipality 
where street tree planting has. been 
or is to be undertaken. Under the- 
New Jersey law it is left optional with 
the local authorities or governing 
board of any city, town or 'borough, 
or village, to declare the act in ef- 
fect. The mayor, or other local ex- 
ecutive, then appoints a board of three 
members, known as the Shade Tree 
Commission. The position is an hon- 
orary one. 
The board is vested under the law 
with much the same power over the 
planting and care of all trees in the 
public highways as the municipal au- 
thorities possess in the matter of lo- 
cating and Improving new streets. 
A portion of the cost of the trees 
and tree guards are assessed on the 
abutting property owners, and the 
right to plant any particular street 
is an arbitrary one resting with the 
Commission. Hearings, however, are 
given when there are objections to 
the plans for contemplated planting. 
The general expenses are borne by 
an item inserted in the tax levy lim- 
ited to 1/10 of a mill per dollar of 
the ratables. So popular and satis- 
factorj^ have been the operations of 
these Commissions that in some of 
the larger cities, notably Newark and 
Jersey City, additional appropriations 
have been granted. 
The New Jersey law of 1893 was, 
I believe, the first attempt that had 
up to that time been made to secure 
uniform action under local conditions 
for carrying out this important mu- 
nicipal improvement. In 1896 the 
law was amended, placing the control 
of the city squares and small city 
parks with these Commissions. The 
changed appearance for the better in 
these places has been as noticeable 
as has been the transformation of the 
treeless streets into attractive thor- 
oughfares. 
In 1897 the Pennsylvania Legisla- 
ture passed an act similar to the New 
Jersey law, and a number of cities 
have already adopted its provisions. 
The movement for this kind of civic 
betterment, as in other states, seems 
contagious. Like the present wide- 
spread popular demand for play- 
grounds, every practical application 
of the plan enlarges the circle of re- 
quirement for more. And why should 
it not? The cost compared with the 
benefits and improved attractiveness 
to the community is but nominal. A 
city or town with well planted streets 
and beautiful small parks possesses 
an asset constantly growing in value 
and enlarging benefits, and this fact 
is becoming more and more recog- 
nized both in this country and in Eu- 
rope. In Washington, as in some of 
the foreign capitals, this principle has 
been for a decade largely the guid- 
ing rule of action in the plans for 
municipal development. The well 
planted streets of Washington have 
been under the control of a District 
Commission for the past thirty years; 
which, under the authority of Con- 
gress, has full power over all matters 
pertaining to the planting on the ave- 
nues and streets. The success of the 
plan has been favorably commended 
everywhere. The Shade Tree Com- 
mission laws of the states where 
adopted have additional advantag.es; 
and they are automatic in their appli- 
cation to various municipalities as 
well. A number of foreign cities, 
such as Frankfort-on-the-Main, are 
now improving their streets and city 
squares under similar provisions of 
local legislation. 
With authority to plant and care 
for trees on all the thoroughfares of 
a city, vested in a specially appointed 
Commission, all conflict of manage- 
ment or direction in such matters is 
avoided. There is no opportunity for 
one set of city officials to undo what 
another Board may have,, years be- 
fore, at large expense, undertaken. It 
enables a Commission, usually of 
{Continued on page IX) 
STREET TREE PLANTING LAWS 
