PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XIX Chicago, January, 1910 No. 11 
The American Civic Association 
After mature consideration the Business Committee of the 
American Civic Association has determined to locate the 
headquarters offices in Washington, D. C., the address being 
from January 1 , Rooms 913-914 Union Trust Building, 
corner Fifteenth and H Streets. To many this will be no 
surprise, as the activities of the association of late years 
have centered in the capitol city. This does not mean an 
abandonment of its relations to the improvement effort in 
general, but to enable it to give especial attention to compre- 
hensive “city planning,” for which Washington seems to offer 
better advantages. During 1910 the association aims to for- 
ward a movement for “civic education,” and to make a na- 
tional campaign against recognized causes of disease and 
disaster. The success of the association in doing definite 
work has been remarkable and is attributed to the efficiency 
of the membership, and to encourage and extend this effi- 
ciency promises to advance more positively whatever move- 
ments may be undertaken. 
The People’s Parks 
An ominous note of warning is expressed in certain news- 
paper exchanges in the question : Who owns the parks ? 
And the cause for the question appears to be the automobile 
and vehicle traffic. The parks are unquestionably more di- 
rectly intended for the welfare of the masses, and righteously 
so, and therefore the general public should be ampB' pro- 
tected from any danger arising from too disproportionate a 
use of the roadways by horse vehicles or automobiles. Such 
traffic should be controlled by stringent rules the infringe- 
ment of which should be made costly, and we note that a 
well known accessible park in Kansas City is closed to all 
but pedestrians on Sundays. Kansas City is well in the 
lead in the matter of parks and its methods are well worth 
attention. A park can never be considered to serve its best 
purposes, where there is any element of danger to any 
citizen from the abuse of privilege by any other citizen. 
^ 
Improving the Small Cemetery 
It is a common question that of ; “How can we improve 
and plant our small cemetery?” But it is a difficult one to 
answer because each question is a problem in itself, which 
to solve would aggregate more than any publication could 
possibly undertake, for obvious reasons. And yet the labor 
of love performed by so many persons in the care of the 
burial grounds of the smaller towns and Hllages, deserves 
commendation and encouragement in no stinted measure. So 
far as this journal can help the matter, it has been, and al- 
ways will be, ready to advise, in a general way, its inquirers 
for information, notwithstanding that its issues have, to a 
greater or less degree, offered unlimited suggestions on the 
many features of cemetery improvement. The difficulty for 
all those interested in the development and planting of the 
smaller places would seem to be the lack of knowdedge of 
plants, their care, culture and management, because from the 
plans and descriptions of such work frequently appearing in 
these columns, those interested in the smaller grounds should 
be able to readily adapt applicable features to their own 
needs. Our advice to such is to procure a book on outdoor 
improvement planning, and to study it, and suggestions in 
these columns would appear easier. Where funds are limited. 
and this is a common fact, there are very few localities 
which will not furnish a pleasing variety of tree and plant 
life suitable for cemetery embellishment, and this within ac- 
cessible distances. Marginal plantings of trees with occasional 
masses of flowering shrubs are effective and will do much 
to beautify the grounds. Among the more common but ef- 
fective trees and shrubs are : Dogwoods, Viburnums, Elder- 
berry, Hazel, Sumach, Chokeberry, etc., which are all de- 
sirable for the purpose. But some system must be the 
watchword, and trees and shrubbery should not be promis- 
cuously dotted about the grounds. Masses of one variety 
along the roadside, in the fence corners, in the centers of 
sections, at either side of the entrance gates, or such similar 
points, will create marvelous changes on hitherto bare 
grounds. Where native stock is not available, lot owners 
might be induced to form clubs to provide collections of 
trees and flowering shrubs with which to improve conditions, 
and encourage the sentiments clinging to the cemetery. 
City Improvement 
It has been well and truly said that in the matter of public 
improvements, American municipalities lag behind the more 
progressive cities of Europe. There are many causes for this, 
a leading fact being the lack of a common appreciation of 
the value of such improvements, which suggests the neces- 
sity’ of the continued education of the public to this end. 
It is usual to turn to the French capital, Paris, to point a 
moral on this question and the recent action of the Chamber 
of Deputies in authorizing that municipality to incur an in- 
debtedness of $ 180 , 000,000 for a further scheme of improve- 
ment justifies the assertion that city improvement pays. The 
project now ready for active work is the demolition of in- 
sanitary quarters, the construction of new streets, parks, 
gardens and schools, and public works of similar import. 
Under Baron Hausmann, when prefect of the Seine, begin- 
ning with 1853 , there was expended, for reconstruction and 
beautifying of the city, the enormous sum of $ 265 , 000 , 000 , 
a third of which was provided by the national government, 
and while the expenditures were subjected to some criticism, 
time has proved the wisdom of the work, and no reflections 
are now cast upon those advocating improvement. It has 
paid, and paid hugely, and so it would be in every case where 
judicious outlays were made for judicious improvement plans. 
Ng N? 
The Cemetery Unsanitary? 
Ella Wheeler Wilcox, in a recent contribution to the 
press, while extolling cremation as an ideal method of dis- 
posing of the dead, does injustice to earth burial, as practiced 
nowadays under the riged rules of the Boards of Health of 
well organized communities. She says: “Cemeteries are un- 
sanitary; they breed gloom and disease, and they are un- 
sightly blots on a thickly settled country.” Very’ few will 
endorse these sentiments ; a modern cemetery is a beautiful 
spot, as a rule, and far from breeding gloom, the tendency 
is to exalt the mind and engender emotions broader and 
more spiritual, by reason of the natural surroundings, than 
the surroundings of cremation disposal are likely to encourage. 
Modern science has disproved the charge that cemeteries 
are insanitary, where ordinary official care has been exer- 
cised in the selection of grounds and the proper solution of 
the drainage problem. This question can be readily disposed 
of by a very elementary study of cemetery facts. Cremation 
is unquestion.ably on the increase, not necessarily because 
cemetery conditions are bringing it about. 
