PARK AND CEMETERY. 
•236 
spade or shovelful, laid over the roots 
of the upheaved plant, will prevent ser- 
ious injury. 
Hardy cacti for parks are very much 
better in the soil than in pots. Rocker- 
ies made with nice deep pockets of soil, 
are eminently fitted to the perennial 
growth of Opuntias and Echinocactus' 
in variety. 
Beds in positions unfavorable for 
other plants can be made highly orna- 
mental, planted to cacti. They will 
grow upon pebbly, sandy, rocky or 
clayey soil, and it will save trouble to 
realize in the beginning, and practice 
to the finish that these vegetable camels, 
the Bedouins of the desert, do as well 
without as with water and fertile soil. 
Sunshine is their very life. 
Few flowering borders, along the 
walks and driveways of parks are more 
brilliant during the heat of summer 
than those composed of hardy cactus 
plants. Echinocactus poselgerianus, well 
named the “Mexican rose cactus” ob- 
trudes itself upon my mind, in closing, 
from the distinctly remembered splen- 
dor of a long border planted altogether 
to this hardy variety. There is a me- 
talic lustre, a glow, and peculiar sun 
bright beauty about the cactus blooms, 
which combined with their unique spine- 
covered forms, is appealing. There are 
many plants more esteemed, less worthy 
of culture. Because cactus plants are 
rough and ready for any and all ex- 
posed positions, in no wise indicates that 
they are not as highly decorative and 
elegant as the more tender classes of 
luxuriant foliage and soft, graceful 
growth. 
G. T. Drennan. 
OPUNTIA VULGARIS. 
Grafted upon Hardy Pereskia stock; 10 
years old. 
HOW SMALL PARKS PAY REAL ESTATE DIVIDENDS 
The American Civic Association 
has been making earnest appeals to 
those engaged in the development of 
suburban properties for broad minded- 
ness in the consideration of parks and 
play-grounds as a part of such devel- 
opment. The appeal has been made 
largely to the civic sense, or public 
spirit of the business man, rather than 
on the basis of the commercial value 
of the policy. 
Much can certainly be said in favor 
of careful study in such a grave mat- 
ter, for, ordinarily the original street 
plan means the perpetual fixing of the 
limits of territory available for public 
use. All generations to come pay 
tribute to, or get benefits from, the 
bad or good judgment displayed when 
a plot of ground is first staked out and 
the plan recorded. 
Although most operators will admit 
the importance of this question, a very 
vital one confronts him, namely, the 
relation of his bank balance to the un- 
dertaking, and if it could be possible 
to show by practical demonstration 
that liberal contribution in parks and 
play-grounds returns dividends in dol- 
lars, as well as in satisfaction, it would 
then become the reasonable thing for 
men engaged in the development of 
property to see how far they could go 
in this direction. 
The successful development of real 
estate is a practical matter involving 
a close analysis of conditions, and an 
energetic and persistent use of con- 
structive ability. Aside from unex- 
pected and accidental increment, the 
Paper Read at Recent Convention of American 
Civic Association, by William E. Harmon. 
profits are not over large, and it is 
asking a good deal to expect a man to 
voluntarily give up property for pub- 
lic use which he has paid for without 
it can be shown that his contribution 
to the public good is done practically 
without risk, and I shall, therefore, ad- 
dress this article solely to the spirit 
of self-interest of those who may be 
engaged in the development of real 
estate, urging the importance, from a 
business point of view, of giving the 
public more liberal treatment in the 
shape of improvements and public spaces, 
than they are now prone to give or 
consider wise from their own point of 
view. 
We originated the business of sell- 
ing lots on installments, and have 
learned much in twenty-five years con- 
stant practice. The movement has be- 
come world wide, but still being 
young, most people who are entering 
upon it are going into their first, or 
nearly first, adventure., and it is hoped 
by giving the results of a long experi- 
ence that others may be encouraged 
to begin where we are leaving off. 
Twenty-five years ago, we estimated 
that we had to sell our real estate at 
a certain percentage above cost in 
order to avoid the risk of loss; today 
we sell it at 40 per cent less, and make 
more money by the larger volume of 
business. Many years ago we put in 
cheap improvements, and as few of 
them as were necessary to sell the prop- 
erty; today, we put in every possible 
improvement which the retail selling 
value will warrant, or, in other words, 
all of the improvements that the land 
will stand. We find that the result 
of this policy is to make the cost of 
selling lower, decrease the number 
of forfeitures, and increase the 
chances of profit for the buyer. It 
is purely enlightened selfishness. / 
At one time, a few years since, my 
associates and I were seriously en- 
gaged in a consideration of the “ideal 
charity,” in other words., attempting 
to find a form of charitable, or public 
service, in which a given sum of 
money could be utilized with the 
least possible waste, the greatest pos- 
sible good, and which would have a 
perpetual monument to the giver. 
We took up the various form of phil- 
anthropic activity — educational, re- 
ligious, care of children, care of the 
aged, and all others we could think 
of, and, finally somewhat to our sur- 
prise, arrived at the conclusion that 
vacant land was the only gift free from 
the risk of the decay which assails 
material construction and of the mis- 
management which menaces capital 
dedicated to charitable endeavors. 
This conception regarding vacant land 
shaped itself into the form of dedi- 
cated play-grounds or parks, close to 
big cities, which could forever be the 
recreation place of the neighboring 
popluation. We began to realize we 
were cutting up lands upon which 
people would dwell for all ages to 
come; we were changing wholesale 
acres into a form for which they 
could be changed again only at great 
cost. At this point it would be the 
