PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XX Chicago, May, 1910 No. 3 
The Harriman Gift 
Many may have wondered in what way the Harriman gift 
of 10,000 acres of land and a million of dollars to maintain it, 
could be made most useful to the beneficiaries — the people. 
And, added to this, the other gifts which followed soon 
after. A solution has been offered by the Municipal Art 
Society of New York to the effect that the state shall es- 
tablish public camp sites in this magnificent territory. There 
is not much attractiveness in it for gardening, for it is not 
really adapted for such uses, but it might become a great 
home for the city’s children, and that is the intention of the 
Art Society’s proposition. The plan has been recommended 
by Governor Hughes, and is in the Albany legislature for 
consideration. It is a splendid piece of country for such a 
project, the Ramapo mountains in part being included in it, 
and the variety of landscape, as wild and natural as it is, 
will afford summer camp homes for crowds of those requiring 
just such recreation to inspire and comfort them. The state 
can well afford to be liberal in its efforts to make this prop- 
erty of vital benefit to those for whom the gift was in- 
tended. 
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Children’s Gardens 
The unprecedented weather of April, which followed a 
summer-like March, was a discouraging feature in gardening 
this spring. However, in most places, it only proved to be 
-a set-back, which virile nature soon remedied. A much 
larger area was provided for the public garden plats on the 
outskirts of Chicago this year, and the demand, due to the 
great success of last year, was lighter than expected, 
though much more land had been secured. The gardening 
idea appeals very strongly to unfortunate people, to whom the 
■crops mean a great deal, but especially so to the children, 
whose love of nature and enquiring turns of mind lead them 
to sustained attention in the care of these little plats. To 
encourage this is a duty which pays in the increased intelli- 
gence of the child. 
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Home Gardening in the East 
In Massachusetts especially, there is strong evidence of in- 
creasing interest in home and school gardening, and the sale 
of seeds has been very large in New Bedford and Salem. The 
contest for, prizes is gaining in popularity. From Cleveland, 
0., and Morristown, N. J., good news is sent abroad con- 
cerning the demand for seeds and the interest in gardening 
competitions. Another movement worthy of attention is that 
of clearing and planting vacant and untidy lots, in which the 
boys have shown marked industry when properly directed, 
and rewarded in a suitable manner. We have a latent force 
in the young which always pays for exploitation. 
' 
Beautification and the Railroads 
There is a noticeable advance in railroad thought oif the 
subject of improvement, and much activity in the planting of 
right of way and depot grounds is reported from many lo- 
calities. Vast numbers of trees are being set out, large nur- 
series cultivated, and a great deal of landscaping is under 
way. The value of such activity is inestimable ; and it is 
beginning to manifest itself at last where really it has been 
most needed — in the approaches to and on the right of way 
into our large cities. This right of way is usually a dis- 
grace to the railroad and to the city which permits such 
conditions, and no one can possibly judge of the size or im- 
portance of a place from the viewpoint of the railroad’s 
entrance to it. The action of one of the Chicago elevated 
suburban roads in offering prizes for window gardening and 
gardening in the lots along its line is worthy of all praise, 
and should be emulated. The more the railroads do to make 
travel on their lines enjoyable, and to uplift public taste, the 
more performance there will be for them in public regard, 
and the greater will be their financial reward. Outdoor im- 
provement is very “catching;” one of the main reasons of its 
slow development is the chronic ignorance concerning the 
fii'st principles of taking care of things, but a good example 
is better than much talk. 
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A Good Move 
Like Banquo’s ghost, the country-wide effort to drive from 
the face of our civilization the billboard nuisance will not 
down. It is unquestionably a broad question, involving many 
considerations, but in its present condition it is only a creat- 
ure of a few years, a product of commercial blindness to 
every consideration of real public benefit. One would think 
it should be amenable to law, if we could frame a law that 
would withstand the strain of its own vast .meaninglessness, 
as note the experience in litigation of the last few years. But 
the determination is still strong to suppress at least the worst 
features of the billboard, notwithstanding the obstacles yet 
presenting themselves. What would appear to be a good 
move is that of State Representatives Ham of Dorchester, 
Mass., and Robinson, of Chelsea, who propose a thorough 
study of the situation by a competent commission, to serve 
without jjay, and which should be empowered to investigate 
the “possibility of regulating by legislation, or authorize cities 
and towns to regulate the use of billboards and other like 
forms of advertising.” This investigation should be thorough 
from all viewpoints, with the object of settling the vexed 
question for good. 
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The Progress of Cremation Abroad 
The idea of cremation as a method of disposing of the 
dead, does not make the headway that it might be expected 
to do from the many good points in its favor. France, so 
far as mere numbers go, shows the greatest use of the 
crematory of any country, having incinerated some 94,000 
bodies in its Pere Lachaise furnace within twenty years. This 
is due chiefly to the fact that the authorities in the French 
capital consign the bodies of its dead poor to the crematory 
furnace instead of to the Potter’s field. In England, in 1909, 
there were 865 cremations, an increase of 8 per cent on the 
number of the previous year, and in Germany the annual fig- 
ures are four or five times as great as those of England. 
The Cremation Society of England has deliberately refrained 
from advocating cremation for the dependent poor, fearing 
it might have some deterrent effect on the growth of the 
movement. In our own country cremation has been slowly but 
steadily growing, mostly in the East, although there are 
indications of an increase in its adoption in several localities 
in the Western states. The prejudices in favor of what is 
generally termed Christian burial are very strong, and there 
is no doubt that as a common form of the disposal of our 
dead, cremation will be but of very gradual increase. How- 
ever, between storage vaults and cremation, intelligence, it 
is to be believed, will lead to a broader use of cremation. 
