PARK AND CEMETERY . 
\ 
election. The affairs of the district 
are to be managed by a commission 
consisting of a president and four 
other members, all to be named by 
the president of the county board 
with the advice and consent of the 
members of the board. The president 
of the forest-preserve commission will 
receive a salary of $3,500 a year and 
the others members $1,500 a year each. 
There will devolve upon this body the 
task of selecting and acquiring the out- 
lying wooded areas that should form 
a part of the park system of this com- 
munity, and of planning and con- 
structing the connecting driveways 
that may be needed. 
The commissioners of cemeteries 
and public grounds of Portland, Ore- 
gon, working under an appropriation 
authorized by the legislature of 1909, 
have accomplished a great deal during 
the present year in the beautifying of 
the city by the development of the 
park system. Extensive improve- 
ments have been made in the con- 
struction of roadways on the main 
thoroughfares of the parks, a large 
amount of grading and planting has 
been done and all payments on land 
purchases taken care of under the 
appropriation. The amount ot ap- 
propriation including receipts avail- 
able for the work during the year is 
$62,236.48. The total cost of admin- 
istration, including payments on land 
purchase, new construction, mainte- 
nance of park lands and cost of equip- 
ment and incidentals to November 1, 
1910, has been $53,491.51. 
A motion that $500,000 be voted for 
parks and playgrounds in Montreal, 
Canada, for next year has been ap- 
proved by the Board of Control, but 
the matter will remain in abeyance 
until the next permanent loan is dis- 
cussed by the Board. 
A movement has been started in 
Pittsfield, Mass., to beautify the small 
plots of city property at street inter- 
sections and elsewhere. A young cit- 
izen, Joseph F. Gardener, has obtained 
permission from the Board of Pub- 
lic Works to improve such plots, and 
he has been met by the citizens in 
the way of subscriptions in a very en- 
couraging manner. 
Philadelphia laid the cornerstone of 
its first Public Recreation Building, 
in Starr Garden Recreation Park, on 
November 20. It can very truly be 
said in this connection that it is “bet- 
ter late than never.” 
A campaign to secure sufficient 
funds for the purchase of the Frey 
quarries for park purposes in Spring- 
field, O., has met with success, and a 
beautiful addition to the park system 
has been assured. 
The purchase of 160 acres for park 
purposes for Aberdeen, S. D., has 
been completed. 
Boys of the Manual Arts High 
School, Los Angeles, Calif., are to 
design and build a park that will be 
unique in the history of American 
pleasure spots. At the dedication of 
the school on Nov. 23, President Jo- 
seph Scott of the Board of Education 
made the proposition to the student 
body. He told the boys there were 
ten acres of grounds about the build- 
ings where they could and should 
build a park and a great outdoor con- 
servatory. He said they not only 
should plan a beauty spot that would 
become famous the world over, but 
that they should do the work of or- 
namentation themselves. 
Consul-General R. M. Bartleman, 
Buenos Ayres, Aregentina, reports that 
Senor Carlos Thays, director of the 
public parks of Buenos Ayres, has 
published a highly illustrated mono- 
graph on the Buenos Ayres Botanic 
Garden, in which he modestly sets 
forth that in his nine years’ ceaseless 
activities to render Buenos Ayres a 
city beautiful, he has planted over 
142,000 trees; has placed the pine of 
Neuquen (Araucaria imbricata) by the 
side of the palms from Misiones Ter- 
ritory (Cocos australis); and has 
caused over eighty well-distributed 
parks to be opened throughout the 
great city. His masterpiece is the 
great Plaza del Congreso, which will 
provide a breathing space in the heart 
of South America’s greatest metropo- 
lis for all time to come, together with 
the creation and development of the 
Botanic Garden and park system, part 
of which was used for the Centenary 
Exposition. Mr. Bartleman adds; 
“Municipal decoration is one of the 
many things that the United States 
has yet to learn from the 20 sister 
American Republics. There is no 
city among them from which more 
can be learned, not merely in munici- 
pal decoration alone, but in the sense 
of private interest subordinated to 
the public welfare, as is shown in the 
fact that the commercial element 
never demands here that squares shall 
be cut up to build more skyscrapers 
on, than from the largest Latin-Amer- 
ican city, Buenos Ayres.” 
Frank H. Milham, Kalamazoo, 
Mich., president of the Bryant Paper 
Co., has offered to contribute $5,000 
of the necessary $10,000 to purchase 
“Lover’s Lane,” a beautiful drive and 
park site near the city, provided the 
42 (> 
new park is named John Milham 
Park, in honor of his father. 
Lowell, Mass., will borrow $10,000 
for the improvement of Shedd Park 
and play ground. 
The Annual Report of the Newark, 
N. J., Shade Tree Commission shows 
no diminution of energy in the work 
of tree planting and park care, and 
the example set forth by this excel- 
lent and enthusiastic commission 
should be widely followed. Among 
its added activities is the enlistment 
of the pupils of the public schools 
into leagues under the title of Shade 
Tree Protectors of Public School No. 
— , for which a Constitution and By- 
laws have been provided. Its distrib- 
uted literature continues to urge con- 
sideration and work on the part of 
Newark’s citizens in the direction of 
maintaining a high standard in the 
care of its trees. The number of trees 
planted in Newark since the organi- 
zation of the commission in 1904 un- 
til December, 1910, is as follows: Ma- 
ples, 4,161; Elms, 3,534; Oriental 
Planes, 2,718; Oaks, 1,338; Poplars, 
1,007; all other kinds, 1,529. The total 
receipts for the work of the Com- 
mission for 1909 were $51,494.93; and 
the disbursements to $51,065.49. Of 
the latter amount $30,384.72 was ex- 
pended for the planting, maintenance 
of trees on streets, and $20,680.77 for 
the development, maintenance, care 
and improvement of Public Grounds, 
Parks, etc., from January 1, 1909, to 
December 31, 1909. 
The Park Board of Cincinnati, O., 
have under consideration a proposi- 
tion to purchase the old homestead 
where President Taft was born. 
At a recent special meeting of the 
Aberdeen, S. D., city council, the 
purchase of 160 acres lying a mile 
northwest of the city limits, to be 
used for a park, was completed. 
The city council of Lorain, O., has 
authorized the purchase of a tract of 
land of 18 acres for park purposes, at 
a cost of $7,500. 
At a recent meeting of the Hudson 
County Park Commission, Jersey 
City, N. J., a committee of citizens 
attended for the purpose of having 
explained to them the main features 
of the proposed county park in North 
Hudson by Mr. Charles N. Lowrie, 
landscape archiect, who prepared the 
plans. The park has an area of 168 
acres, and is beautifully located. 
The west side city dumping ground, 
Atlanta, Ga., which has been aban- 
doned by order of the court, will 
probably be transformed into a park 
for the west side of the city. 
Continued on page ltS5 
