PARK AND CEMETERY 
and Landscape Gardening. 
Vol. XV CHICAGO, DECEMBER, 1905. No. 10 
Fencing Our 'Parks. 
The question of fencing our public parks came to 
the front in Chicago a short time since and created 
quite a stir in improvement circles. Certain cases of 
hoodlumism, the necessity of increased police protec- 
tion and the urgent appeal of a number of South side 
residents, induced the South Park Board to resolve 
to erect a neat iron fence about the confines of Wash- 
ington Park, and a contract was actually made for the 
fence. Public opinion at once asserted itself and with 
such force that the resolution was rescinded. The 
president of the board, however, insists that it is only 
a question of time when the people will demand the 
protection that the fence affords. Students of prog- 
ress and broad-minded citizens deny this, and claim 
that the day is long past for parks to be considered 
exclusive property, and that improved police protec- 
tion must be devised if such is necessary. The question 
hinges on this police protection, for, given all the pleas- 
ures and recreation, evening and daytime, that a park 
can, when rationally planned, provide, and the only 
element of the populace that need be feared is the 
criminal ; against that, in any city, the people pay for 
protection. At the present day there is no reason or 
excuse for fencing in city parks. 
School Gardens. 
Wherever school gardens have been established 
their effect upon the children brought under their in- 
fluence has been simply astonisbing. This has also 
been the experience in Europe where, in France and 
Germany especially, such educational efforts antedate 
our own, which are but of a very few years’ standing. 
I The amount of evidence now in type and available 
I for every public school official or trustee, amply jus- 
j tifies the suggestion that it is quite time the educa- 
! tional authorities of the country, those in public office, 
j should take up this question and make every possible 
j effort to fit it to their own particular requirements. 
; On examining the printed records of what has been 
accomplished, and its pronounced beneficial effect, it 
surprises one that with few exceptions the motive force 
behind the movement does not come from our official 
educators but from social and improvement organi- 
zations. It is a serious reflection upon tbe men elected 
or appointed by the people, but a pride to the Ameri- 
can people themselves. It is a commentary on our 
methods that the men we elect or appoint are so slow 
to move even in their chosen lines of work, and that 
after they assume office they still require to be urged 
to any line of reform. 
The Permanence of Improvement cAssociations. 
The very activity of Improvement Associations calls 
to mind the suggestion of permanency, because the 
stimulus that promoted their organization may ex- 
haust itself on the object perhaps attained. It is there- 
fore both advisable and necessary to maintain a broad 
view of the situation and keep on gathering in all the 
opportunities that present themselves as the organi- 
zation continues its work. And that opportunities will 
present themselves is a foregone conclusion, for at no 
time in the course of progressive development is not 
some detail to be observed that, elaborated, becomes a 
distinct object for attention. And as our civilization 
advances, new avenues of improvement will open up, 
new methods of living be instituted, and the old- will 
be giving place to the new continually. The field of 
improvement will always be large, larger than the 
minds devoted to its care, and it is above all things 
necessary to cultivate zeal, energy and endurance in 
our Improvement Associations that the work may not 
flag under any circumstances. 
The Country Cemetery. 
The improvement and care of the country cemetery 
as a public movement, has been, up to date, an un- 
solved problem. The difficulties attending either def- 
inite or concerted action looking to a solution, while 
having been a subject of wide discussion and much 
expert thought, are so peculiar and local in their gen- 
eral bearing, that every little graveyard practically de- 
mands special consideration. Every proposition, there- 
fore that offers itself as a new light on this important 
subject is worthy of patient trial. A company has 
been organized in Missouri having a capital of $30,- 
000, entitled “The Missouri Cemetery Improvement 
Company,” the object of which is to own and manage 
cemeteries as well as to accumulate a permanent fund, 
the income of which is to be used yearly in the per- 
petual care of the cemetery for which the provision is 
made, each cemetery having its own fund. The com- 
pany was incorporated in 1902 and appears to have 
accomplished good results already, judging from the 
testimonials received. If such a corporation can be 
managed economically, be kept free from graft, con- 
duct its business on purely business principles, include 
men of strict integrity in its personnel and working 
staff, and make its chief aim that which it advertises 
itself to do, it should offer a scheme of country ceme- 
tery improvement on business lines promising good 
results. Tbe company is now opening a cemetery in 
St. Joseph, Mo., which will eventually contain eighty 
acres. 
