PARK AND CEMETERY 
and Landscape Gardening. 
VOL. XV CHICAGO, JANUARY, 1906 No. 11 
'Park 'Development 
Park development is a term of varying significance 
I in this present day of continual progress. In one part 
of the country it may proceed in one way, in another 
part differently. In the warmer sections of the coun- 
j try, where outdoor recreation is common the year round, 
park activities are arranged to meet such conditions ; 
i in our more northerly latitudes different requirements 
I manifest themselves. Until quite recently the park 
authorities in the larger cities of the colder north have 
given attention to facilities for outdoor winter sports 
and to keeping up the conservatories to afford some 
indoor pleasure. But park development should mean 
more than this restricted sense of what is wanted to 
meet the external needs of the people who pay for 
them, and as if by sudden inspiration, a common ex- 
perience in this great country, many park authorities 
are advocating and putting into execution the idea of 
j maintaining buildings for indoor recreation, instruc- 
' tion and amusement for the winter season, while the 
j same buildings afford shelter and rest in the summer. 
In any and every way that the parks and accessory 
buildings can be made available for the increased com- 
fort and legitimate pleasure of the contributing com- 
1 munity, progressive park authorities must aid to the 
i best of their ability. The first effect of the park is not 
to be a municipal show place, yet the best that art can 
I do for it is none too good ; it should be so attractive 
, that outdoor exercise in it should be the duty as well 
as the privilege of the citizen, and it should also pos- 
sess all the facilities for such indoor recreation, ac- 
cording to the season, as wiill contribute to a healthy 
mind in a healthy body, for both old and young. The 
park as a prominent feature of municipal progress is 
far from exhausting its possibilities. 
' The Horticultural Societies, 
j While the work of outdoor improvement is gaining 
I rapid headway in the larger places, and even in the 
i small towns, it is still a fact that the country at large 
has not yet felt the impulse, and the problem is : how 
to bring it about? It has been noted many times in 
these columns that the horticultural societies have 
been enlarging their spheres of usefulness and includ- 
ing in their programs a liberal attention to general im- 
provement. An experience of a leading state society 
in its general work points a moral. At a recent meet- 
ing in an important city at which the attendance and 
interest were expected to be at a maximum, intense 
disappointment resulted. The attendance was cpute 
limited and the expectations by no means realized ' 
whereas in its meetings at smaller centers decidedly 
the reverse has been its experience. This suggests that 
by means of such associations the country can to a 
considerable extent be reached, their own usefulness 
increased, and the very effect of their existence be 
more thoroughly realized. The work, and the results 
of the work, of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- 
ciety, establishes this view, and its program might well 
be studied by all other organizations of its class. By 
incorporating outdoor improvement work generally 
wdth their specific horticultural departments, a broader 
interest would quickly manifest itself, larger meetings 
w'ould result, and the communit}- as a whole feel in 
duty bound to participate for the mutual advantage to 
be attained. ^ ^ ^ 
Niagara Falls Must Be Preserved. 
It is really a serious question in our national life 
that so much attention should have to be concentrated 
on measures to prevent spoliation of the country by 
the commercialism w(liich appears to undertake to dom- 
inate both the mind and matter of the nation. From 
the billboard nuisance to the destruction of the Falls 
of Niagara involves a wide sweep of effort, covering 
so many issues of importance, and }-et the battle must 
be fought continuously to victory in order to re-estab- 
lish a normal and healthy condition of progressive civ- 
ilization. We have at last begun to realize how^ nearly 
we have lost that wonderful natural phenomenon, the 
Falls of Niagara. The development of electricity and 
the advantages of cheap power to produce it once more 
brought water powder into great demand and the vast 
energy stored in Niagara, together wdth its proximity 
to large cities, invited the control of the Falls for com- 
mercial purposes. Commercialism gives no heed to 
anything but the almighty dollar, or no thought of 
injury to the world-renowned cataract could possibly 
have been considered. The practical destruction of 
the Falls is no absolute necessity ; it happens to offer 
a vast amount of stored power, and to be convenient 
and central. But the American people are protesting 
vigorously, as they should, for it is a national matter. 
The president has forcefully referred to it in his mes- 
sage to Congress and further appeals both to him and 
to the governor-general of Canada are being made and 
are in order, and a way to annul charters already 
granted, can undoubtedly be found. However, no ef- 
fort must be spared to awaken Congress to the will of 
the people, and every reader should make it a point to 
strenuously appeal both to his senator and representa- 
tives at Washington to support the President in this 
work. 
