PARK AND CEMETERY 
475 
Annual reports or extracts frotn them., historical sketches^ 
descriptive circulars^ photographs of improve7nents or dis' 
tinctive features are requested for use in this deparifnetit* 
The Metropolitan Park Commission, Boston, has an appro- 
priation of $3,000,000 to be expended in five years in different 
parts of the Metropolitan Park District. Already $385,000 of 
this has been expended on the Lynn shore front boulevard. 
Plans involve a continuation of the King’s beach boulevard 
from Red Rock, its present terminus, to Nahant Beach, and 
when that is completed it will be the finest shore drive along 
the New England coast. This shore drive has become very 
popular, and thousands often come out to witness the ocean 
in a storm. 
:}( ^ 
A new note has been struck in Cleveland, O., by the ap- 
pointment by the public school authorities of that city of 
Miss Louise Klein Miller to take charge' of the school gardens, 
under the title of “Curator of School Gardens.” Miss Miller 
has become identified with this new department of educational 
labor and is a successful writer and lecturer. It is to be 
hoped that this matter of school gardens will be taken up by 
many more cities in the country, cities that have done so thus 
far can be counted on one hand^ It must, however, be entered 
upon in a determined, sensible way, for it is a new develop- 
ment, fraught with great possibilities, and in many directions, 
for the growth of our civilization. 
5 }( * * 
The Directors of Appalachian National Forest Reserve As'- 
sociation, at their meeting of December 7, last, by resolution 
advised the members of the Association to also join the Amer- 
ican Forestry Association in order to combine forces in urging 
action by the government towards establishing the Appalachian 
Forest Reserve as well as that of the White Mountains of New 
I Hampshire. This is a good move and our representatives at 
1 Washington should pay heed to this decided call. In fact 
; there are many localities of either exceptional beauty or of 
phenomenal nature in our Eastern states that should be re- 
served from the rapacity of individual or corporate greed and 
dedicated to this generation to be bequeathed to the next as 
time rolls along. 
* * * 
Few realize what park making in an immense city like Chi- 
cago means, or what work it entails. Since a new order of 
things was created for the well known Lincoln Park, a con- 
stant activity has been maintained. Within five years one of 
the most beautiful parks in the West will be completed, a large 
area of which will once have been Lake Michigan. The new 
extension is to contain the finest jacht harbor on the Great 
Lakes, in the form of a circular stone basin. The sea walls 
are being constructed from stone quarried out during the ex- 
■ cavation of the great drainage canal, and which the Lincoln 
I Park Commissioners are allowed to remove from the spoil 
(banks to the extent of 500,000 cubic yards. A huge steam 
( dredge will be delivered next fall when the work of filling in 
i between the sea wall and the land will be pushed with vigor. 
The attractive little city of Redwood, Calif., has recently 
been presented by the ladies of the place with a small park, 1 
which has been appropriately named “California Square.” The 
ladies taking very active part in the affair belonged to the . 
“Native Daughters of the Golden West.” A piece of low land, 
several acres in extent was secured, and during a few years 
past has been improved, graded, laid out as a park and orna- 
mentally planted, at a cost of some $3,000. Recently this park 
was presented to the city by the ladies with appropriate cere- 
monies, which included the planting of a fine specimen of 
Sequoia gigantea, the giant redwood tree. Several memorial 
trees were also planted by various societies and individuals. 
Cordial public thanks were voted to the ladies for their 
patriotic efforts. Such gifts might be emulated to the advant- 
age of all concerned in many other thriving towns. 
5 {« 
The annual report of the Board of Commissioners of Tower 
Grove Park, St. Louis, Mo., shows that the receipts from the 
city and other sources for its care and maintenance was $29,- 
906.32, and its principal expenditures as follows : Labor, $16,- 
177.70; salaries, $1,400; music, $1,844; stable expenses, $1,- 
462.01 ; other expenses, $4,018.99 — a total of $24,902.70. The 
year 1905 was a favorable one for park work on the whole. 
The report refers to the wear and tear of the roads particularly 
due to powerful motor-cars which necessitated considerable 
attention to maintain them. It also speaks of the reduction in 
the cost of keeping the gutters clear of weeds by the use of 
chemical weed-destroyers. Aquatic gardening attracted much 
favorable comment. In the chain of lakes tropical bamboos, 
grasses and iris were ornamentally used, with palms and other 
stately plants as backgrounds, and in the water free use was 
made of the Thalia divaricata. More than a thousand seed- 
ling water lilies were produced by cross fertilization, some of 
them of exceptional merit, and some of the leaves of the Ama- 
zon water-lily attained a circumference of 21 feet. Some of 
the schools of the city were given plants, gold fish and flowers, 
to brighten their rooms, an entirely different kind of graft 
from that of supplying the political officials of so many parks 
with flowers and plants for any and all occasions. The park 
as a whole was maintained in an excellent condition. 
* * 
The Year Book, for 1905, of Audubon Park, New Orleans, 
La., contains some choice reading for those who need encour- 
agement to help in the cause of park building. Audubon 
Park promises to be in the not distant future a notable ex- 
ample of how to establish in southern conditions an ideal 
park for the southern city resident. Conditions, material and 
otherwise are so different in that section of our country, that 
it needs not only wisdom but exceeding great patience in or- 
der not only to encourage opportunity but to grasp it when it 
shows ahead. The men controlling Audubon Park affairs de- 
serve the credit of the community and all the help they need 
to continue the improvement of this beautiful park, on the 
lines laid down on the plans designed by the Messrs. Olmsted, 
and which want of means is keeping very backward just at 
present. However, the year-book is still hopeful of final re- 
sults and very moderate resources are being used to the best 
advantage to maintain what has been established, and to work 
along in the way of improving the park so that finally the 
plans prepared may be consummated. The year-book contains 
a map, showing the preliminary plans of the landscape archi- 
tects, and a proposed new continuous drive, which will be a 
great attraction. It also contains a beautiful panorama half- 
tone of a portion of the park. Audubon Park contains 247 
acres. We note that the winter has been kind to the floral dis- 
plays, but that the park authorities have great difficulty in pre- 
venting the spoliation of the beds and plants by selfish visitors. 
