PARK AND CEMBTERY 
Annual reports or extracts from ihem^historical sketches^ 
descriptive circulars^ photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department* 
The North Chatham Civic Improvement Association, Nortli 
Chatham, Mass., a village of lOO inhabitants, has been instru- 
mental in securing the lighting of the town by electricity. 
The Association has raised funds to pay for two year s’ light- 
ing, which is a good record for an organization not yet one 
year old. 
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It is reported that the Burnham plan for rebuilding San 
Francisco has been adopted. Mr. D. H. Burnham, who re- 
cently returned from a visit to that city, reports that in 
six months the new San Francisco, with its wide driveways 
and handsome buildings, will be W'ell advanced. 
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The Natick Village Improvement Association, Natick, 
Mass., reports that its plant and shrub exchange was a 
greater success this year than the year before. Shrubbery, 
roots and plants of all kinds W'ere distributed and the 
demand for them was much greater than the Association 
could supply. All parts of the town are showing visible 
signs of the improvement that has resulted. 
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The Readville Improvement Association, Readville, Mass., 
recently celebrated its fourth anniversary with appropriate 
exercises. The Association has strongly influenced the de- 
velopment of the neighborhood spirit and done much to im- 
prove the appearance of the town. Its records show that 
loi different matters have been discussed and some action 
taken. Of these fifty-eight have been carried through to a 
successful conclusion. 
-M a meeting of the Ingram Civic League at Pittsburg, Pa., 
recently, it was decided to give at least six awards this year 
for the best kept lawns in the borough, for the best collec- 
tion of flowers and shrubbery, and for the greatest improve- 
ment in home surroundings. Similar awards were made last 
year by the league, and were the means of great improve- 
ment and it was noticed that the competition had a stimu- 
lating effect on the whole town and the rivalry went far 
towards beautifying it. 
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1 he “lawn beautiful’’ is to be made the subject of a prize 
contest among members of the Douglas Improvement Asso- 
ciation of Chicago. Residents of the district betw'een Thirty- 
first and Thirty-fifth streets, Michigan avenue and the; lake, 
are to receive $245 in cash prizes and twenty-five bronze 
medals for the best-kept lawns. The prizes are to be based 
on the appearance of all grass space, including parkway on 
boulevards, which counts 60 per cent ; decorative features, 
which count 20 points, and condition of garbage cans, which 
counts 20 points. 
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At the annual meeting of the Portsmouth City Improve- 
ment Society, Portsmouth, N. H., reports of the officers 
showed a busy season’s work. A triangle at the junction 
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has been laid out and planted with a hedge of barberry and 
groups of hardy shrubs. In the spring 5,000 circular 
letters w'ere sent out to tree owners urging upon them the 
necessity of destroying the nests of the browm tail moth, 
and many property owners both in towm and country took 
great pains to heed this advice. The officers of the Asso- 
ciation are; President. George A. Wood; secretary. Rev. 
Alfred Gooding; treasurer, Wm. C. Walton. 
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'I'he Playground Association of Baltimore, which is con- 
ducting twenty-four public playgrounds in the parks and 
public school yards of that city, expects to add a number of 
new features to its work this year. Local neighborhood 
hoards composed of interested citizens living near the play- 
grounds will he formed and the chairmen will he members 
of the Association’s committee. The work has grown to such 
proportions that a paid secretary is to he appointed, and it is 
hoped that circulating libraries can be extended to all of 
the playgrounds. The officers of the Association are : Presi- 
dent, Mrs. George Frame; secretary. Miss Ruth Haslup ; 
corresponding secretary. Miss Harriet Tinsley; treasurer. 
Miss Janet Goucher. 
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RENEWED ACTIVITY AGAINST BILLBOARDS. 
The past month has seen some unusual activity in the bill- 
board war and new billboard laws are either passed or up to 
the Legislative bodies of a number of cities. New York has 
passed a drastic measure regulating the character of posters. 
“No person,’’ says the new ordinance, “shall put, paste, print, 
nail, maintain or display upon a billboard, fence, building, 
frame or structure and in any manner expose to public view, 
as an advertisement of any show, play or performance, any 
indecent print or any picture or cut tending to represent the 
doings of any criminal act, or representing the limbs of 
a human body or the position of persons, in relation to 
each other, tending to deprave the morals of individuals 
or shocking to the sense of decency, or tending to incite the 
mind to acts of immorality or crime, or to familiarize or ac- 
custom the minds of young persons with the same.” 1'he 
ordinance further provides that violations be punishable by 
a fine of $10 to $100, or ten days in jail. 
Chicago has prepared a strict ordinance in the form of a 
radical amendment to the building laws of the revised code, 
and it was hoped to get it passed before the Council ad- 
journed for its summer vacation. The billboard interests, 
however, succeeded in getting it held up at the last minute, 
and it remains to be seen whether the aldermen will lose 
their nerve during vacation and let it sleep, or take it up 
and pass it in the fall. The essential provisions of the 
ordinance are as follows ; 
“Every bill or sign board, greater than two feet in height, 
attached lo a building, shall be of incombustible material and 
not more than eight feet high or 100 square feet in area. 
When on roofs between one and six feet must separate sign 
and roof. 
“No billboards shall be more than fourteen feet high, of 
which two must intervene between the bottom of the hoard 
and the ground or street level, and must be of incombustible 
material. 
“Signboards not exceeding twelve square feet in area may. 
be built of combustible material. 
“Outside of the fire limits, when a billboard is more than 
twenty-five feet from a wooden fence or building, it may be 
(Coatinced on p. XII. )J 
