PARK AND CEMETERY. 
tree in front of an estate is worth as much as $150 or $200 
in the valuation of that property ; and if such a tree is killed! 
by gas, the abutter is entitled to damages. In most of the 
cases of gas poisoning the companies have settled with the 
abutters, allowing anywhere from $5 to $150 a tree, according 
to the value of the same. A large, fine, handsome tree taken 
from a well-kept avenue constitutes a greater loss to the 
abutters’ property than a similar tree on a poor, unkempt 
street. Moreover, a tree half killed by the teeth of horses 
is not worth as much as one in good condition. In some 
cities gas companies have settled with the city for the loss 
of trees. 
According to the tree laws in Massachusetts, the gas com- 
panies are undoubtedly subject to a fine for injuries or kill- 
ing a tree in addition to damages which occur to estates 
that cause a deterioration of property, since the laws relating 
to trees in this state are explicit as regards injuries to shade 
trees. In some cases the abutter is satisfied if new trees are 
planted to replace the old ones. 
Undoubtedly much of the loss arising from gas the past 
few years has been due to inferior work in laying pipes. In 
one small city where there were four miles of pipe laid, we 
were able to enumerate one hundred trees that were injured 
beyond recovery from gas poisoning, two years after the gas 
mains were laid, and it is safe to say that there were 300 or 
400 more trees that were more or less affected by gas, many 
of which will subsequently die a premature death. 
. George E. Stone. 
PATCHWORK SHRUBBERIES. 
Here is a plan of the kind of arrangement that usu- 
ally does duty for design in shrubberies ; 
:1a 
Lonicera 
Coraas alba. 
I 
■JoUea Elder- | Purple BarierWes , HydruKjea p 3 ') ' 
and 
— So 
^ ^ / P/ii/ac/eIp?ius 
// Rosa- , ^ ^ / cor 
’ ' Haatrei ' -aua,osa ^ __ 
' VatT- I I - 
' ■ Rosa mOjOsa^ 
/ alba. I 
A sort of mosaic of a patch of this, a patch of that, 
and a patch of the other, all about the same size, all 
about the same shape, and put together, apparently, 
without any particular system other than a general 
idea that No. i would “look well” next to No. 2, and 
No. 2 to No. 3. When it all grows up the general 
effect is often not half bad with its accompaniments 
of neat lawn and bright skies, the varied richness and 
textures of the several patches, their abundant blos- 
som at different times, and, in short, the invincible 
beauty of all the material. 
But what relation has this kind of thing to what is 
usually known as design ? Why does it appear to have 
no traceable relation to the scheme of one’s carpet or 
favorite picture or anything else constructed on tradi- 
tional principles of design? Design depends on sub- 
ordination of parts, on the predominance of principal 
motives and the due proportioning of lesser ones, on 
the separation of mere decorative lines and surfaces 
from constructive ones ; and this subordination is 
lb9 
traceable in any piece of good design from a small 
piece of jewelry to a Doric column, and from an Ar- 
menian rug to a landscape of Corot. But this shrub- 
bery of patches — where does it begin and where does 
it end? What is there for the eye to rest upon and 
prevent its wandering aimlessly in search of some- 
thing else ? There are no principal parts and no sec- 
ondary ones, but they are all about the same size and 
importance. Neither are the plants so intermingled 
as to produce an effect of continuity, of one mass with 
one motive like a wild thicket, or a plantation of one 
variety. That simple and salient principles of design 
can be applied to shrubbery as to any kind of decora- 
tion is sure, but there is not space to discuss it in a 
short article. It may, however, be worth while to en- 
courage those who have such work to do to think for 
themselves. H. A. Caparn. 
THE SPRING GARDEN. -VI. 
Xaiithoceras sorbifolia is a splendid Chinese shrub 
or small tree to which similar remarks apply. It has 
handsome racemes of white flowers with a red- 
dish centre, and should be better known. It is ant 
to die out southward in a few years, but if cut down 
before its vitality is 
exhausted it will 
throw up great num- 
bers of suckers which 
after a year or two 
may be separated 
and grown on, thus 
compensating for its 
failure to perfect 
seeds — except north- 
ward. 
Acers or maples 
are many of them 
exceedingly showy in 
spring. I have won- 
dered why people do 
not plant rubrum 
and platanoides to- 
gether for their red, 
reddish, and yellow 
flowers simultaneous- 
ly borne. The va- 
rieties of the latter 
species, such as 
Schwedleri, are fine 
for foliage effects in 
spring ; so, too, are 
the Japanese A. pal- 
matum, aureum, and 
septemlobum atropur- 
pureum among the 
most reliable of the wistaria chinensis 
