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PARK AND CEMETERY. 
THE PARK SYSTEM OF TACOMA, WASHINGTON 
By E. R. Roberts 
Svperi7ite7ident of Parks 
Tlie growing interest in the improvement of the 
parks, boulevards, home grounds, school grounds and 
play grounds in Tacoma, Wash., attests the earnest 
desire of her citizens for a city beautiful. They are 
not to rest contented with a mere grass plat of \er- 
dure. Householders have planted the boundary lines 
of their grounds with ornamental trees, shrubs and 
bulbs. A remarkable number of roses are used for 
the reason that they flourish to a Rosa pcrfccta on the 
shores of Puget Sound. The rose is planted annually 
by thousands, propagated by cuttings at home. Tens 
of thousands of cuttings are given to the children 
every year from the parks. A great festival is held 
for several days every year. Early in June the feast 
of roses commences. The ministers, merchants and 
the hotel keepers throughout the city decorate. Every 
home has a rose garden and strangers are presented 
with garlands when they visit. It is a very land of 
roses. We could name five hundred varieties that 
grow perfectly here without protection. Not only 
roses, but large numbers of bulbous perennials, lilies, 
auratum, rubrum, longiflorum ; hyacinths, tulips, croc- 
usus, narcissus, snow drops, and the lily of the valley 
are planted. No flower garden is complete without 
the spring beauties. 
One of the most remarkable illustrations of the 
THE MAIDEN’S MEETING. 
Point Defiance Park. 
popular love for beauty is seen in the rise and prog- 
ress of park development. Sixteen years ago we had 
title to only thirty acres of land for park purposes. 
Now we have thirteen hundred acres of park land 
situated north, south, east and west of the city, and 
more that is under cultivation. Point Defiance, the 
leading park of the city, is in fact, the gem of all in 
this part of the United States, with its 640 acres of 
natural woodland, surrounded on three sides by the 
waters of Puget Sound, giving a sandy and gravely 
beach for miles. There are trees from twelve inches to 
two hundred feet high in this park, eight miles of wood- 
land avenues, ten miles of trails and pathways, and 
two great bridges. One of these, 200 feet long, is built 
of three thousand cedar logs, from twelve inches to 
six feet in diameter. The other is 150 feet long. The 
well-stocked zoo has two bear courts and dens, built of 
rock, cement and iron, at a cost of $3,000. The other 
animals include seven buffaloes, five elks and five deers, 
seven kangaroos, four Angora goats, seven coyotes, 
besides foxes, lynxes, monkeys, wild cats, raccoons, 
badgers, eagles, hawks, owls, magpies, doves, parrots, 
cockatoos, swans, geese, ducks, peacocks, Guinea hens, 
fancy chickens — 200 birds and fowl in all. In addition 
to the native species there are specimens from South 
America, Australia, Alaska, California, Mexico. Six 
GRANDMA’S WALK, POINT DEFIANCE PARK. 
Tacoma, Wash. 
