PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XXI Chicago, October, 1911 No. S 
Training for Landscape Architecture 
That there is still plenty of room at the top should 
be an encouraging feature of present-day strenuous life 
to the aspiring young man. But to meet the require- 
ments of these top-opportunities calls for preparation, 
ability and character that comparatively few possess, or 
are even willing to endeavor to possess, on account of 
the work entailed for that end. One is impressed with 
this idea, in connection . with the profession of landscape 
architecture, on perusing the pamphlet issued by Harvard 
University concerning its Department of Landscape 
Architecture, and Harvard is not now alone in promot- 
ing this profession. But the plans of study laid down 
and the requirements set forth for attaining degrees in 
this occupation suggest most emphatically that to be- 
come a proficient landscape architect the young aspirant 
must make up his mind to work; and yet there may also 
be gathered from the pages of this pamphlet the assur- 
ance that proficiency in the several necessary studies 
means an equipment for a delightful life-work that will 
make the top easy of attainment, as practice develops the 
factilties ■ upon so certain a foundation. There have, 
however, been great men in every occupation of life who 
have succeeded without the help of college 'training, but a 
college education today gives the student so great an ad- 
vantage for professional ■ service that our advice is “get 
it if you can.” The Lowthorpe School of Landscape Archi- 
tecture, Gardening and Horticulture for Women, at Gro- 
ton, Mass.,- which- was founded in 1901 by Mrs. Edward 
Gilchrist Low, and which was incorporated in 1909, is 
designed to train young women who desire to take up 
a life work under the terms Landscape Architecture, Land- 
scape Gardening and Horticulture, in which there is an 
excellent and attractive field. This school was established 
by private benevolence, is still far from self-supporting. 
The Municipal Congress and Exposition 
The International Municipal Congress and Exposition 
which was held in Chicago, September 18-30, under the 
auspices of the city and a number of its leading organi- 
zations was, like its predecessors and kindred affairs, a 
highly interesting and instructive event. It attracted 
numbers of visitors, unquestionably of the intelligent 
classes, and practically all the leading features of the ex- 
hibition found interested engineers and students among 
the people who halted to study and investigate. Besides 
the exhibits of maps, plans and models of municipal pub- 
lic works, the laying out of towns and cities and the ap- 
paratus and plants for the up-to-date necessities of city 
life, the sessions of the Congress covered a broad field, 
and were held day and evening throughout the time pre- 
scribed for the Exposition. Prominent experts in city 
development and the conduct of municipal affairs pre- 
sented their views in lectures and discussions, and were 
assisted by leading officials from the larger American 
cities. City charters, commission government, municipal 
accounting, efficiency and business, municipal museums, 
city planning, public utilities and improvements, taxa- 
tion, public schools, parks and playgrounds, as well 
as the engineering requirements for a city’s health and 
welfare, all received particular and close attention. Dur- 
ing the evenings there were picture talks on home and 
foreign municipalities, and moving jncture exhibits of 
modern road-making, the operation of fire fighting out- 
fits on land and water, and other attractive matters con- 
nected with city development. The exhibits of the large 
manufacturers of road making machinery and the re- 
quirements of indoor and outdoor municipal work added 
to the general completeness of the Congress. Particu- 
larlv noticeable among many civic exhibits was that 
of Des Moines. la. This city has l^een conducting a 
vigorous educational campaign on up-to-date lines to pro- 
mote growth both in residental citizenship and business 
interests, and in the way of civic improvement is rapidly 
forging ahead and setting an example to other cities. 
Vjg 
Children’s Play Parks 
Mr. L. H. Weir, field secretary of the Playground As- 
sociation of America, suggests that the perfect system of 
playgrounds for a citj' is "to have them so situated that 
one will be within a quarter of a mile of every child ten 
years old, and that larger grounds will be within at least 
one-half mile of each child in the city.” This is of course 
theoretical, but a very few years ago the whole subject 
of city play-parks for the children was theoretical, and 
but few. believed them practicable. The point of view 
is now entirely changed, and such parks have almost 
suddenly come to be declared essential features of up-to- 
date municipal requirements. To carry out the sugges- 
tion in our older established cities is beyond reasonable 
expectation, though much more will have to be done than 
has yet been accomplished; but in our younger cities, it 
is quite possible and should be seriously considered while 
land values are low and business has not appropriated 
every play-park possiblitjv 
Ng 
A Suggestion 
While signs of the awakening of interest in the con- 
dition of the rural cemetery are quite frequently appar- 
ent in certain communities throughout the country, any 
general disposition to improve is still a long way off, in 
spite of the educational efforts to inspire the necessary 
spirit often attempted. 
In a paper by Mr. F. H. Rutherford, of Hamilton, Ont., 
read at the recent Philadelphia convention of cemetery 
superintendents, on “Reorganizing an Old Cemetery,” ap- 
peared a suggeston that the judicious planting of portions 
of the cemetery would afford the superintendent one of 
the most interesting studies, as well as one of the great- 
est pleasures of his worK. There is no question as to 
this; and why might not the idea be taken up by any 
interested lot owner or village official and adapted to the 
neighboring' burying ground. A visit to a nearby city, 
having a well cared for cemetery, would offer lots of 
examples of what trees, shrubs and plants to use and 
the manner of their planting, and in every country place 
the native shrubs and wild things are just the material 
to use, providing taste and good judgment are displayed. 
It needs study, to be sure, but the study will be bene- 
ficial and absorbing, and the laying out and planting will 
be most interesting, and to see the success of the work 
in due course, not only in its detail, but in relation to the 
whole burial plot will repay for the time and labor ex- 
pended a hundred-fold. Let some of our active village 
citizens try it! 
