749 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
street signs and prohibits the unsightly 
board signs of earlier days. The park 
board has for years prohibited the 
painting of any signs on the rocks or 
other property of the city under the 
control of the park board and this rule 
has been enforced and as a result park 
property is not disfigured in any way on 
this account. Another fact worthy of 
attention in regard to Spokane : it is now 
a misdemeanor for a property owner 
to allow certain weeds to grow upon his 
land. If he does not cut them down, the 
overseer has the work done at the own- 
er’s expense. 
The Park Commission of Birming- 
ham, Ala., has recently purchased park 
properties to the value of $130,313.85. 
By authorizing the city engineer to 
survey the 625 acres in City Creek can- 
yon and around Ensign Peak, the coun- 
cil of Salt Lake City, Utah, recently 
took the first official step towards 
launching the $1,500,000 parking plan 
adopted by the board of park commis- 
sioners. 
Embodied in the twenty-third annual 
report of the City Parks Association of 
Philadelphia, Pa., issued a short time 
ago, are a number of plans for proposed 
improvements to the topography of the 
city, designed for the purpose of pro- 
viding for the future growth of unde- 
veloped areas and rehabilitation in 
built-up sections. In the history of the 
Association there has been no year so 
full of notable events forecasting the 
improvement of Philadelphia, and this 
emphasizes the need of a Parkway, out- 
er parks and better transportation fa- 
cilities. 
The Board of Park Commissioners of 
Cincinnati, O., were recently notified by 
Mrs. Frank Perin that she will donate 
the lot at the northwest corner of Free- 
man avenue and Hulbert street for park 
and playground purposes. The Commis- 
sioners have realized for a long time the 
necessity of locating a playground in 
that neighborhood. The gift is made 
in memory of her father, William P. 
Hulbert, and is to be known as Hulbert 
Park. The lot has a frontage of 104 
feet on Freeman avenue and 250 feet on 
Hulbert street. 
It is the intention of the city com- 
missioners of Mobile, Ala., that the 
horticultural embellishments of the pub- 
lic parks of that city shall be as up-to- 
date as it is possible to make them with 
the co-operation of the federal bureau 
of plant industry. Many varieties from 
the far orient, known to be suitable for 
its climate, will be introduced. 
While in Wellsboro, Pa., recently, lec- 
turing before the Tioga County Histor- 
ical Society, Mr. Simon B. Elliott, of 
Reynoldsville, a member of the State 
Forestry Commission, warmly advocat- 
ed the proposed purchase by the State of 
the 10,000 acres of virgin white pine lo- 
cated in Jefferson, Clarion and Forest 
Counties, with a view to converting the 
tract into a magnificent State Park. 
FROM PARK REPORTS 
The Forty-second Annual Report of 
the Buffalo, N. Y., Park Commission- 
ers, dated July, 1911, contained reports 
of the several officers of the depart- 
ment. During the fiscal year there was 
expended $371,893.03 for the general 
maintenance of the system, and atten- 
tion is drawn to the large extra cost 
of maintaining the roadways under the 
severe wear of the automobiles. It is 
also noteworthy that there has been 
quite an awakening of the citizens to 
the additional beauty of the city created 
by the work of the Department of For- 
estry. A new greenhouse was completed 
during the year, a much needed addi- 
tion to Delaware Park, and the new 
greenhouse in Humboldt Park was also 
added to the propagating facilities of 
the establishment. While no very large 
pieces of improvement were carried out, 
the smaller jobs were numerous and of 
a costly nature. The report of the Di- 
rector of the Botanic Garden is very 
satisfactory, large additions to the col- 
lections, both hardy and tender, having 
been secured. The number of students 
is increasing. In the Zoological depart- 
ment $100,000 became available, which 
is to be spent in the construction of 
new buildings and the remodeling of 
old. The lack of funds has greatly 
hampered this department. The city 
Forester carried out a vigorous cam- 
paign against the Tussock Moth, the 
arch-enemy of Buffalo’s shade trees, and 
16 spraying outfits were in operation for 
the work. The forestry department was 
a very active one during the year. 
NEW PARKS 
Minot, N. D., recently offered for sale 
$31,000 of park bonds, which will be 
used to begin a park system for that 
place. 
Plans for a public park on the old 
City Hall site of St. Louis, Mo., are 
being agitated, and the cost would not 
be heavy. The park, it is claimed, would 
fit in excellently well with the Civfc 
Center scheme of the City Plan Com- 
mission. 
Plans for the opening in 1913 of four 
new parks on the South Side, Chica- 
go, and the establishment of public 
bathing beaches in Jackson park south 
of the German building have been an- 
nounced in the annual report of the 
board of South park commissioners. On 
Dec. 11 the commissioners reached an 
agreement with the Illinois Central 
railroad regarding the riparian rights to 
the lake shore from Twelfth to Fifty- 
First streets, which provides for a home 
for the Field museum. 
Consulting Engineer F. E. Trask has 
recommended to the City Council of On- 
tario, Calif., the parking of a 40-acre 
tract, between East I and Fourth 
streets. The property is owned by the 
city. 
The ground for several new park im- 
provements has been bought by the au- 
thorities of Kansas City, Kan. H. E. 
Dean, commissioner of parks and pub- 
lic buildings, will be allowed $86,000 to 
be used in making improvements on 
these grounds, and the city can issue 
bonds to acquire new park property for 
any amount up to $150,000. 
Mayor Gaynor, New York City, re- 
cently approved the aldermanic resolu- 
tion for the purchase of the Dream- 
land site for a park at Coney Island, at 
a cost of $1,000,000. The site covers 
seven acres of land, and the purchase 
has already met the approval of the 
Board of Estimate. 
The gift to the city of Pittsfield, 
Mass., of Springside Park, a choice bit 
of Berkshire landscape, containing 10 
acres of woodland, meadow, natural 
spring lake, hill and vale, will be a 
worthy memorial to its public spirited 
official Mayor Kelton B. Miller. The 
little lake was the first Pittsfield water 
supply, its outlet being piped to various 
farmhouses in the immediate vicinity 
years ago. Later the lake and its sur- 
roundings became the playground for 
a boys’ school, and as such became 
known as “Tetley’s Pond.” 
Starved Rock passed into the hands 
of the state of Illinois on Dec. 15. The 
sum of $146,000 was paid for the 290 
acre tract, and that it is expected will 
prove to be the nucleus of one of the 
finest state parks in the country. It lies 
ten miles west of Ottawa on the south 
side of the Illinois river and in addition 
to Starved Rock proper consists of pre- 
cipitous cliffs, canons, and glens, which 
rival many of America’s most beautiful 
scenic wonders. No spot in Illinois is 
richer in history or legend than Starved 
Rock, which was visited by the early 
French missionary explorers and was 
the scene of numerous bloody conflicts 
between Indian tribes. Upon its lofty 
summit the Illinois warriors made their 
last stand, and after being starved, were 
finally exterminated by their enemies. 
The citizens on Highland Avenue, 
Birmingham, Ala., propose to expend 
$10,000 on beautifying a park tract in 
the neighborhood of 26th Avenue. 
A pretty wooded tract of land in East 
Millville, N. J., to be known as Brin- 
ton Park, has been turned over to the 
city for the use of the public, by the 
donor, Mr. S. Percy Brinton, and has 
been formally received. The new park 
contains about ten acres and is an ideal 
