777 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
the beholder at once quiet and unob- 
trusive and prove therefore nothing 
like the distraction offered at present 
by a walk on the Commonwealth 
avenue pathway. The statues are 
made to fit into the landscape, but in 
no way as a controlling feature. The 
trees and shrubbery at the back and on 
the sides of each statue will not only 
bring out an effect appealing to every 
idea of beauty, but with seats to be 
provided opposite each one, will lead 
to a more critical study of the sub- 
jects and to a more intelligent ap- 
preciation of statuary in general by 
imparting ideas generally overlooked 
in craftsmanship and sentiment. 
With the idea in view of making 
Washington park the large central 
park of the city of Cleveland, O., it 
is proposed to purchase Forest City 
park, the amusement park adjoining 
Washington, and make it one with 
the city park. Some years ago the 
property was offered to the city by 
the owners. 
The work of improving the enlarged 
park around the State House at 
Trenton, N. J., has been progressing 
by the demolishing of the dwellings 
on Delaware street opposite the 
Capitol building. 
New Parks 
Houlton, Me., is to have a park; 
$10,000 has already been pledged to 
buy the A. A. Burleigh homestead 
lot on Pleasant street. 
Park Superintendent J, M. Paige 
has about completed the beautiful 
park surrounding the city hall at 
Pomona, Calif. Lawns have been 
made and appropriately planted, and 
a water system laid down by means 
of which the entire park can be ir- 
rigated with one turn of a lever. 
The system is patterned from that in 
Central Park, Los Angeles. 
The old Seneca Indian burial 
ground, Buffalo, N. Y., will soon be 
turned over to the city in the shape 
of an attractive park. The property 
is about 300 by 200 feet and every 
inch of it is associated with incidents 
connected with the early history of 
Buffalo, when, more than 100 years 
ago it was a struggling little trading 
post huddled close to the shore of 
Lake Erie and along the banks of the 
Buffalo creek. The historical plot 
was purchased and given to the city 
for a park by Mr. and Mrs. John D. 
Larkin. 
Anton G. Hodenpyl, of New York 
City, has purchased 40 acres on the 
north side of Reed’s Lake, a favorite 
resort close to the city limits of 
Grand Rapids, Mich., with a view to 
donating it to the city of his birth 
for a park for the people. He has 
had this in view for some time. It 
is a beautiful tract, well diversified 
and has a fine lake frontage. This 
gift is said to be worth $80,000. Mr. 
John H. Bonnell has offered a block 
of fifteen acres on the same lake for 
park purposes. Both properties will 
be held for the city by the Grand 
Rapids Boulevard Association. 
Kolb Park is to be a new park in 
Paducah, Ky. The park commission- 
ers propose to make this one of the 
most attractive in the city. 
The signing of a contract with W. 
E. Both & Co., for a tract of land 
bordering on the river opposite the 
Julia Davis park at Boise, Idaho, by 
the city council recently, marks an- 
other important step in the plans for 
beautifying Boise. 
Work has started on a 40-acre 
pleasure park and game preserve, 
which has been donated to the town 
of Bishop, near Corpus Christi, 
Texas, by Mr. F. Z. Bishop. The work 
of beautifying it has been given a 
landscape gardener from Washington. 
Fifteen deer are now in the deer en- 
closure of five acres, surrounded by a 
iy 2 foot high wire mesh fence. 
Charles City, la., has made its first 
move in the purchase of a large pub- 
lic park. The park board has com- 
pleted arrangements for the purchase 
of the .Sherman woods. This is a 
beautiful timbered tract of 74.57 acres, 
close to the heart of the city and was 
bought for $9,499. There are several 
little creeks in the tract and it can 
quickly and cheaply be converted into 
one of the most beautiful parks in the 
state. 
An interesting fact in relation to 
the park presented to Warren, O., by 
Mr. J. W. Packard, president of the 
Packard Motor Car Company, is that 
the donor is blind, and in order to 
give him the pleasure of knowing 
something of the present physical 
characteristics of his gift, Mr. George 
Rettig, landscape architect, has pre- 
pared a relief model of the Japanese 
garden included in the plan of im- 
provement so that Mr. Packard may 
go over it with his fingers. Later a 
relief of the whole park will be made. 
The park is a block of 45 acres. 
Morgan Park, 111., is to have a new 
park. This is one of the beautiful 
suburbs of Chicago which has up to 
date successfully combated the effort 
to include it within the great city’s 
limits. 
A new park in Mobile, Ala., the 
site for which has just been pur- 
chased by the city commissioners, 
will be named John T. Morgan Park, 
in honor of the late senator from Ala- 
bama. 
Park Reports. 
The annual statements of the presi- 
dent and superintendent of the Park- 
ing Commission of New Orleans, La., 
to June, 1911, give an interesting re- 
sume of the work accomplished dur- 
ing the two years of the Commis- 
sion’s existence, and its proposed line 
of activity. The trees of the city are 
to receive adequate attention, and the 
improvement scheme, briefly out- 
lined, consists in the merging of the 
boulevards into City Park avenue, 
bringing the City Park and perhaps 
some fine adjacent lakeside park by 
a continuity of boulevard tree exten- 
sion, into the heart of the city. Su- 
perintendent Baker says the electric 
current wires passing through the trees 
“are a public utility” and “must be 
preserved intact” notwithstanding the 
probable mutilation of the trees, and 
declares that a “change of conditions 
must be effected during the next dec- 
ade.” This is too long to wait for 
the trees should have first considera- 
tion; the utility companies conduct- 
ing current by wire through the trees 
should be persuaded or compelled to 
use insulated cables. No tree com- 
missions now-adays permit the utility 
corporations to mutilate the trees. 
The annual report of the Commis- 
sioners of Tower Grove Park, St. 
Louis, Mo., for the year ending De- 
cember 31, 1911, is an interesting re- 
view of park work during an almost 
unprecedented season. On the finan- 
cial side the total receipts for its 
care and maintenance amounted to 
$30,187.39, and the expenditures to 
$28,249.51, which latter included la- 
bor, $18,064.30; salaries, $1,900; mu- 
sic, $1,608, etc. In climate it was a 
year of contrasts through which the 
lawns and trees suffered more or less 
by reason of drought and destructive 
insects, although no very serious 
trouble was experienced. It is pleas- 
ing to note that in spite of peculiar 
conditions, as to the lay-out of the 
park thoroughfares, no accidents oc- 
curred from the careless driving of 
automobiles, and no trouble was ex- 
perienced in handling the visitors. 
Considerable improvements were 
made in the drainage arrangements. 
Decorative gardening was successful 
and the water garden under Mr. 
James Gurney was especially credit- 
able. The children’s play ground 
which was established and equipped 
in 1910 has been still more elaborate 
in the provisions for the little ones’ 
exercises. 
