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Spokane, Wash., has begun to improve its Coe ur d’Alene 
park. The commission has decided to call in the services of a 
competent man to lay out its improved portion. 
* * * 
The will of Mrs. Sarah Withers of Bloomington, Ind., be- 
queaths $40,000 to found a library in Nicholasville, Ky., where 
she was born. Some years ago she established the Withers 
library in Bloomington. These are memorials that endure. 
* * * 
Belle Isle Park, Detroit, Mich., will soon be adorned with 
another drinking fountain, the gift of James E. Scripps. Bronze 
figures of a typical newsboy and his dog, modelled by Mr. Dun- 
bar, sculptor, will be the decorative feature. 
* * * 
Talking about road improvements, The Referee recently 
published a cartoon, illustrating Missouri’s road system. In 
commenting on this, that paper says that in “1896 $490, 000 was 
spent in that State for road improvement, and $600,000 for sup- 
ervisors to carry out the work. In other words, it cost $1,090,000 
to get $490,000 worth of work done.” 
* * * 
The State agent of the Tennessee Centennial exposition, 
recently sent to Bristol, Tenn., to investigate the advisability of 
cutting down and removing to the exposition the noted Boone 
tree, has advised against it, expressing the belief that the tree is 
good to stand a century longer. The tree is still in a fair state 
of preservation, and still visible on it is the inscription cut in its 
bark by Daniel Boone almost a century and a half ago. The in- 
scription reads: “D. Boone, Cilled a bar on tree in the Year 1760.” 
*• * * 
The decision of the board of trustees of the Missouri Botani- 
cal garden, known as Shaw’s garden, St. Louis, to increase its 
area by the addition of 100 acres and spend at least $150,000 upon 
its improvement is one on which Missouri is to be congratulated. 
The improvement will include the making of a “synopsis of North 
American flora,” and it is hoped to plant representatives of every 
family of plants indigenous to the continent. The collection 
will include fully 4,000 specimens and is to embrace all the 
flora of the continent, except a few families of parasites that can- 
not be cultivated. 
* * * 
The second annual report of Board of Park Commissions of 
Indianapolis, Ind., gives 1 16.62 as the acreage of parks as yet es- 
tablished in that city for which an appropriation of $35,000 was 
made and expended on permanent improvements and mainten- 
ance. The engineer’s report also shows that the park question in 
Indianapolis has been sorely neglected, for its acreage divided 
into its population gives 1,508 persons to the acre, a condition 
not approaced by any city of like magnitude. The officials are 
alive to the requirements and present the question to the peo- 
ple in a manner that must prove of interest. 
* * * 
The City Council of Newport, R. I., recently accepted a 
trust fund of $100, the income from which is to be expended by 
the Park Commission on the care of the graves of Governors 
Nicholas Easton and John Easton, and others in the Codding- 
ton Burying Ground. This old burial place is located on Fare- 
well street at corner of North Baptist street, and contains the re- 
mains of many original settlers of Rhode Island. The park com- 
mission has now charge of several small cemeteries which con- 
tain remains of historic interest, and is rapidly improving them. 
Some of the stones in the above mentioned burial ground bear 
dates as early as 1675. 
The shade trees of Worcester, Mass., aggregate nearly 10,- 
000 and during the past year 198 had to be replaced owing chiefly 
to their destruction by horses or careless drivers The Parks-Com- 
mission And themselves unable to cope with the evil, and are in- 
voking public sympathy in the direction of aiding in bringing 
offenders under the laws which are ample for the purpose. The 
report just to hand says: “There is an increasing demand for 
the planting of trees in the residential portions of the city which 
the commission is endeavoring to supply. * * * The 
attention that vigorous young trees require in training them for 
their proper development, and the trimming of the larger trees 
and their proper protection, will soon demand the service of a 
city forester.” Why not organize a tree planning association 
which would devote itself to just such work? 
* * * 
A good deal of work has already been done at Eagle Rock 
Park, the romantic spot in the Essex Co., N. J., park system, two- 
thirds of the old buildings on the rock grounds having been de- 
molished, and water from the West Orange mains runs to the 
summit of the rock. Fountains are being built and others are 
planned. Roads have been cut through the woods so that 
people can now drive from Eagle Rock to Montclair, in the 
shade nearly all the way. The tract has been underbrushed and 
cleared away from the Eagle Rock grounds for a long distance 
on all sides. While no permanent work is being done, the 
$4 000 or $5,000 to be spent this summer, will make Eagle Rock 
Park presentable. Flower beds are already laid out at different 
points. The view from the summit of the rock is one of the 
most remarkable known. 
* * * 
The last legislature of Wisconsin passed a law creating 
a forestry commission, to look into the matter of the care and 
preservation of the forests of the state. The commission has or- 
ganized and its plans will consider the improvement and protec- 
tion of the forests of the state; the prevention of all wanton and 
needless destruction of forests; the enforcement of laws for pre- 
servation of forests and against fire-setting; the adoption of such 
methods of cutting as will increase and prolong the yield of tim- 
ber; the encouragement of planting and seeding of valuable trees 
on the waste land belonging to the state; the encouragement of 
such methods of forestry management as will tend to conserve 
and increase the water supply and to protect the wild animals of 
the state. Forest reserves will be established and the effort be 
made to repair the ravages of commerce in the timbered lands of 
the state. It is estimated that some 400,000 acres of forest are 
annually denuded for timber besides a very large acreage de- 
stroyed for other causes. 
* * * 
The annual report of the Board of Park Commissioners of 
St. Paul, Minn. , gives some interesting facts. From 1891-92 
when the acreage was 50, to 1897, the area has increased to 381 
acres under cultivation, and when present intentions are realized 
it will amount to 1144 acres. The average expenditure for six 
years has been $49,402.51 and the average expense of mainten- 
ance $16,708.54. During the period 1891-94, with an average 
acreage of 236 the maintenance expense per acre was $148.66; 
and for the years 1894-97 with an average area of 463 the main- 
tenance expense per acre was $143.96. The report of the super- 
intendent includes a very interesting summary of the number 
and description of the various trees and shrubs undes his care, 
and their value, together with the parks in which they are planted. 
This is an addition to park reports which increases their statisti- 
cal value in a feature which is practically paramount. The nur- 
sery and its contents are also tabulated. The total receipts for the 
past financial year were $78,544. 16 which includes the balance 
from former year of $32,117.36. 
