1 18 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
of good taste the superintendent should show a readi- 
ness to learn and profit by any advice that may be 
given. 
But, although the ideal park superintendent will 
have an intimate knowledge of the design of the park 
and be brought in close relations with the park commis- 
sioners and with his fellow-workers, his greatest influ- 
ence will come from his relation to the public. The pai k 
exists for the residents of a city and their guests. It is 
a place where people go to get fresh air, to see an ex- 
panse of sky and clouds and lawn and meadow, to see 
foliage and flowers, to get sweet perfume and to hear 
the music of birds. It may be conducted in such a 
manner as to exert an elevating influence on all who go 
to see it, to teach them to respect others rights, to show 
them what is in good taste and to give them the purest 
kind of enjoyment. In the domain of landscape art it 
should take a leading position, keeping up with the best 
thought of the times. Its treatment should be simple 
and natural, and not accompanied with grotesque feat- 
ures which deprave people’s taste. The man in charge 
of a public park has an opportunity to exert an influ- 
ence which should place him on a level with the leading 
ministers, doctors and other professional men of the 
present times. O. C. Simonds. 
MICHIGAN’S EARLY WILD FLOWERS, II. 
Cat.tha palustris, Golden-cup, Marsh Marigold, 
Very wrongly called Cowslip, the cowslip being a prim- 
rose. We Americans don’t appreciate this flower as much 
as we should. No other plant in this class can surpass 
it in conspicuous brilliancy. No one can see the large 
areas in our wet forests clothed with a dense mass of bril- 
liant yellow flowers, somewhat relieved by round, rich 
green leaves without great admiration Flowers in large 
clusters, each i to inches wide, often double in its 
native swamps, hence promising a rich reward to some 
florist who might seek to improve it. It is a large 
plant i'/I f eet h'gh> often 2 or 3 feet, with large 
foliage and it has a very large fibrous root. Grows in 
rich soils very wet in autumn, spring and winter, be- 
coming very dry in summer, after the plant entirely dies 
above ground. 
Cardamine purpurea, Purple Bitter Cress. Pur- 
ple Cardamine. Bears resemblance to a rose-col- 
ored or purplish candy-tuft (Iberis species), one of 
our earliest and prettiest wild flowers, fine for cut 
flowers, parks or flower gardens. April. Entirely dies 
down in May. Plant hairy, 6 to 18 inches high. 
Cardamine rhOmboidea, Spring cress. Botanists 
have confounded the preceding with this, but they are 
very distinct. This species is much larger, very smooth, 
with flowers almost pure white, one month later than C. 
purpurea. Does not grow in moist woods as does the 
preceding, but is found usually along the sunny borders 
of streams. Pretty but less so than the preceding. 
Cardamine pratensis. Cuckoo-flower. The hand- 
somest of the genus. Very smooth, 10 to 16 inches high, 
with pinnate leaves and racemes of pure white flowers 
early in May. Crows in moister swamps than the oth- 
ers, in deep shades, or in moss upon ponds, The Eng- 
lish have a handsome double variety. This would be a 
good bog plant. 
Claytonia Virginica, Spring Beauty. Our most 
abundant early tuberous flower, many stems arising 
from a tuber, each bearing a pair of leaves and a raceme 
of pink, purple veined flowers early in April. 6 to 8 
inches high. Decays very early. One of the few wild 
flowers which sheep actually benefit. In our forests this 
plant in early spring furnishes the carpet into which are 
woven many patterns composed of other early wild 
flowers. 
Dentaria diphylla, Two-leaved Pepper-root. An- 
other handsome early candy-tuft like flower, one foot or 
so high rising from a long thickish rhizome. Leaves 
very handsome, dark purple, bronze or dark green, com 
posed of 3 large very smooth leaflets. Flowers pure 
white, late in April or early May. Fine for cut flowers. 
Good for forcing, parks, etc. 
Dentaria laciniata, Cut-leaved Pepper-root. 1 foot. 
Leaves light green, finely divided, flowers fragrant in 
clusters, white, purplish outside. Root, clusters of long 
yellow tubers. April and May. Very pretty. Decays 
early. 
Erigenia bulbcua, Pepper-and-salt. Very dainty 
flower of early spring, 3 to 6 inches high, with finely 
divided leaves, and clusters small white flowers with pur- 
ple stamens. Interesting and pretty but would not re- 
commend the planting of it in very large quantities. 
Shady low woods, particularly river valleys in alluvial 
soil. 
Erythronium albidum, White Erythronium. This 
genus contains very pretty early spring flowering bulbs, 
natives of both hemispheres. This plant is the rarest 
and prettiest of our Michigan species. Grows 8 to 10 
inches high from a bulb deep in the ground, bearing a 
pair of pale-green spotted lanceolate leaves and single 
pure white or rose tinted lily-shaped flower at its sum- 
mit in early May. Both foliage and flowers very hand- 
some. 
Erythronium Americanum, Yellow Erythronium. 
Leaves darker green with brown spots, and a rather 
large nodding brilliant yellow flower, the sepals and 
petals much revolute in the bright sunshine, like a mini- 
ature superb lily in form, closing at night and but little 
open in cloudy or wet weather. Very handsome in- 
deed. Both species densely clothe the ground with 
pretty foliage where they grow, and both are ornamen- 
tal, adapted for cut flowers, forcing, parks, bulb-gardens, 
etc. For several years at least they have the habit of 
forming a new bulb each year, each succeeding bulb 
being 1 to 3 inches deeper in the ground, the flowering 
bulbs being 5 to 8 inches deep in the ground usually 
among the roots and very difficult to dig. Those who 
wish to plant them in large quantities would gain much 
by getting smaller bulbs, say 1 to 3 years old and plant 
them. They flower when 3 years old. Flowers in May 
and decays before June 10th. 
Hypoxis erecta, Star-grass. Very pretty, leaves 
grass like, flowers in clusters, rich yellow almost or 
quite % of an inch wide, in late May and early June. 
Is found in marshy swamps and dry sandy highlands, 
