PARK AND CEMETERY, 
219 
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PARK NOTES. 
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A village improvement society his been formed in Kingman, 
Me., having for its object the improvement of sidewalks and 
planting of shade trees. The society is warmly endorsed by the 
local press. This is as it should be. 
* * * 
The London, England, parks committee and technical edu- 
cation board have been instructed by the county council to re- 
port upon the practicability of laying out plats of ground in cer- 
tain parks in such manner as will afford assistance to school 
pupils in the study of practical botany. 
* * * 
The 1776 stone house at Tappan, New York, was blown 
down by the wind on the morning of Nov. 2nd. This is the 
house where Major John Andre was imprisoned, and from which 
he was taken to his execution Oct. and, 1780. It was owned by 
Dr. Stephens of Tappan, and has been visited by people from all 
over the world. 
* * * 
The average cost for maintenance of the public parks of 
Utica, N. Y., for the past 20 years is a little over ¥4,000 per 
annum. For a city of between 40 and 50 thousand inhabitants, 
this is a paltry sum and suggests an early extension of its park 
system. And yet certain of the local press is objecting to this 
cost as exorbitant. 
* * * 
Pennsylvania is rich in Arbor days, two being named to 
cover spring and autumn. October 22nd, was set apart by the 
governor for the autumn date. The press of the state is realizing 
the value of educational effort to promote a full observance of 
the occasion, and is devoting special attention to urging that the 
children in the schools and elsewhere shall be instructed to the 
end that an active and intelligent understanding of the subject 
may be developed, 
* * * 
At a meeting of the managers of the Zoological Society, 
New York City, held last month, at which the Executive 
Committee reported that the final plan for the Zoological Park 
and the preliminary plans for ten of the most important build- 
ings for animals were practically complete. It was decided, how- 
ever. that at least ¥60,000 more of the building fund of $250,000 
must be secured before the plans are submitted to the Board of 
Park Commissioners. 
* * * 
It is becoming quite general for the larger parks of the 
country to make displays of flowers in their greenhouses and 
conservatories at certain seasons, and it has been found to meet 
with popular approval, as witnessed by the large attendance on 
such occasions. Such exhibitions in connection with our park 
systems are quite in line with the work, and are not only educa- 
tional in a direct sense, but they lead to a better appreciation of 
park possibilities. 
* * * 
The Williamsport, Pa., Times quotes a writer in an Iowa 
paper who says the catalpa does not behave well as a grove tiee. 
The said writer’s experience in growing a grove which contains 
about 11,000 trees is that it is a good plan to plant soft maples 
for quick growth, interspering them freely with the ash, so that 
in time the ash can be made the permanent grove by gradually 
thinning out the maples. He has also tried the black locust min- 
gled with trees that afford a dense shade. I his makes one of the 
quickest groves that he knowns of. 
Some active park work is projected for greater New York in 
the next four years. The creation of four additional small parks 
and eleven public playgrounds in the thickly populated districts 
of the city have been recommended at an estimated cost of 
$4,000,000. Fifty-nine new schoolhouses have been planned or 
are in the course of erection within the present city limits, and 
the advisory committee recommends that each shall have a play- 
ground either on the street level or on the roof, and that the 
playground shall be open to children at all seasons of the year, 
and especially in vacation time. 
* * * 
Complications in park matters in Indianapolis, Ind., are 
still hampering the much delayed park system of that city. On 
Nov, 5 th the Supreme Court decided that the act under which 
the Indianapolis Board of Park Commissioners was created is 
unconstitutional and that the members of the board are not pub- 
lic officers. The board has existed two years, has received $374,- 
000 in city money for a park system, has spent $10,000 of this 
amount, and has planned to purchase 800 acres of land, all of 
which has been surveyed for parks. The city officials contend 
that as the city borrowed the money for park purposes on I300,- 
000 bonds, sold in New York, the decision does not invalidate 
the issue of bonds and that the money realized on them will now 
pass to the custody of the Board of Public Works, which can 
continue the park system. 
* * * 
The question of good roads is a burning one, and every item 
in connection with such work is interesting. In connection with 
the subject the New York state agricultural station has given the 
first order for a device for the amelioration of country roads, 
which the Secretary of Agriculture suspects of possessing practi- 
cal value. “It is described as a steel trackway in which wagon 
wheels may run — a trough or channel of steel eight inches wide, 
with a slightly raised bead on the inside to guide the wheels. It 
is proposed to lay these tracks on gravel, without wooden cross- 
ties, but with steel or iron ties near enough together to prevent 
spreading. The trackway weighs about 100 tons a mile, and, as 
supplied by the Cambria iron works of Johnstown, Pa., for the 
office of road inquiries of the Department of Agriculture, will 
cost $3,500 a mile, in small lots.” Harpers Weekly says: It is 
possible that in parts of the country where road material is very 
scare and mud deep in bad weather these trackways may prove 
to be worth what they cost. At any rate, the experiments with 
them will be interesting. 
* * * 
It is gratifying to note the rapidly growing sentiment in re- 
gard to the care of trees. The following from the Taunton, 
Mass., Gazette has the true ring: “The practice in vogue dur- 
ing the past ten years of ruthlessly hacking down any tree, no 
matter of how magnificent proportions, in order to make room 
for an unarchitectural building of some kind is being frowned 
upon owing to the increased appreciativeness of shade and scen- 
ery. It takes a tree a long while to grow. After it is full grown 
it is a valuable piece of property. It cools the earth in its vicin- 
ity, it aids in keeping the atmosphere pure, it attracts the birds 
and throws a faint suspicion of country joys about the bit of noisy 
city in which it is located. Leave a street which is bare of trees 
and come to one which has one or two stately elms upon it and 
note how sensible is the change. It speaks well for the general 
advance in culture among our people that this movement is be- 
ing made, and it should increase not only so far as it relates to 
preserving the trees already planted, but in urging the planting 
of more that they may grow and add their benefits to the next 
generation. It is well to remind our young people that shade 
trees should have greater respect paid to them. We do not be- 
gin to appreciate as we should the great value of our shade trees 
and this fact should be impressed more forcibly upon the children. ” 
