PARK AND CEMETERY, 
279 
| PARK NOTES. •& | 
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A meeting of the citizens of Lowell, Mich. , was recently 
held for the purpose of forming a Village Improvement Society. 
There is evidently an awakening over the country in the interest 
of out door improvement. 
* * * 
Mr. John D. Rockefeller has again placed Cleveland, O. , 
under obligations of gratitude to him for a further gift of land 
valued at $50,000, to extend her park system. The property is 
situated near the junction of Euclid avenue and Fairmount street. 
* * * 
Senator Hansbrough, at the instance of the Secretary of the 
Interior on February 10th. introduced a bill to Congress for the 
enlargement of Yellowstone National Park so as to increase the 
area from 3,312 square miles to 6,566 square miles. 
* * * 
The massive ornamental iron gates, which were never closed, 
and the posts supporting them which were capped by tall lan- 
terns, standing for years at one of the entrances to Boston Com- 
mon, and which the subway excavations undermined, are to be 
re-erected at the entrance to the site of the Confederate military 
prison at Andersonville, Ga. 
* * * 
It is intended to push the matter of the proposed National 
Park at Vicksburg, Miss., in Congress. Twelve states have en- 
dorsed the project. The bill provides for the purchase of 1,200 
acres of land at a cost not to exceed $50,000, and the amount 
asked from Congress is $75,000, which will be the amount re- 
quired for the next two years. The total cost is put at $250,000. 
* * * 
There is evidently much activity in the Village Improve- 
ment Society of Falls Church, D. C. The talent possessed among 
its members for entertaining possibilities is naturally, from the 
locality, broad, and with Washington from which to draw for 
lecturing purposes, tends to keep up unflagging interest in the 
work of the society. While all villages or suburbs are not so ad. 
vantageocsly placed, opportunities for exciting public interest in 
such good work are never wanting, and by the exercise of a little 
serious thought in planning and zeal in carrying out suggestions, 
almost anything looking to the geneial good can be accomplished. 
Now is the time to consider what work shall be done. 
* * * 
It is gratifying to note the growing appreciation of the land- 
scape idea in its true sense in relation to the improvement of our 
streets and boulevards. In the proposed work of further im- 
provement of the West Side Park system of Chicago for the com- 
ing season, attention is to be given to the connecting boulevards, 
in which some of the lawn spaces and obtrusive blanks are 
to be given landscape treatment. Several hundred trees will be 
planted immediately where needed. It has been decided by the 
South Park commissioners to keep the conservatory in Washing- 
ton park open till 10 o’clock every night for a week in each 
month. In the course of improvements in the South Park sys- 
tem this spring it is the intention to plant some 213,691 trees 
and shrubs. 
* * * 
Floriculture both at the White House and public propaga- 
ting grounds, Washington, appears to have no limitations, if we 
may judge from the floral decorations at the Presidential resi- 
dence on the occasion of the banquet given in honor of President 
Dole of Hawaii, recently. The east room which was decorated 
from the propagating grounds consumed 2,000 carnations, 5,000 
sprigs of azaleas, 2,400 spikes of Roman hyacinths, 200 spikes of 
Dutch hyacinths. 2,100 violets, 400 roses, 400 tulips, 400 nun 
flowers, 500 ferns, more than a mile of garlands of srnilax, 100 
large palms and 1,000 blooming plants in pots. The dinner 
table which was furnished from the White House conservatory 
required 1,005 orchids, 600 lilies of the valley, 100 spikesof Dutch 
hyacinths, roo pots of Chinese primroses, 300 pots of maidenhair 
ferns, 25 of farleyense and 175 strings of srnilax. 
* * * 
A special report is being prepared in the Land Commission- 
ers office at Washington, which recommends that a forest reserve 
be established on the site of the petrified forest of Arizona. Re- 
cent information is to the effect that it is being rapidiy used up 
for commercial purposes. The forest, which is one of the won- 
ders of the world, is located near Holbrook, in Apache County. 
The largest and finest specimens of silicified wood knowm are 
taken from it. Whole trunks of trees and stumps with portions 
of the roots are found there, converted into stone as dense and 
hard as the finest agate. A forest of trees appears to have been 
entombed in the rocks and to have been preserved by a slow pro- 
cess of replacement by silica from solutions permeating the bed. 
Subsequently the surrounding sediments were washed away, but 
the enduring fossils of the trees remained. Sections of these 
trees four feet in diameter, and large enough for the tops of 
tables, have been cut and polished. No other country in the 
world, it is claimed, can send to tbe lapidary such magnificent 
raw material of this nature as the petrified forests of Arizona af- 
ford. Not even the imperial works at Ekaterinburg, in Russia, 
with their wealth of kalkansto jasper, massive malachite, and 
other superb ornamental stones, can rival the beauty of the aga- 
tized wood of Atizona. By all means the government should ex- 
ercise its authority to prevent the total despoliation of this nat- 
ural wonder. 
* * * 
The general plans for the Zoological gardens in Bronx Park, 
New York, have been approved, and no expense was spared to 
present the most perfect plans possible to meet the object de- 
sired, many noted men’s advice having been sought. The key- 
note of the plan of development, says the New York Tribune, 
has been the utilization of the natural features of the ground, 
such as shelter, shade, sunlight, water, hills, valleys and rocks, 
to the actual wants of the living creatures that must be furnished 
with homes. The development proposed is a work of adaptation, 
not creation. With the exception of the central glade, occupied 
by six important buildings, the animal area of the Zoological 
Park has been laid out with strict reference to the wants of the 
animals and the finest possibilities with respect to their care and 
public exhibition. Following this, the next highest aim has been 
to make all of the animal collections, and also all other portions 
of the park, easily and comfortably accessible to the public by 
means of numerous entrances and broad, well-shaded walks. 
There are five entrances, and the walks vary in width from eight 
to twenty feet, according to location. At the same time the 
landscape development of the park has received careful and 
thorough consideration. For a considerable period the society 
has had the benefit of the professional services of Charles N. 
Lowrie, landscape architect, of New York, and the results of his 
studies and plans, in co-operation with the work of the director 
and the architects, have been of great value to the final plan. 
With its 261 acres of beautifully situated land in Bronx Park, 
the Zoological Garden will be the monster “zoo” of the world, 
and the large animals will have the advantage of natural sur- 
roundings while they are in captivity. The houses for wild 
beasts like lions will be built on such a large scale that there will 
be no excuse for restless tramping behind the bars and snarling. 
The monkeys will have real trees to climb, and the room in the 
bird houses will allow the birds to fly about freely. 
