PARK AND CEMETERY, 
93 
have not learned that children, whether of men or trees, 
do as much as their parents to make the world attract- 
ive and fit to live in. The young growth of vegetation 
is not only beautiful with its large leaves and vigorous 
shoots but it is a protection to the older trees by check- 
ing the drying winds and holding the natural mulching 
of leaves. A farmer in a district of Michigan where 
there is plenty of land, had near the roadside perhaps 
an acre that was low and wet. It supported a rank, 
beautiful growth. For a background there were many 
young, white pine trees about twenty feet high, covered 
to the ground with dark, bluish green needles. A few 
native larches interspersed here and there lightened up 
the autumn picture with their old gold leaves. Flanking 
the group on either side, were most perfect specimens 
of red maples while in front along the fence and almost 
hiding it were masses of Carolina roses with their shin- 
ing fed fruits and, brighter still, groups of winterberry 
bushes with their holly like berries. These were mostly 
scarlet, so intense as to attract ones attention from the 
brow of the hill on either side but there were also a few 
of the orange colored variety. You can imagine my 
disappointment when on looking for this place one 
spring, I found that all the trees and bushes had been 
cut down. Later in the season a fire destroyed every 
vestige of green that was left, and the area has remained 
a barren, blacke; ed waste ever since. If the farmer who 
owned this bit of roadside beauty and who could see it 
nearly every day, had derived half as much pleasure 
from it during the year as I did during the half dozen 
times I passed by it, he would have taken his winter ex- 
ercise in some other way. Often a desire for physical 
exercise during the long months of winter, is the only 
excuse I can think of for the mischief that is done, since, 
as in the case just given no use is afterward made of the 
denuded land. Near a large eastern city, lived a well- 
to-do citizen, who had along the front of his land a belt 
of natural growth, including sumachs, witch hazel, red 
buds, dog woods, viburnums, wild grapes, and roses, 
virgin’s bower, golden rod and asters. A landscape gar- 
dener who lived still farther from the business centre 
told me that it gave him the greatest pleasure to see this 
graceful, irregular, natural, growth, and that he felt it a 
personal loss when he found one day that the owner had 
just had it all cut down. Strange as it may seem this 
owner applied to the landscape gardener for advice as 
to what shrubbery he should plant along the roadside. 
He was told by the latter that it would take at least ten 
years to produce an effect as good as that which had 
just been destroyed. A man in the suburb of another 
city built a house costing seven thousand dollars, and 
then decided he would spend twenty- five dollars on his 
grounds. A man will often spend several hundred dol- 
lars for a painting, and then be quite indifferent to the 
views from his windows. 
Such cases and many more that might be given show 
a failure on the part of many to appreciate natural 
beauty; a failure to get that keen enjoyment that comes 
from seeing clearly and truly the things that an artist 
would like to paint. The ability to see in this way is 
not wholly born with one. The blindness, if I may 
call it such, is due as much to lack of proper surround- 
ings and suitable training as to heredity. This is shown 
by the fact that many learn after reaching maturity to 
see new beauties in things with which they had been 
surrounded all their lives but had never truly seen. They 
gradually learn to admire a landscape even in winter, 
when they had supposed all outdoors was dreary. We 
need more men like Mr. Strauch who used to go about 
with his mirror to show the exquisite landscapes he had 
helped to create; more men like Mr. Stiles whose death 
during the past year seems like a personal loss to many 
of us since he was one of the best of teachers; more 
men like Mr. Olmsted to help add to our enjoyment by 
making us sensitive to landscape; more men like Mr. 
Cleveland to tell us how to make our parks and cities; 
and we, also, need more women like Mrs. Van Rensslaer, 
Mrs. Robbins and Mrs. Seavey to help with their criti- 
cisms and suggestions. 
Prof. McBride told us that a beautiful country made 
people patriotic. A man, he said, would love his coun- 
try if it was attractive and he gave examples to prove 
his statement. I believe that to love trees and shrubs, 
and open fields, birds and flowers, rivers, lakes and skies 
makes a man unselfish. He wishes others to enjoy that 
which he values so highly. It makes him have at heart 
the true welfare of his country, the happiness and con- 
tentment of its citizens. He looks forward perhaps for 
generations to when some of the trees he has planted 
will reach maturity. He wishes the land to remain fer- 
tile and the climate suitable for the welfare of his friends 
— the trees, shrubs and flowers. He does not like to see 
the forests disappear, the rivers dry up, and the vegeta- 
tion suffer from drouth. 
If people could see and appreciate the beautiful 
things about them the world would grow better looking 
because they would seek to have these things around 
their homes, to make them a part of their homes in fact. 
They would try to secure the broad lawns or meadows, 
the water views, the distant skies and these landscapes 
which they might not have room for at their city homes 
by establishing generous parks. They would gradually 
obliterate the scars which the railways have made with 
their cuts and fills by covering the bare spaces with ver- 
dure. They would reduce the amount of smoke that 
pollutes the air. They would make our roadsides one 
continual source of delight. Farmers would learn that 
bits of woodland are not the least profitable part of their 
farms. The hideous signs that now mar or obstruct 
many a charming vista would disappear. People even 
in the United States would in time learn to take as much 
pride in the appearance of their country as the English- 
man takes in his. 
While we are often grieved by the destruction of 
trees, shrubs and scenes that have gladdened our hearts, 
there is ground for encouragement in the fact that every 
year more parks are established and every year more 
people seek the country to get its scenery, its pure air, 
its strength, and its vitality. Much good is being done 
by the camera, the quantities of well illustrated books 
and newspapers, and especially by the study of art to 
which increasing numbers every year devote themselves. 
Let us hope that our association may aid in this move- 
ment for better things, that it may lead our people in 
their efforts to secure more beautiful homes and sur- 
roundings, that it may open our eyes until, by and by, 
we shall have a Heaven on earth, and that men will 
learn not to wait until they are ready to die before they 
begin to really live. 
The Sanitation Committee of the Board of Trade of 
Jacksonville, Fla.. contendsthat thehyacinths in the river 
absorb the foul gases that escape from the sewers. From 
all accounts the plant absorbs more than gas. 
