PARK AND CEMETERY. 
i53 
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR LEAVES? 
This is a question often asked as the fall season 
annually returns, and in both the park and ceme- 
tery work it is an important one. The decaying 
leaves under natural conditions fulfill a very impor- 
tant office in nature’s laboratory, but in the more 
artificial methods of man to compass nature’s handi- 
work, the fallen leaves become more or less a prob- 
lem that has to be solved. In the following will be 
found some suggestions from actual experience in 
the question: 
If time and opportunity are favorable we com- 
post leaves by themselves, usually in pits. My ex- 
perience is that leaves raked from sections in dry 
condition are bulky to handle and if mixed with dry 
loam will not rot. If, however, they are raked up 
when wet with dew, rain or snow, and are firmly 
tramped into pits they will rot in very short time. 
Oak and Beech leaves do not rot as readily as other 
leaves. If pressed for time we sometimes burn them 
to get rid of them but prefer to compost them. 
Bellett Lawson. 
* * * 
We mix them in with a proper quantity of ma- 
nure and good sandy-loam and thus prepare the 
best compost for top-dressing lawns. In preparing 
this material, a pit or a low piece of ground should 
be selected that will cause rapid decay of the leaves 
and it must be frequently turned over. 
B. D. y ttds on. 
* * * 
The leaves are beginning to turn and will be 
falling. Do not rake them up and burn them 
but save every one, as there is nothing of greater 
value for a winter covering or, when rotted, as an 
ingredient for the compost heap. The fall rains 
are preserved by the covering of matted leaves, 
which prevents evaporation and preserves the heat 
in the soil. Long after the tops have experienced 
severe cold, valuable root action takes place when 
nature has been allowed to have her own way, and 
the protecting 1 eaves and grass have not been cleared 
away. Nature is seldom unsuccessful in her plant- 
ings and we cannot do better than to follow her 
tactics in furnishing protection to the vegetation 
which remains out of doors all winter. — C. B. W., 
in The American Florist. 
Government Assistance in Forestry. 
That our government is finally awaking to the 
immense importance of giving some practical atten- 
tion to the preservation and improvement of our 
forest lands is indicated by the following dispatch 
of The Associated Press , dated Oct. 16, which says: 
“Practical Assistance to Farmers, Lumbermen 
and Others in Handling Forest Lands” is the title of 
circular No. 21, Division of Forestry, by Gifford Pin- 
chot, forester, soon to be issued by the United States 
department of agriculture. This circular states that 
the forest lands are owned by the government of 
the United States, by some of the states and by 
private owners. The private forest lands exceed in 
area those of the federal government and those of 
the states combined, and their preservation is of 
vast importance to the nation. These lands are 
held for profit, but as a rule the treatment they re- 
ceive is calculated to destroy their value rather than 
to sustain or increase it. 
Therefore the Division of Forestry has under- 
taken to provide a series of practical examples of 
improved treatment of private forestlands, in which 
the interest of the owner and the protection and 
improvement of the forest shall have equal weight. 
The Division, as far as its appropriation will permit, 
will aid the owners of both large and small holdings, 
on receipt of applications stating the situation, 
area and character of the forests for which working 
plans are desired. The plan proposed is for the 
purpose of promoting and increasing the present 
value and usefulness to the owner and to perpetuate 
and improve the forests. 
GARDEN PLANTS— THEIR GEOGRAPHY, XXXIV. 
ASTERALES. 
THE VALERIANA, ASTER AND MUTISIA ALLIANCE. 
( Concluded . ) 
Tussilago Farfara, “Coltsfoot,” is a monotypic 
herb found in the temperate parts of Europe and 
CINERARIA CRUENTA. 
Asia, and adventive in Canada and the Lake regions 
of the United States. It is not much employed in 
