232 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
On Thursday, August 27, the day began 
with an informal reception in the lobby of 
the Hotel Astor. At 10 o’clock a meeting 
was held in the ballroom of the hotel. 
The visitors were welcomed to the city 
by Mr. Bruere, city chamberlain, represent- 
ing the Mayor. He said that it spoke well 
for the members that they were able to 
assemble at so early an hour after a night 
in New York City. He wanted the visitors 
to go about with a critical eye and point 
out the defects rather than the excellencies 
of the parks of the city, and wished they 
could visit some of the many localities that 
need parks. 
“Central Park is a wonderful park, not 
because of its beauty, but because it is so 
extensively used. New York City, like 
most other big cities, is confronted with 
PRESENT 
The present day rush for improvement, 
advancement, efficiency, at any rate for 
change, under a banner blazing with the 
word “Progress,” has disturbed the com- 
placency of a score or so of years ago with 
which the park official, along with the rest of 
mankind, looked calmly out over the area 
of his activities with confidence in his 
knowledge of requirements and in the pos- 
session of ability to meet them. A quarter 
of a century passes, and today, in the dark- 
ness of his vision, he flounders about in the 
bogs of uncertainty, asking for light and 
firm ground on which to devise methods 
to meet heretofore unthought of demands. 
It would be like carrying coals to New- 
castle to even enumerate, much more so to 
describe to the assembly, the astonishing 
changes that have been brought about in 
park service. You are all well acquainted 
with them and have, no doubt, like myself, 
been greatly puzzled as to how to meet the 
requirements efficiently and economically. 
Our efforts in many directions are still in 
the experimental stage. The great awaken- 
ing of the people to the value of properly 
constructed and operated playgrounds and 
the ever-increasing use of that erratic in- 
strument of efficiency, the automobile, have 
presented for consideration many questions 
not only in the fields of recreation, in- 
struction, hygiene and policing, but also in 
construction and maintenance. I shall at 
this time only briefly mention two other of 
the problems which make for our unhappi- 
ness and which we are trying to solve, leav- 
ing for future discussion the presentation 
of more detailed information. 
One of the most important of these prob- 
lems, it seems to me, is the finding of a 
suitable material for the surfacing of chil- 
dren’s playgrounds. While the ideal sur- 
face may be a carpet of grass, it is impos- 
sible to maintain such a surface in a busy 
playground for any length of time, and 
the necessity of more facilities for recrea- 
tion. In fact, a park superintendent of to- 
day must of necessity be a recreation ex- 
pert.” He hoped that, unlike many visit- 
ors, they would carry away impressions 
other than obtained from Broadway, Wall 
Street and Coney Island. 
The Hon. Cabot Ward, president of the 
Park Board, added to the welcome of the 
city chamberlain. He said: “We want 
ideas from everywhere.” Their problem 
was that of a small park area in a tre- 
mendously congested population. Now, to 
preserve the beauty and at the same time 
give the visitors the full benefit of the 
parks, all parks need the co-operation of 
those who use them, and that is one of 
the chief aims of the officials of the city. 
The response of President Richards was 
DAY PARK 
hi address before the New York Convention 
f Park Superintendents, by II. S. Richards. 
then it is not available at all seasons of the 
year, nor can it be used for some time 
after a rain. From a practical standpoint 
the ideal playground surface should be one 
that will be neither too hard nor too soft, 
muddy or dusty, and that can be kept in a 
sanitary condition by a daily flushing with 
a hose. 
Among the materials tested in the city of 
Chicago may be enumerated the following: 
Sifted cinders, crushed limestone, a light 
coating of torpedo sand over a heavy black 
loam, cork asphalt and granulated slag. 
Several of these materials possessed some 
of the qualities desired, but also had dis- 
advantages which rendered their use unde- 
sirable for the surfacing of public play- 
grounds. Cinders were found to be too 
harsh and gritty as well as too dusty for 
this purpose, while the limestone soon be- 
came loose, sharp stones appearing on the 
surface. 
For several years the playgrounds of Chi- 
cago’s South Park system have been sur- 
faced with a coating of about one-eighth 
of an inch .of torpedo sand spread over 
heavy black loam. This kind of surfacing, 
however, has not been entirely satisfactory. 
The torpedo sand was soon ground into 
the loam beneath, destroying the binding 
qualities of the latter, and if not kept moist 
continually, a covering of loose material an 
inch or so in depth, from which arose con- 
siderable dust, was soon spread over the 
playground. When the dust is laid through 
the use of water the condition of a play- 
ground surfaced in this way is not a sani- 
tary one. If a light oil is used for the 
purpose the dust is laid very effectually, 
but the material on the surface still remains 
loose; the only practical method of over- 
coming this objectionable feature that has 
so far been found is to resurface the play- 
ground. 
A material now being tested as a sur- 
brief, but to the point, and was heartily ap- 
plauded. 
The visitors then started on a fifty-mile 
run through the park systems of Manhat- 
tan, the Bronx and Brooklyn. The places 
visited included Central Park, Riverside 
Drive, Van Cortlandt Park, New York Bo- 
tanical Garden and the New York Zoolog- 
ical Park. At the “Zoo” the visitors en- 
joyed a lecture, illustrated by real life, on 
wild animals, their habits and peculiar char- 
acteristics, by Vice-President Merkel. An 
excellent full course chicken dinner was 
served in the restaurant. Then a 25-mile 
trip through Eastern Manhattan to Pros- 
pect Park, Brooklyn, via the Ocean Park- 
way to Coney Island, where one of the 
most enjoyable conventions of. the associa- 
tion terminated without ceremony. 
PROBLEMS 
facing by the South Park Commissioners 
is granulated blast furnace slag, which has 
been placed under the most used apparatus 
(swings, giant stride and merry-go-round) 
in a new and popular playground. This 
material is brittle to the pressure of the 
foot and not gritty like cinders, a fact at- 
tested by the presence of barefooted chil- 
dren in the grounds and using the ap- 
paratus where the slag is being tried out 
without any apparent discomfort. It ap- 
pears to pack well, but not too firmly under 
use, and does not seem to become scuffed 
up very readily. As the structure of slag 
is porous, it will absorb considerable mois- 
ture, which fact makes it possible to wet 
the surfacing thoroughly in the morning be- 
fore opening and offer a surface neither 
muddy nor dusty. A disadvantage, how- 
ever, is that this material cannot be flushed 
with a hose. The test has not been in 
progress long enough to enable me to form 
an opinion as to the exact value of slag as 
a permanent playground surfacing ma- 
terial. 
After considerable experimenting, I be- 
lieve that the nearest approach to the ideal 
practical playground surface that has so far 
come to my notice is obtained by the use 
of a mixture of ground cork and asphalt 
applied either in sheet or in brick form. 
This material fills all the requirements men- 
tioned for such a surfacing. The South 
Park Commissioners have two tennis courts 
paved with sheet cork asphalt which have 
been in use for several years and have 
given great satisfaction ; they can be used 
the year around. In one of their children’s 
playgrounds the area under the giant stride 
has been paved this year in an experimental 
way with cork asphalt in brick form. The 
whole subject of playground surfacing is 
necessarily a new one and merits the at- 
tention of skilled investigators in the effort 
to find one or more materials that will fill 
