PARK AND C 
AND LANDSCAPE 
E M E T E R Y 
GARDENING 
VOL. XXIII 
APRIL, 1913 
No. 2 
Quack Tree Surgery 
When a scientific or technical discovery is made that attains to 
a wide degree of popularity in the daily press and the general 
magazines, it always attracts a following of a certain number of 
quacks,' who take advantage of a little knowledge to practice on 
the uninformed public for their own financial gain. So it has 
been to a certain degree with the practice of tree surgery. A 
great deal of successful work has been done for the treatment of 
wounded or invalid trees, but there has also been a considerable 
amount of butchery of trees under the guise of tree surgery, and 
we have had in these pages recently several warnings from expert 
tree men in regard to quack methods in tree surgery. We print 
another one this month in the Department devoted to the Park 
Association. A number of expert tree men have expressed doubt 
Book Agent Methods in 
One of the genial and persuasive gentlemen who is engaged in 
booking advanced reservations for berths in one of those pros- 
pective mortuary skyscrapers got the wrong name on his follow- 
up list recently. The result was that one of the leading granite 
manufacturers of New England, whose office is in New York 
City, received a letter written on beautiful brown stationery, 
bearing a picture of a ten-story mausoleum with verandas around 
each story and reading as follows : 
“We will erect in this vicinity a community mausoleum, and 
your name is one of a selected list of prominent business men 
of New York to whom we desire to submit our proposition for 
endorsement and at the same time extend to yon an unusual 
opportunity to become interested in this progressive development. 
As provided for in our plan, you will receive gratuitously one 
of the fifty Honorary Vaults of eight crypts upon completion of 
the sale and erection of the mausoleum, the vault being similar 
in every detail to a private vault costing $6,000, but sold in this 
mausoleum at $2,250. Kindly state when we may call and consult 
you regarding this matter.” 
The granite manufacturer passed this communication on to us 
and says : “I enclose my contribution to the Community Mau- 
solem literature and pass my right to a free $6,000 Honorary 
as to the invariable success in the practice of filling trees with 
cement. As has been pointed out, the cavity must first be thor- 
oughly disinfected and treated before the cement is put in, and 
even then, as Mr. Koehler points out on another page, the opera- 
tion may not be successful. The growing of the bark over the 
cement does not always insure successful growth in the interior 
of the tree. He points out that the interior might still be decayed, 
even though the bark was growing over the cement. The point 
is well taken that extreme care should be exercised in treating 
trees and in selecting men who are scientifically and practically 
qualified to do the work. Tree surgery is a science that is still 
in its infancy, and careful study and diagnosis are as necessary as 
in the case of human surgery. 
the Mausoleum Business 
Vault to you, hoping you may use it to good purpose. I have 
not had the pleasure of a call from the gentleman who signed 
the letter.” This is doubtless a fair example of the book agent 
methods by which community mausoleums are promoted, and 
doubtless explains to a certain extent how so many prominent 
citizens and leading undertakers have been led to allow the use 
of their names in promoting these structures in their home towns. 
Doubtless someone who reads these lines has at some time been 
approached by a carefully worded letter from a publishing con- 
cern who was issuing one of those wonderful many-volumed sets 
of literature with a proposition to donate him a certain number 
of these volumes for advertising purposes if he would contribute 
a testimonial to the work. The letter is always followed up by 
an interview with a highly polished and persuasive salesman who 
explains at greath length the marvelous contents of the said books. 
After convincing the prospect that he cannot live without the lit- 
erature, he incidentally reveals the fact that in order to get the 
free volumes offered he must purchase a certain number of others 
which would probably cover the entire price of the work. Such 
letters are common in selling mining stock and books and have 
been adapted very nicely to the needs of the community mau- 
soleum business. 
Editorial Notes 
To make it easier to establish public parks and play grounds 
for children Representative Fraley of Des Moines has intro- 
duced in the legislature a bill providing that for the purpose 
of park making, a city may be divided into several park 
districts, and that each district may vote a tax for that dis- 
trict for the purpose of establishing therein a park or play 
ground. Under the present law if a park is established it is 
at the cost to the entire city and often three-fourths of a 
city object to the expense because the park is to be located 
in the other fourth of the city. Hence no park is established 
whereas under his plan Mr. Fraley believes each section of 
the city might be willing to establish a park of its own, even if 
other sections did not. 
The active opposition of residents of Long Island, in the vicin- 
ity of Great Neck, toward the proposed establishment of an 
immense mausoleum and cemetery, known as the Repose Mauso- 
leum, has led to the passage by the Legislature of that State 
of a bill drafted to prohibit the establishment of additional ceme- 
teries in Nassau County. Another evidence of the fact that the 
cemetery situation in Greater New York is becoming acute is a 
bill before the State Legislature providing that cemeteries shall be 
liable for assessments for street openings and improvements. 
This, it is claimed, is a measure for the relief of Queens Bor- 
ough, where highways necessary to traffic are blocked, it is said, 
by cemeteries. Those favoring the bill claim that some two years 
ago an amendment of the cemeteries law was passed making it 
impossible to run any street through these cemeteries without the 
consent of three-fourths of the lot owners. It is also claimed by 
advocates of this bill that most of the cemeteries affected are 
profit-making corporations and are not entitled to the protection 
of the rural cemeteries law. It is reported that a strong fight is 
being made against the law. 
