property on which it stands.” The trees 
that Mr. Loring recommends for planting 
in Minneapolis are the elm, hackberry, 
white maple, linden or basswood. He said 
he found that it not only pays to plant 
trees around a residence, but it is wise to 
plant them around factory buildings as 
well. He followed out this principal in 
beautifying the grounds around a factory 
which he owns at Rochester, N. Y., and 
the result has been so surprising that three 
magazines recently ran illustrated articles 
describing the factory and the grounds. 
New Parks. 
The Board of Park Commissioners of 
Tulsa, Okla., has voted to purchase a 25- 
acre tract for an additional park and to 
expend $18,000 in the improvement of 
Owens and Central parks, which will be 
among the most beautiful small parks in 
the state. 
The joint park committee of the city of 
Pine Bluff, Ark., voted unanimously to ac- 
cept the proposition of Dr. O. W. Clark 
and H. I. Holderness to give sixty acres 
in Eden Park addition, free of charge, to 
the city for a public park. 
Fairfield, la., has been presented with a 
new park, to be known as “Q” Park, to 
designate the handsome gift to the city by 
the Burlington railroad of the old Frank- 
lin school grounds, comprising nearly a 
city block. 
The State Department at Washington has 
notified the city of Fulton, N. J., that the 
city could have the west side of East First 
street, between the library and Rochester 
street, for a park and playground. 
Freeport, 111., has purchased for $29,000 
the property known as Krape Park, 82 
acres of land adjoining the southwest part 
of the city and which is one of the most 
beautiful natural parks in that part of the 
country. 
The village of Hibbing, under the direc- 
tion of the Park Board, will maintain mu- 
nicipal garden plots on an extensive scale 
this year. A territory of several acres has 
been fenced in by the Park Board and di- 
vided into garden plots which will be 
rented to any citizen of Hibbing at the 
nominal sum of $1 for the season. One 
condition only will attach to the lease of 
these garden plots — they must be worked. 
If they are not, the lease will be canceled 
and the plot taken away from the lessee. 
The first large contribution to the Spring- 
field, Mo., free park system was made 
when John C. Dysart, a local real estate 
man, presented the city with a twelve-acre 
tract. 
Plans for six additional municipal play- 
grounds, one of which will be for negro 
children, are being considered by the Park 
Board of Joplin, Mo. 
Colonel Tames S. Davis, of San Antonio, 
a former citizen of Waxahachie, Tex., has 
deeded to the latter town a block of land 
near the business district for a public play- 
ground. 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Announcement was recently made at San 
Angelo, Tex., that through E. P. Ripley, 
president of the Santa Fe system, San An- 
gelo will receive as a gift from the rail- 
road company a park system costing nearly 
$40,000. A committee of citizens has been 
quietly at work for months acquiring prop- 
erty for the Santa Fe. All of this is now 
to be deeded to the city of San Angelo to 
be used for park purposes. The main park 
is along the North Concho River, a rustic 
tract of land on the north side of the river, 
running nearly a mile along it. It contains 
about fifty acres. Besides this, a block of 
land has been secured near each of the 
three ward schools for playgrounds. 
From the Park Reports. 
The annual report of the Public Parks 
Board of Winnipeg, Canada, is a hand- 
somely illustrated book of 96 pages that 
tells of some important improvement work 
for the past year. The zoo and children’s 
playground in Assiniboine Park proved 
particularly popular. Fifty-one band con- 
certs were provided in the various parks. 
These were very popular with the general 
public, particularly the Sunday afternoon 
concerts in Assiniboine. The cost was ap- 
proximately $5,000. For the first time in 
the history of Brookside Cemetery, the re- 
ceipts show an excess over expenditures. 
The net receipts from all sources amounted 
to $9,432 and the expenditures to $8,700. 
The report of the Playgrounds Commit- 
tee and the Park Commissioners of' St. 
Paul is issued this year as a book of 56 
pages, without illustrations, giving a brief 
account of the year's business in every de- 
partment. No large improvements were 
undertaken on the old playgrounds during 
the summer season of 1912, with the ex- 
ception of the construction of the wading 
pool on the Arlington playground. This 
is the first pool in St. Paul, and one sea- 
son’s use has convinced the committee that 
it is a most desirable addition to the equip- 
ment of any playground. The grading of 
Sylvan playground was completed in the 
fall and the Playgrounds Committee re- 
ports that two new sites have been pur- 
chased within the past year in neighbor- 
hoods more central and more congested 
than any section of the city hitherto reached 
by the work. The Park Commissioners re- 
port that nearly one mile of the Phalen 
Park lake shore drive was graded. The 
material needed for this work had for the 
most part to be dredged out of the lake 
bottom and the driveway had to be built in 
and on the margin of the lake at some 
places through five feet of water, because it 
was impossible for the board to acquire 
sufficient land to build the driveway on 
higher ground. Another particularly im- 
portant improvement in the Lake Phalen 
district is the construction of a broad canal 
connecting Lake Gervais with Lake Phalen. 
The third annual report of the Commis- 
sioners of the Rockford Park District, 
Rockford, 111., conta'ins some interesting de- 
143 
tails and pictures of the first annual ‘‘City 
Beautiful Contest” conducted by the Rock- 
ford Chamber of Commerce and the Rock- 
ford Club co-operating with the Commis- 
sioners of Rockford Park District, who 
furnished the time and services of its su- 
perintendent, Mr. Paul Riis, without charge. 
The prizes were either paid by the Cham- 
ber of Commerce or secured from persons 
interested in the movement. The contest 
demonstrated very plainly what can be 
done to improve home surroundings with a 
little application and encouragement. En- 
tries to the number of three hundred and 
twenty-five contestants were received, most 
of whom finished their work. The Park 
Board has been very conservative during 
the past year. No new land has been 
bought and only necessary things have been 
considered in the activities of construction. 
In order to enjoy the new Black Hawk 
Park it was necessary to put in a road and 
with all the material so close at hand it 
was decided to construct this road of 
macadam or crushed stone. This road 
will be completed at a very low cost and 
still it is built in the most durable and sub- 
stantial manner. A comfort house in Sin- 
nissippi Park became a necessity, as large 
crowds assemble at this park every day. 
The Nature Study Club, composed of 
teachers and friends of nature, and the 
Park Board will co-operate in labeling 
trees and shrubs in Fair Grounds Park 
this season. Preparations have been made 
to attract the birds into the various parks 
by providing safe nesting places, as advo- 
vocated by Baron Von Berlepsch of See- 
bach, Germany. 
The twenty-seventh annual report of the 
Queen Victoria Niagara Falls Park tells 
not only of the present condition of the 
various portions of the Park, but also of 
the plans which have been under the con- 
sideration of the Board for some time for 
the future restoration and development of 
the unfinished portions. It tells in detail 
the location and extent of each parcel com- 
prising the entire Park System, and shows 
the manner in which the sections were ac- 
quired or become vested in the Commis- 
sion. The detailed statements of receipts 
and expenditures for the year ended De- 
cember 31, 1912, show that the revenue re- 
ceived from all sources amounted to $177,- 
617.95, of which, however, $20,009.61 repre- 
sented the sale of Debentures and special 
payment received from the Shipbuilding 
Company representing that - Company’s 
share in the cost of diverting the Boule- 
vard roadway around their manufacturing 
plant. The fixed rentals of the three power 
companies amount to $60,00000, and the 
excess rental to $74,210.41, which latter 
amounts have been received, as heretofore 
reported without prejudice to the rights 
of either party in the suit instituted by 
the Government to determine the proper 
method of calculating the amount of power 
generated and the rental payable therefor. 
