PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XXII. Chicago, May, 1912 No. 3 
Window Gardens 
It is by no means too late to join the window gardeners 
this year. Many of the most beautiful streets in the world 
are made more beautiful by the generous use of window 
boxes; they add a delightful spice of color to the house 
fronts, and no effort at artificial decoration can approach 
the charm of flowers for decorative purposes. Then the 
expense is comparatively small, while the necessity for 
care to keep the flowers healthily growing and the boxes 
neat, calls for a little regular exercise of hand and head. 
Window gardening should be warmly encouraged by all 
interested in outdoor improvement, and it is a happy idea 
to make earnest endeavor to promote window gardening in 
the congested neighborhoods of our larger cities, neigh- 
borhoods which strongly demand the cheerful influence of 
flowers. This window gardening should also appeal from 
a business point of view to the commercial florists who 
might materially aid in so good a cause, and, ultimately 
to their own benefit. 
A San Francisco Flower Scheme 
A beautiful San Francisco for the 1915 Exposition ap- 
pears to be the slogan in that renowned city just at pres- 
ent. While its magnificent setting might well be thought 
to be enough, even for an exposition year, the San Fran- 
cisco “Examiner” has inaugurated a campaign to produce 
to the greatest extent possible a city beautiful with flow- 
ers, when the gates of the Panama exhibition are opened 
to the world in the year named. In order to stimulate 
action and interest and to promote a generous rivalry, it 
offers rewards for special effort to the amount of $6,120, 
and both children and adults are included in the scheme. 
The several prizes are to be awarded at regular three 
months intervals, and in the case of back yards, for which 
adults are expected to compete, the intervals will extend 
over two years. The children will be invited to partici- 
pate for gardens and window boxes; and adults, for front 
gardens; back yards — in flowers; vines on houses, window 
boxes, and united block embellishment. A board of gov- 
ernors has been named, which among other distingushed 
persons, includes Luther Burbank and John McLaren, 
landscape-engineer of the Exposition. San Diego, Calif., 
is busy along similar lines, preparing for its 1915 Exposi- 
tion. 
The Arnold Arboretum Bulletin 
The weekly Bulletin of Popular Information of the 
Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University, is a welcome vis- 
itor again, for the information it offers while popular 
enough for any reader of average intelligence, is also in- 
teresting to the professional horticulturist, in that it tends 
to keep him posted on the habits and conditions of the 
trees and plants being tested out, in the arboretum, for 
their availability for decorative or other purposes in this 
country. The Arboretum has now in its grounds a large 
number and variety of Chinese plants and trees which were 
found and sent home by Mr. Wilson, as a result of his last 
journey to China. Bulletin No. 18 gives an account of the 
condition of these plants and trees at the present time, and 
also what may be expected of them, information of wel- 
come value to many horticulturists. The Arboretum is now 
a lovely and interesting panorama of plant life, consider- 
able bloom being broken out to hail the spring. An illus- 
trated guide, with map, has recently been published by 
the administration. 
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Park Possibilities 
The more we look into the question of parks for the 
people the greater the subject becomes, and it is remark- 
able to find the very great change that has taken place 
in the reading matter of the up-to-date park report. Sup- 
plementing the bare statistics, we now have in the more 
progressive official annuals, discussions of the requirements 
to make the park of greater public benefit, and of what 
may be expected by the adoption of increased facilities to 
serve the desired end. There is coming also a recogni- 
tion that the park is not merely a resting spot, a recrea- 
tion ground, or a show place, but also a prominent factor 
in the education of the community in higher things. Noth- 
ing is more exhilarating or refreshing in outdoor life than 
nature study, and to the city dweller the park is practically 
his only school for that purpose. Nature study, more- 
over, is exceptionally beneficial to children and one of the 
most important uses of the park should be nature study 
by the school children under the direction of their teach- 
ers. Children are quick to acquire a love for the beautiful 
things of nature which the parks certainly afford, and 
they have an aptitude for more quickly understanding the 
action of the forces which have brought about the effects 
which they see about them. And in the development of 
the character of our future citizens the parks exert a pow- 
erful influence; there is even more truth than poetry in 
Keat’s expressive line: “A thing of beauty is a joy for- 
ever.” This fact is being better understood every day 
and leading park officials are making every possible effort, 
even under the discouraging financial circumstances which 
frequently block them, to include in their park equipment 
every feature of an uplifting or upbuilding nature, in order 
that all the benefits, of which a well ordered park is 
capable, may be at the disposal of those for whom it is 
developed. In the welfare of the community it is well 
nigh impossible to estimate the share which the parks 
may be made to contribute. 
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Concrete 
Warnings are still comparatively frequent that concrete 
is a building material which, while offering many advan- 
tages for many purposes, must be treated with that spe- 
cial care which its nature absolutely demands. There 
must be no carelessness in its preparation whatever, and 
the rigid formulas which have been prepared by experts 
for its manipulation must be adhered to; in a measure 
just as carefully as scientific matters usually do. From 
the manufacture of the Portland cement to the final per- 
manent setting of the concrete made by its use, consid- 
erable chemistry is involved, which therefore, as may be 
well understood, calls for the special care advised. A 
three-story concrete building which collapsed a short 
time ago in Indianapolis is another forcible reminder that 
when dealing with concrete it must not be forgotten that 
it is concrete, and that that proper and peculiar care re- 
quired for this remarkable material must be exercised in 
every particular. Literature on the subject is very read- 
ily obtainable 
