62 
PARK AND 
CEMETERY. 
which includes the upland, has an area of 107 acres, and the 
cost of its maintenance for the fiscal year ended November 
30. 1911, was $29,676.34, or $277.35 per acre. This was divid- 
ed into $222.84 per acre for labor and $54.51 per acre for 
supplies. Some of the details of this distribution may prove 
interesting, and serve as comparisons for other parks 
throughout the country. 
The playground feature of public parks has attracted a 
great deal of attention of late. Instruction was furnished 
for 122,104 children during the year, at a cost of eight mills 
per child, and their parents knew that they were safe while 
in the care of the physical instructor. The cost of main- 
taining this playground, including instruction, planting and 
repairs of old and purchase of new apparatus, was $1,272.47, 
or .558 per square yard. 
Closely allied to this is the wading pool, where an equally 
large number of children disported during the warm weath- 
er. This pool has a gravel bottom upon a cement base, and 
cost to maintain for the entire year but $50.50, or .031 per 
square yard. 
The largest concrete fountain in the world, which is con- 
tained in this park, contains some 365 tons of material and 
has a height of 53 feet. It has twenty-seven water spouts 
and is equipped with 150 electric lights. The cost to clean 
and repair this fountain for the year was $10.75, or four 
mills per square yard. 
The nine miles of water pipes to supply this fountain, the 
drinking fountains and the public comforts, the wading pool 
and the lake, were cleaned at a cost of $124.25, or $13.80 
per mile, and the water consumed cost $993.95, or $9.29 per 
acre. 
The drainage system is, of course, distinct from the water 
supply. It cost $1,015 each to clean and repair 280 catch 
basins, $10,687 per mile to clean four miles of pipes, fifty 
cents per mile to repair ten miles of gutters and $142.50 to 
repair and clean the lake. 
It cost to maintain the 42,446 square yards of eight inch 
macadam drives in the park during the year $1,567.56, or .037 
per square yard. This included resurfacing and the use of 
water wagon and steam roller. 
The paths, which are of gravel with a foundation of broken 
stone, were not so costly to maintain, costing but .028 per 
square yard. This included resurfacing in the Spring with 
Shark River gravel trimming with automobile roller and 
edging 14,000 yards at seven mills pu^'Vard. 
The fields averaged $9.40 per acre to maintain for the 
year, and this included rolling with steam roller, mowing 
with horse and automobile mowers, care of cricket crease, 
fertilization with bone meal and the reseeding and sodding 
of worn spots. 
The lawns, of which there are ten acre, cost $154,325 per 
acre to maintain, due to the fact that they were kept closely 
mowed by hand and automobile mowers, this item alone cost- 
ing $90.03 per acre, while the reseeding and sodding of worn 
spots cost $14.30 per acre, the other cost being included in 
rolling with automobile roller, cleaning, sprinkling and fer- 
tilizing. There are no “keep off the grass” signs in West 
Side Park, and no restrictions are placed on the visitor. 
The 500 square yards of flower garden, with herbaceous 
plants and bulbs, cost .688 per square yard to maintain, in- 
cluding $188.37 worth of new stock. 
There are 8,110 trees in the park, and it cost .143 per tree 
to keep them for the year. This included the planting of 110 
trees from nursery stock at a cost of $2,225 each, the water- 
ing of the same at .252 each, the manuring of 3,000 small 
trees at .038 each, the removal of dead branches and pruning 
of 5,000 trees at nine mills each, the spraying with arsenate 
of lead of 7,000 trees at one cent each and the removal of 
twenty-seven fallen and dead trees at $12,794 each. 
It was found that the plantations were almost as expensive 
to maintain as the lawns, costing $148,607 per acre. Of this 
amount $54,478 per acre was spent for planting and filling in, 
including beds of tulips, iris and narcissi; $28,423 per acre 
was for manuring; $49,239 was for cleaning, hoeing and weed- 
ing, it being necessary during the flowering season to keep the 
beds perfectly clean to produce the proper effect; $11,435 for 
pruning and the cutting out of dead stock, and $4,532 for 
spraying with arsenic of lead. 
The maintenance charge against the nurseries was very 
low. Of the 12,125 plants therein, the cost was but .029 
per plant, which, including planting, transplanting, manur- 
ing and cleaning. 
The buildings, which comprise one administration building, 
three public comforts, three outlooks and one barn, cost to 
maintain, including attendants and insurance $1,440.63, or 
$205,804 per building. The attendants were a custodian at 
$1.50 per day and a matron at $1.00 per day. 
The park was policed by park guards and city police at a 
cost of $9,465.50 for the year, or $88,462 per acre. It was 
lighted by twenty-seven arc lights at contract price of $75 per 
year, which was reduced by outages to $70,243 per lamp. The 
maintenance of permanent equipment cost $6,348 per acre, 
of the 300 benches .539 each, including staining and paint- 
ing, and the office expenses were $51.25. There was charged 
to this park $1,800 of the superintendent’s salary, which is 
at the rate of $16,822 per acre. 
A N EW PATEN 
Frank A. Frumviler, of Detroit, 
Mich., has patented a pruning knife 
claimed to be an improvement over 
present forms. The failure to entirely 
sever the limb has caused a great 
deal of trouble in that the bark con- 
stituting the hanging member is dif- 
ficult to engage between the cutting 
members. It is to overcome this ob- 
jection that the head of this hook 
consists of two pieces 8 and 9. The 
two pieces 8 and 9 of the bill hook ate 
given the ordinary crook shape. The 
member 8 forming the bill hook is 
provided with a stationary shear or 
cutting edge 11 against which the 
PRUNING KNIFE 
squared side of the knife sweeps. The 
member 9 of the bill hook is raised 
slightly above the cutting edge of the 
member 8 and is provided with a 
lower edge more square in form, 
against which the limb or twig rests 
while being cut. The cutting edge 11 
is reinforced by being thickened in 
cross section, as shown in the draw- 
ings, and provided with a beveled 
sharpened side. Both parts are bossed 
outwardly to form elongated bearings 
12 for pivot bolts 13. The member 9 
is extended to the rear to form an off- 
set 14 which operates as a guide for 
the knife in its initial cutting position. 
