PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 
Vol. XXII. Chicago, November, 1912 No. 9 
American Civic Association 
The Eighth Annual Convention of the American Civic 
Association meets this year in Baltimore, Md., on Novem- 
ber 19-21, in response to an urgent appeal from the 
Women’s Civic League, which* has the co-operation of 
several allied organizations of that city. The meetings 
will be held at the Hotel Belvedere, the headquarters of 
the Convention. A fine program has been promised, 
which includes addresses and discussions relating to Na- 
tional, State and City Parks; City Planning, with particu- 
lar reference to the needs of the smaller towns; details of 
town and village improvement; the billboard nuisance 
and the house-fiy problem. The convention will undoubt- 
edly find the usual enthusiasm exhibited in its proceedings 
and the activities of the Association will receive further 
encouragement to prosecute its campaigns in the direc- 
tion of conserving the people’s interests in our great nat- 
ural wonders, and in civic and outdoor improvement gen- 
erally. There is no better tonic to an Association’s offi- 
cial activity in its field of endeavor than a large attend- 
ance at its conventions, and the work of the American 
Civic Association has been of such great public benefit 
that the matter of a large gathering should not be one of 
doubt; nevertheless it is always in order to offer a word 
of persuasion to this end and we trust that the con- 
vention in all ways may excel its predecessors, feeling 
convinced that future good to the public interests will 
continue to be the certain aim of all concerned. 
^g Ng 
Care of Park and City Trees 
Yale University is to be commended for the advanced 
work it is doing in preparing its Forestry graduates for 
the higher work involved in the care and use of trees. 
Elsewhere in this issue will be found a synopsis of a 
course of lectures now under way on ornamental and 
shade tree work which is being given in that University 
for the second year. These lectures will be delivered by 
Mr. J. J. Levison, M. F., Forester of Prospect Park, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and secretary of the American Associa- 
tion of Park Superintendents, and in manner, to an ex- 
tent, are informal with a view to promote and encourage 
discussion by the students in order to bring out all the 
practical and theoretical information possible in the sub- 
ject of the particular lecture. Such a training in Forestry 
as the Yale program of education suggests has a particu- 
lar bearing on the question of park and city trees, for 
the importance of securing scientific men of the stand- 
ing of the Yale Foresters to become interested in such 
tree work cannot be too thoroughly impressed. Former- 
ly the trained forester would not consider city tree work 
good enough for his professional efforts and park authori- 
ties never appreciated nor understood the value of serv- 
ices such as a trained forester could offer. Moreover, this 
innovation by trained men to handle the technical prob- 
lems in park work is an important step towards the bet- 
terment of our parks. It is interesting to learn in this 
connection that several of the graduates have already 
branched out in this particular line of municipal work. 
The more we study nature the greater are the problems 
disclosed, but to solve them and make use of the knowl- 
edge gained, systematic, orderly study such as this is 
of the utmost value. 
Education in Landscape Architecture 
There is certainly an awakening to the outdoor require- 
ments of our rapidly developing nation, for it is empha- 
sized by the up-to-date efforts of certain of our institu- 
tions of learning in the broadening of the field of land- 
scape architecture. We have in former issues alluded to 
the position attained by the Illinois State University in 
its architectural and railroad departments, and we have 
another opportunity to refer to it in connection with its 
call upon Mr. Charles Mulford Robinson, the well known 
authority on city planning, to spend a week this month at 
the university with students of the senior class, who are 
taking the advanced course in landscape architecture, the 
purpose being to show them concretely what city plan- 
ning is, how to go at it, what data should be secured, etc 
The problem of the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, 
where the university is located, will be studied, the idea 
not being to make town plans, etc., in the week, or entire- 
ly to learn how to be town planners, but to endeavor to 
stimulate an intelligent interest in the work, so that when 
the students go out into professional life they may realize 
what city planning can do for a community, how broad 
its scope, and what is their own connection with it, as 
landscape architects, to whom the detail work of planning 
parks, play grounds, etc., is properly referred. The effort 
is along the line of the excellent work that Prof. Blair 
has laid out for higher progress in this department. 
NS ^ 
City Planning 
A specially appointed committee of the National Con- 
ference on City Planing is to conduct this year a study in 
city planning, taking an area on the outskirts of a grow- 
ing city of about 200,000 or 300,000 population. A de- 
scription of the area and the details of the study may be 
had on application to the secretary of the conference, 
Flavel Shurtleff, 19 Congress Street, Boston. It is quite 
possible as well as probable that much good will result 
from such a study. Besides the study of city planning 
for the larger crudely developed cities, there is a wide 
field open in the matter of the smaller towns, and it ought 
not to be a very difficult task to excite enthusiasm and 
interest therein enough to lead to at least a demand for 
a “city plan” for future development. It is in the early 
days of a town’s existence that the prospect for a becom- 
ing future strikes deepest into the ambition of the com- 
munity, and when the way of securing this is adequately 
presented, together with the promising financial results 
which an early start promises, every effort to encourage 
must be made by the profession devoted to such work. 
Ng Ng 
The Chicago Municipal Art League 
The Municipal Art League of Chicago, is nothing, if 
not an association delighted to have plenty of work on 
its program. It has quite recently begun a campaign for 
a popular fund to assist in cleaning up the streets and 
alleys, and claims to be concerned with all things pertain- 
ing to the exterior appearance of Chicago; with every- 
thing relating to the interior decoration of public build- 
ings, and with all things in any way connected with the 
development of art craftsmanship in the homes, schools 
and shops of the city. Monthly meetings of the league 
are now held at the Art Institute for which programs are 
prepared covering a number of vital questions pertaining 
to the improvement of Chicago city conditions. 
