8 
PARK AND CE/HETERY. 
no ragged edges, and each group looked finished and 
complete. 
Yuccas, when used as the skirmish line of 
shrubbery plantations or borders look especially 
well when seen against evergreens, and the good 
effect is emphasized when the plants flower because 
the dark background affords fine relief for the state- 
ly candelabra like streaks of creamy, drooping 
blossoms. This arrangement has the added advan- 
tage of furnishing a decorative effect that continues 
throughout the year. 
But perhaps Yuccas look best, because most at 
home, in conjunction with rocks. At all events 
there is no doubt about the pleasing result of such 
designs, and the plants like the sandy soil that seems 
to belong in stony ground, although they like it 
both deep and rich. This is particularly true of 
Y. filamcntosa , the best known and most common- 
ly seen variety. In fact so high an authority as 
Mr. Falconer advises digging and enriching the soil 
for this sort to a depth of “three or more feet,” and 
his experience is that with snch deeply worked, 
dry, rich soil they do best when left undisturbed to 
form large multicrowned plants. As I have seen 
them they are certainly far more decorative when 
grown in this way than when grown to one crown 
only. 
While Y. Jilamentosa is highly desirable, it 
should not wholly crowd out Y. augustifolia that is 
equally hardy, equally as attractive and seems to be 
rather more adaptable to various soils and situa- 
tions. On the arid, almost desert lands of eastern 
Colorado and western Kansas, and particularly 
over the vast plains of Gypsum in the region of the 
Cimarron river, it grows in countless thousands, 
piling itself into almost impregnable interlaced 
masses. 
Yet, despite the character of its natural environ- 
ment, the clump shown in our engraving, though 
brought from just such a site, has grown for a 
number of years (more than ten) in its present loca- 
tion, and it is about the most unsuitable spot, one 
would think, that could be selected, since it is in- 
clined to dampness. In fact in spring the soil is 
decidedly spongy, a condition that it retains as long as 
it conscientiously can under the blazing sun of a St. 
Louis summer. Nevertheless it has formed itself 
into a symmetrical, yet picturesque group some five 
feet in diameter (it may be more,) is constantly in- 
creasing in size, never fails to blossom every year, 
and is at all times a chaste and interesting clump 
that shows up well against the rich green of the 
Hemlock hedge beyond it. 
Fanny Copley Seavey. 
The refining influence of parks in every city has not been 
sufficiently appreciated . — Du Chaillu. 
Proposed Park System for Essex County, N. J. 
One of the most comprehensive projects that 
has ever, probably, been considered in the way of a 
county park system, is that recently reported upon 
by the Commission appointed by the act of the 
legislature of New Jersey of May 1894, to consider 
the question as related to Essex County of that 
State. 
The Commission consisted of the following: Cy- 
rus Peck, President; F. W. Kelsey, Vice Presi- 
dent; and S. J. Meeker, Treasurer. Alonzo Church 
was elected Secretary by the board. 
The report which has been recently issued, can- 
not fail to redound to the credit of the board, for 
the wisdom and energy displayed in the fulfillment 
of the task alloted to them. The first and main 
difficulties in the study of a scheme of such magni- 
tude involving high professional knowledge and 
broad experience, was very properly met by 
securing advice from men whose lives have been 
spent in such work. In the pursuance of this 
policy, Messrs. Frederick Law Olmsted and J. C. 
Olmsted of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot; John 
Bogart, N. F. Barrett, Ehrenberg & Webster, and 
Gray & Blaisdell prepared and submitted reports, 
after a careful study of the situation. These reports 
embodied a series of different schemes from which 
to be able to devise a system combining the ex- 
cellencies of all. 
Suggestions were also invited by circular letter 
from County officials, boards, improvement societ- 
ies and others whose opinions might be of value. 
It may surely be expected that the results of such a 
policy reinforced by a careful study of the situation 
and conditions which the gathered information call- 
ed for, will inure to the public welfare. It has 
moreover, proved a most economical policy both in 
time and money, for less than half the money ap- 
propriated was consumed. The following extracts 
from the report afford food for reflection. 
“We are unaminous and emphatic in the belief 
that parks are not only desirable but necessary for 
the well being of the people. 
“It is an unquestioned fact that public parks 
and playgrounds are one of the most important 
factors in the real practical development of cities. 
Communion with nature is always elevating and 
the good done to the overworked denizens of 
crowded city streets in wandering through green 
pastures and beside still waters is incalculable. 
The mind is purified, the eye is educated, the 
heart delighted and the tired body refreshed. In- 
nocent pleasure and healthful exercise are combined 
in a fine and bracing air, and it can be truly said 
that a park is the heart free beating, the lungs free 
breathing of a great city.” 
