PARK AND CC/nCTCRY 
213 
PARK NOTES. 
The estimates ot the park commission of Cleveland, Ohio, 
for the current year amount to $364,000. 
* * * 
The West Side park system of Chicago has received for its 
creation and improvement since the inauguration in 1869, $6,- 
809,960.12. 
* * * 
Yonkers N. Y., is to have its first public park, the common 
council having recently undertaken to secure an eligible tract 
of some seven and a half acres. 
* * » 
Buffalo’s park commissioners require an appropriation of 
$314,000 for park purposes the current year, f 50,000 of which 
will be devoted to the Botanical Garden. 
* * * 
The city council of New York have decided to authorize the 
Park Department to spend $42,367 in completing the Castle 
Garden Aquarium. The total amount appropriated for park 
purposes is $1,220,255. 
* * » 
The city solicitor of Philadelphia has given it as his opin- 
ion that councils have no power to place on the city plan a 
square or park in advance of and independent of an ordinance 
condemning and taking the same for public use. 
* * * 
Lincoln Park, Chicago, has been presented with a statue of 
Goethe by the Schwaben Verein. The statue will be a replica 
of the celebrated work in Berlin, and will probably be cut in 
American marble and stand on a Vermont granite pedestal. 
* a- * 
The additions made to Rogers Williams park. Providence, 
R. 1 ., has cost the city $605, 907.25, which, deducting for build- 
ings, interest, etc., bring the actual cost of the land to 3.9 cents 
per square foot. The amount of land acquired was close upon 
310 acres. 
» # * 
The announcement that the Louisville and Nashville R. R. 
Co., will build a park and flower garden at Crab Orchard, Ky., 
is gratifying. It is a step in the right direction, which would 
surely result to the benefit of our railroads if it were more liber- 
ally followed. 
The annual estimate for the park system of Detroit, Mich., 
aggregates $192,000 for this years work. A large amount of 
paving and ’roadmaking is included, besides a new Casino, four 
new bridges and two new toilet pavilions. Some $8000 will be 
expended on improvements and additions to the menagerie. 
* * *■ 
Over 300,000 acres of land in the Adirondack region were 
bid in by the state of New York at the recent tax sale, of which 
it is expected about 150,000 will not be redeemed and will in 
consequence be added to the Adirondack Park. This is about 
the proportion usually ruling on tax sales of such property in the 
state. 
* * * 
The House committee on Military affairs has decided to 
recommend the creation of a National Military park on the 
Vicksburg battle field. The bill contemplates the acquisition 
of 1200 acres, provides for the appointment of a commission of 
three to outline the site, and limit the cost of the land to $50,- 
poo. The project is expected to cost half a million. It is in- 
tended to restore the fortifications, riflepits, approaches,and par- 
allels of the two armies, to open and restore such roads as may 
be necessary and to ascertain and mark with historical tablets or 
otherwise the lines of battle of the troops engaged during the 
siege and defense within the park or its vicinity. 
» » * 
Lincoln park, Chicago, owing to the mild weather, for a 
time, became a public nuisance. The fertilizer abundantly 
spread upon the lawns gave forth such a decidedly obnoxious 
odor, and over such a large area, that immediate steps had to be 
taken to mitigate the evil. It is a lesson that some care must 
be taken in the choice of fertilizers in our city parks. 
* * * 
The San Francisco park commissioners have had an elephant 
on their hands in the electric light tower which formed such an 
attraction of the Mid-Winter Fair. It was offered to any one 
who would take it away, but no offers materialized, so it was left 
to the commissioners to destroy it in the readiest manner possi- 
ble and realize what they could on the scrap iron. 
* * sif 
Flower shows in our public parks are becoming more popu- 
lar and rightfully so. A stimulating influence is thus exerted in 
many directions, besides affording a pleasing and attractive fea- 
ture in connection with the pleasures to be derived from the 
parks. In San Francisco this month witnesses the Orchid show, 
towards the success of which a great deal of spirit has been dis- 
played by the park gardeners 
* * » 
A new feature in park work in Neiv York city will be the es- 
tablishment of river parks along the city’s water front. This will 
be done by means ot structures erected above the piers of lesser 
commercial importance. The law embracing these features pro- 
vides that the Dock Board appoint a competent architect to 
make designs for these breathing spots. The office of Consult- 
ing Architect has been established in this connection. 
* » * 
Numerous Parisian monuments are surrounded by rails of 
wrought iron, and these as a rule are gilded over. The quantity 
of the precious metal utilized is so infinitely small that one can 
hardly imagine that it would be worth anybody’s while to take 
the trouble to smash and carry away these rails, and yet for sev- 
eral weeks past they have systematically disappeared says 
Galignani Messenger. 
Wyandotte, Mich., is to have a park. The necessity has 
long been recognized and the mayor of the town has made seri- 
ous efforts to provide such a beneficial addition to its public fea- 
tures but with little success By the public spiritedness of a 
Mrs. Jane Heintzer who has donated a large tract of land, the 
desired park is now within reach. The amount of the donation 
will be decided npon what the town may be willing to spend 
annually on beautifying it, but will range between twenty and 
one hundred acres. 
* * * 
National parks seem to be attracting much attention just 
now. The game commissioner of Maine suggests the establish- 
ment of a park of some 200,000 acres in Northern Maine, to in- 
clude Mount Katahdin, Pamadum, Cook and Millinocket lake, 
and part of the east and west branches of the Penobscot river. 
The idea is to create a preserve for the large game and fish 
which have been so abundant in Maine, whereby a perpetual 
close time could be assured, and besides a magnificent natural 
park having all the beauties of nature in her wildest features f r 
the eastern section of the country. 
