PARK AND CEMETERY. 
lOI 
service cannot be maintained so cheaply and efficiently 
by others, as it can by the Park Commission. Should 
the horses not be required for that purpose, they are at 
work at some thing else, and are in constant use 
throughout the year, so by care in their management, 
it is possible to pay more than expenses at a charge of 
three cent fare from the car line to the casino which is 
a mile away and a ten cent fare around the Island, 
which is a five mile drive. 
The question of park amusements is a more serious 
one, as it is difficult to tell where to draw the line. In 
the main, to be in keeping with nature, the amusements 
should be confined to those that are more closely allied 
to nature. I would classify the bathhouse with amuse- 
ments and consider it a legitimate one. That should 
also be run on a cost basis. With us, the charges are 
locts. for dressing room, 5 cts. fo. locker, and hook room 
free, a bathing suit and towel free. All suits and towels 
are washed and well dried and all sanitary precautions 
are taken. The boating privilege may be classed with 
amusements. The cheapest boats are 10 cts. per hour; 
those with cushions and upholstering are higher. Swings 
and teeters are provided for the small children and are 
legitimate for the reason that it gives them enjoyment, 
but merry-go-rounds, and the like, for the use of which 
charges are made, should be excluded, as the temptation 
to spend money should be kept at a minimutr. 
Base ball, lawn tennis, cricket, etc. with us are 
allowed and arrangements are contemplated for all 
athletic games. We have a field on which eventually all 
of the sports will be confined. Do they belong to a 
park? Yes! under conditions of ample room, a separation 
from the distinctive park features, and on the plea that 
under an organization that has the authority to compel 
proper behavior, athletic sports are beneficial, and the 
Park Commission is generally the only municipal 
authority that is in condition to handle these things. 
There are several things that may be educational, 
that may be within the province of park work. I have 
had several talks before the school teachers and students 
of our city schools and since then I would be inclined 
fb put the zoological department under this head includ- 
ing the birds and squirrels that are at large. There are 
many children in large cities that do not have the least 
idea of the habits of animals outside of book lore. A 
chance remark that I made at a school of the warfare 
between the squirrels and bluejays at Belle Isle Park 
has traveled through the various schools of the city and 
has created a new interest in the minds of our juvenile 
visitors. 
THE FALL GRASS PEST. 
It is rare to find a person who has charge of a 
lawn that has not had trouble with fall grass, Pas- 
palum sanguinale. This great pest on northern 
lawns, for pest it is without a doubt, makes its ap- 
pearance about midsummer, growing from seeds it 
has sown the previous season, as it is but an an- 
nual. Its growth is rapid and rank, crowding out 
all weak grasses it encounters. For a little time the 
lawn presents a beautiful green appearance, but 
with cooler nights and the perfection of its seeds 
the plants disappear, and then becomes plain the 
destruction it has caused. All weak grasses met 
with in its progress will be found to be smothered 
out, and with the decay of the fall grass appear 
patches of bare soil, to the great disfigurement of 
the lawn. 
It is more with the hope of getting suggestions 
from your readers how to combat this grass than it 
is that I can give any, that I have broached the 
subject, but there are some things can be done from 
which some benefit may come. I have been told 
of a proprietor of a place who plowed up a lawn 
overrun with this grass and kept it cultivated for 
two years, that every seedling of the grass might 
be hoed out. 
There are three things I have found helpful. 
The first is to stimulate the desirable grasses to 
make a heavy growth, that they may resist the in- 
truder. Heavy manuring in the early winter will 
do this, and perhaps a dressing of wood ashes in 
the spring. Some decry the use of manure as in- 
troducing weeds, but as against the great benefit 
from its use, I do not think this worth considering. 
With manure there is a rank growth of root and 
top, which very fortunately the fall grass cannot 
overcome. 
The second thing is the rooting out of this grass 
as soon as it is well above ground to be seen and 
handled. This is not the great task many imagine. 
A few boys armed with short table knives, and un- 
der the care of a man, will go over considerable 
ground in a day. Nurserymen have gangs of boys 
managed in this way, to clean out weeds from their 
seed beds and find it profitable. A day succeeding 
a good rain should be chosen. Two lines are 
stretched through the lawn, to be shifted as desired, 
the space between the lines to be cleaned from one 
end cf the lawn to the other. 
The spurious grass is easily distinguished, and 
after a rain is not hard to get out. 
The third plan consists in getting rid of the 
grass by mowing it before it goes to seed. It is 
hard to get rid of it completely in this way, as there 
are usually some prostrate stems which the mower 
cannot reach, and in fact mowing is apt to make 
the plant throw out prostrate shoots. After the 
first mowing, an iron rake is used, to bring to the 
surface these prostrate stems, when the mower is 
passed over these again. In this way there are not 
many branches go to seed, but I confess that I have 
never entirely succeeded in subduing this grass in 
this way. Joseph Meehan. 
# * * 
[In response to the suggestion in the above 
timely article it would be of great value if our 
readers would give any successful experience they 
may have had, or know of, respecting the destruc- 
tion or avoidance of this truly vexatious pest of 
our lawns. Ed.] 
