i86 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ground space covered with the building pile, without 
a thought for a framework of lawn or shrubbery or 
anything else suggestive about it. Indeed we have 
needed Municipal Improvement Leagues for a long 
time, and it is to be hoped that those now in exis- 
tence will be enabled to exert a pronounced and bene- 
ficial influence not only on future development but 
in the way of correcting the neglect of the past. 
* * * 
Apropos to the question of small parks gener- 
ally, the sixteenth annual banquet of the Merchant’s 
Club of Chicago, which was held on the evening of 
November ii, devoted its program of entertain- 
ment and discussion to “Small Parks and Play- 
grounds. ” At this function the guest of honor was 
Mr. Jacob A. Riis, of New York, a well-known 
writer on sociological subjects and intimately asso- 
ciated with the movement in New York City. The 
meeting was attended by a number of members of 
the city council, which by the way has lately evinced 
much interest in the question, and the result of the 
meeting has already borne fruit in the Chicago 
Council, in amended efforts to promote an early so- 
lution of the problem. 
A t the recent meeting of the Massachusetts 
State Federation of Women’s Clubs held at 
Winchendon, Mass., Mrs. Cora C. Jones of 
Roxbury delivered an address on “iYrbor Day and 
the Possibilities for Women’s Clubs,” in which she' 
said, “Arbor Day is the only holiday that exists 
for the future; all others eufogize the past; keep 
alive some memory mingled with sorrow. Arbor 
Day speaks only of joy, progress, hope; the most 
unselfish of days, providing for the welfare of the 
future, adding to the joy of our descendants rather 
than glorifying the deeds of our ancestors.’’ This is 
an inspiring view of this modern American holiday, 
which deserves such commendation to the good will 
and activity of the people, for tree planting and the 
out-door embellishment of our homes and public 
places is to be a line of progress to characterize our 
development in the near future But the most per- 
timent feature of the address was the appeal to the 
women’s clubs to help the cause, and one of the 
closing paragraphs of her effort is as follows: 
“What greater service can women’s clubs do than 
first to inform themselves on the subject of forestry 
and to seek to impress on the present generation 
the imperative need of tree-planting and tree-pre- 
servation? It would be a most worthy ambition to 
infuse through our school system, reaching as it 
does the life and heart of every child, the purpose 
and the will to exert every effort to change the des- 
tructive process to one of increase in every state 
and territory and to teach those habits of thought 
and feeling in regard to the benefits and uses of 
tree-planting that will deter them from the destruc- 
tion of our lawns and parks.” 
N OTWITHSTANDINGthe oft repeated prom- 
ise that the chrysanthemum has passed the 
zenith of its popularity and must soon give 
way to other floral favorites, the fact is that the 
chrysanthemum shows are increasingin number and 
improving at least in magnitude so-far as the evi- 
dence of this year proves anything. In all the lead- 
ing cities where horticultural societies have influ- 
ence, the recent floral exhibits in which the chrys- 
anthemum has been queen, have, generally, speak- 
ing, been more important in magnitude, more at- 
tractive in display and more successful financially 
than in previous years. But we do not note any 
great advances either in the quality or variety of 
this floral wonder, for wonder it is, looking at its 
career and the remarkable development to which it 
has yielded, and it is perhap' to this condition that 
the prognostication of its decline is due. But the 
readine-s wdth which it submits to the florists ef- 
forts, and the brilliant and effective floral displays 
it produces will give it a long lease in popular favor. 
This w'ill be particularly the case in respect to the 
increasing efforts of our park commissioners to pro- 
vide exhibits in their public conservatories. Too 
much attention can scarcely be paid to this depart- 
ment of park work; it is bound to increase the pub- 
lic utility of the park, while it does so much to 
elevate and refine the citizen. We should like to 
sec more effort displayed in out-door exhibits of 
the hardy flowering chrysanthemums in our parks. 
It should be possible to produce early flowering 
varieties of sufficient distinctiveness to create beau- 
tiful effects, and moreover it would induce the use 
of such plants about the home grounds to prolong 
the season of fall flowers. 
ARALIA SPINOSA. 
I am indebted to Charles H. Miller of Fair- 
mount Park for many beautiful pictures of park 
scenes, but the one of a group of Aralia spinosa, 
illustrated with this, is certainly unsurpassed for 
beauty. This small tree is beautiful anywhere, but in 
a position such as these three are the combination is 
very effective. As will be seen the photographer has 
caught them just as their large heads of flowers are 
expanded. I have seen heads of flowers large 
enough to well fill a half bushel measure. In color 
they are greenish white, distinct enough to contrast 
nicely with the foliage. Equally as pretty, if not 
more so, are the berries which follow the flowers. 
From a green color they change to a dark red, much 
as common elderberries do, and then to a black, and 
one can imagine the display when the large heads 
of flowers the picture presents are changed to clus- 
