PARK AND CEMETERY. 
207 
Supt. Stevens states that prompted by the 
experience of this year, the following alterations 
or additions to the rules will be made, viz; (i ) 
Winners of first prizes this year will be excluded 
from the next contest. (2) Only one entry will 
be allowed in any family, and (3) two complete 
sets of prizes will be offered in each contest, viz,: 
( a) one for those who have access to city water, 
and (b) one for those who are out of reach of 
hydrants. 
In the vegetable contest a number of the boys 
raised a second, and some even a third crop — the 
latter being 
limited to tur- 
nips, radishes 
and in a single 
case (that of 
the first prize 
winner) beans. 
Fully 1,500 
boys and girls 
started into the 
contest in the 
spring, but for 
one reason and 
another drop- 
ped out until 
only 300 re- 
mained. 
The regular 
and several 
special prizes, 
aggregating in 
money value stump covered with cypress. 
nearly $100.00, Public School Contest, Carthage, Mo. 
were awarded seed sown ip spring. Pre- 
at the exercises 
that closed the 
contest and which took the appropriate form of a 
wild flower and fruit exhibit with a suitable pro- 
gram, and amid an inspiring display of the wealth 
of the woods as found in that truly beautiful coun- 
try — southwest Missouri. 
sumably the little maid points with 
pride to the very pretty result of her 
own w'ork. 
NOTES. 
The Rural Improvement Association, of Keene, 
N. H., pays children for gathering the eggs and 
destroying the nests of the tent caterpillar which 
has been very destructive in that city. This move 
might profitably be introduced in many other 
places to the immediate end of disposing of ob- 
jectionable insects and to the further advantage 
of interesting and instructing children in such mat- 
ters. Public interest would also be aroused by 
this protective measure and the usefulness of the 
improvement society demonstrated among all 
classes. 
Miss Mary A. A. Prentiss, the secretary of this 
association, also reports that from 800 to 1000 
trees along public highways have been tagged for 
preservation by their society since its organization 
in 1886. Tags for this purpose are provided by 
the state. This is another form of improvement 
work that is unknown in the middle west and one 
that well deserves to be noted. 
* * m 
The City Improvement Society of Greeley, 
Colo., offers prizes for well-kept premises, flower 
gardens and lawns and in other ways gives evi- 
dence of making a vigorous campaign in the inter- 
est of the cleanliness, healthfulness and beauty of 
the city. 
* * * 
The Village Improvement Society, of Williams- 
ton. Mass., and the Helena (Mont.) Improvement 
Society both offer prizes for the planting and care 
of trees. 
* * 
From Mrs. W. H. Gray, president of the Vil- 
lage Improvement Society of Stephenville, Texas, 
comes the report that her society this year offered 
prizes for the neatest back yard, prettiest front 
yard, best sidewalks, and best bed of flowers 
arranged by school children. This goes to show 
that the custom of prize giving is spreading to all 
parts of the country, is found to be a good plan for 
interesting individuals in the work of associations 
and is an all round paying investment. 
Mr. L. Woolverton, secretary of the Ontario 
(Canada) Fruit Growers’ Association, says that 
there are no improvement associations proper in 
his province but that their work is to a certain 
extent undertaken by local horticultural societies. 
The government grant to these societies is said to 
be spent for the benefit of all members equally for 
the cultivation of the taste of the general public in 
floriculture and arboriculture. These societies 
distribute seeds and young plants among school 
children on condition that they will make an ex- 
hibit ot the resulting plants at the time of the sum- 
mer exhibition. They also give prizes to indi- 
viduals for well kept gardens and even undertake 
to lay out certain parts of public parks. 
* * * 
Miss Bessie A. Baker, secretary of the Beverly 
(Mass.) Improvement Society, reports that in the 
spring of 1900 the society distributed 1,180 pack- 
ages of flower seeds, giving ten to each of 118 
children of the public schools. They then offered 
prizes as follows: $10 for the greatest improve- 
ment in a yard facing any steam railroad, and two 
$10, two $S, two $2 and five $i prizes for the 
