2©6 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
that the Board remove from pucli public properties 
advertisements that liave been placed about them 
without (iffici d Consent. This association is doin^ 
wonders for the city of Quincy, and like work could 
be accomplished elsewhere. P.AKK AND CEMETERY 
invites its readers to report any action they may 
know to have been taken on this question. 
W E have often suggested the value of flower- 
shows for educational purposes, and if it 
were possible to measure the results we 
should undoubtedly recognize the truth of the sug- 
gestion. It is a pity however that the managers of 
these annual exhibitions appear to see only trade 
benefits to be derived, and consequently in their ef- 
forts for success ignore the more important consid- 
erations involved, considerations indeed that are 
likely to have more effect on the permanence of 
their endeavor, than the immediate trade benefits 
to be achieved. The love of flowers in the general 
public mind is a far more potent factor in the in- 
crease of flower cultivation than the caprices of fash- 
ion, to which the promoters of flower shows more 
particularly bend themselves, for in the endeavor 
to make a financial success, the prices of admission 
are generally prohibitory to a large attendance and 
seem chiefly to aim for the presence of the wealthy 
classes only. This is a very narrow view of the 
question, not becoming to the men trading in na- 
ture’s choicest products. A thousand admissions at 
ten cents would unquestionably offer better pros- 
pects for the trade than one hundred at one dollar, 
and there should now be more patriotism among the 
promoters of flower shows looking to combining the 
welfare of the trade with the welfare and the en- 
lightenment of the people. The time is here when 
we should expect as much philanthropy in the pur- 
suit of business as we expect from those who have 
acquired wealth; when the almighty dollar should 
not be the only thought we have in every public ef- 
fort that is made. 
I T is not every year that in closing renders a re- 
trospect in particular lines of work pleasing 
and promising; so many have passed that have 
lent themselves to gloomy forebodings on future 
prospects. But in the awakening of the artistic 
sense of the people in the direction of improvement 
in municipal government as affecting particularly 
parks and public places; and in the promotion ot 
the idea of art out-of-doors in its relation to home 
surroundings, great advances have been made, and 
the education of the people in these lines of pro- 
gress has been far reaching. The recognition of 
Arbor Day as not only a holiday for the exercise 
of certain pleasing functions but as an opportunity 
for active promotion of horticultural knov\ ledge and 
culture is taking root throughout the country and 
in a multitude of places is bearing fruit. The lawn 
plan in our cemeteries, which really means the 
adaptation of landscape art to the development of 
our burial grounds is now altogether the rule in the 
laying out of new properties, and is exercising such 
an influence on the managers of the older grave- 
yards that the large majority of schemes of renova- 
tion and improvement are governed by its tenets in 
the necessity of keeping up with the times. The 
agitation is constantly gathering force, looking to 
the provision of small parks in our larger cities 
for the crowded districts, and the demand for the 
improvement of school grounds, and other open 
public areas must be credited in their more practi- 
cal aspects to the year 1899. In fact throughout 
the country there is a distinct current of sentiment 
favorable to more refined conditions of life, influ- 
enced and directed by a broader discernment of the 
refining influences of nature and art in their effects 
on civilization. 
T he impetus which has been given to munici- 
pal art in connection with public honors 10 
some of the heroes of the Spanish-American 
war, is a matter upon which rhe American people 
may congratulate themselves. It is in the direction 
of development in which, considering the vast 
strides we have made, and the wealth we have ac- 
cumulated, we were seriously deficient. In no coun- 
tries in the world, are cities to be found of the mag- 
nitude which many of ours have attained wherein 
there is such a lack of public embellishment, and 
provided we do not go too hastily at work to make up 
for shortcomings, the present active interest in the 
matter will secure results to our lasting credit and 
honor. We have noted a criticism to the effect that 
in certain cities we have too many monuments, but 
the criticism is either not fully understood or is in 
itself too vague. Whoever heard ofParis, that city 
of art, having too many monuments? The fact is 
that where such a criticism lies is not in the city 
having too many monuments, but in their lack of 
artistic merit on the one hand, and on the other the 
further lack of artistic intelligence in their location 
and surrounding. But this may be said to be con- 
ditions of the past. The newly created municipal 
art leagues and commissions may safely be en- 
trusted with such matters, and it is a gratifying fact 
that the courts appear to be broad enough to con- 
strue questions of art brought forward for their ad- 
justment and decision, in a positive and enlightened 
manner. This is particularly emphasized in the 
Copley square decision with regard to the height of 
buildings, and previously to the decision of the New 
Jersey courts on the Hudson county soldiers' mon- 
ument. 
