246 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ates fervor for that day, and its exercises impress 
upon the young with more permanent effect the ob- 
ject of the appointed day and the responsibilities it 
imposes upon such of those who comprehend its 
import. On another page will be found much sug- 
gestive matter in connection with Arbor Day, 
which will, as the successive state days are ap- 
pointed, be more generally observed this year than 
heretofore. The necessity for the work which the 
day suggests throughout the country is daily be- 
coming more apparent. The contrast between a 
naturally beautiful town and a neglected one is so 
reproachful to the general good sense, that the fact 
that Arbor Day exercises point out such possibili- 
ties of rapid improvement, spurs a general desire 
to better conditions. Arbor Day is safely one of 
the greatest institutions of the last years of the 
nineteenth century. 
* * * 
It is not alone in the improvement of home and 
uiban conditions that Arbor Day finds its justifica- 
tion. It is exercising an immense influence in en- 
couraging state and federal effort towards rehabili- 
tating our forest areas and reclaiming waste lands. 
The lumberman and pioneer has well nigh reduced 
the country to a condition of forest bankruptcy, 
n itwithstanding that science had long decreed the 
economic value of forest tracts in the country’s cli- 
matic and agricultural welfare. Our statesmen had 
not given any attention to this impoitant pha.=e ot 
g )vernment. Arbor Day' has become the pivot 
ab )ut which there yearly revolves the im[)ortant 
questions of forest preserva'^ion and development, 
aid the necessity of tree culture and tree planting 
in the various developments of our national life. 
T he appointment of Mrs. A. 1£. McCrea to the 
position of landscape gardener for the Lin- 
coln Park Commissioners of Chicago is a 
step which is attracting attention, and the active 
preparations on her part to carry out import. mt 
changes in the planting schemes of that well known 
park are creating somewhat of a stir among practi- 
tioners in landscape art. This opportunity of fol- 
lowing the development of park planting and its re- 
sults on so large a scale under the ruling guidance 
of woman's more delicate taste, will be watched 
with interest, and as her plans which are on quite a 
radical scale have been approved by the commis- 
sioners we may expect to see many changes in the 
landscape and decorative features of Lincoln Park. 
It is quite to be expected that there wdll be more 
delicacy and refinement in arrangement and color 
effects, due to the natural characteristics of woman- 
hood, and if this proves to be marked in its degree, 
it will be an object lesson to landscape architects of 
the sterner sex and set a standard for further ad- 
vance. In a general way there is far too much 
stereotyped formality in park designs and planting s 
and it will be to the advantage of the cause, if 
the Lincoln Park appointment fulfills its promises. 
O NE of the most noticeable features in ll.e 
monumental work of to-day, as regards 
cemetery memorials, is variety of design. 
We speak of course of the better class of such mon- 
uments, for unfortunately there is still far too mucli 
monotony in form and style in cemetery work i f 
the smaller class. But in the line of memorials 
more generally permitted in the larger cemeteries, 
there is distinct improvement in all the details gov- 
erned by artistic and architectural demands. After 
all, the arbitrary rules instituted in the larger ceme- 
teries when the "lawn plan” idea took possession, 
have exercised a very salutary influence in the 
monumental industry in its broader sense, and es- 
pecially that rule which prescribed that duplicating 
designs would not be allow'ed. This arbitrariness 
has developed a higher ability in designing, has de- 
manded more study of the subject, and has brought 
to bear on the production of original designs in me- 
morials, the wide possibilities of true art in its pro- 
lific sources of both inspiration and application. 
When one looks over the vast fields of artistic pro- 
duction, what has been accomplished, its variety 
and excellence, there need be no fear that the fu- 
ture will not yield as good a htirvest, and that the 
oppoituniiies for originality and the means to sat- 
isfy it will not be forthcoming and at hand. Just 
as we note to-day the improvement in design both 
as to form, proportions and ornament, so may v\ e 
expect continued progress as long as the conditions 
which create the demand for improvement continue 
in advance. We are of opinion however that v\ e 
h.ive not yet met all the transformation in design 
that the true import of the “lawn plan’’ in ceme- 
tery practice demands. If we are to continue to 
use the materials'now common in the production t f 
cemetery momorials, we must continue to exercise 
our artistic brains to the end of de.-.igning a me 
morial that will more nearly meet the msthetic con- 
siderations of harmony and appropriateness in re- 
lation to the landscape. The landscape architect 
of the cemetery, as the art progresses, finds his ef- 
forts in the direction of ultimate effects marred by 
the obtrusive monument, and becomes an advocate 
of reform. This is an important suggestion and a 
timely one— to design a form of memorial that 
while involving the highest taste in composition 
and ornament, shall yet admit of variety in the ar- 
rangement of its details, and conform more nearly 
to the requirements of the landscape architect. 
