PARK AND CEMETERY. 
57 
THE IMPROVEMENT OF RAILWAY STATION 
GROUNDS. 
A strong point in favor of permanent hardy 
material for Railway planting was incidentally 
made by Mr. Paul Huebner, Landscape Gardener 
of the Phila. and Reading R R., in a paper read 
before the Phila. Florist’s Club last fall. In speak- 
ing of the relative expense of growing and of buying 
the tender bedding plants used in the decorative 
planting of his road, he says that if bought they 
would cost at least $5,000, while he is able to pro- 
duce them for less than half that amount, ( and here 
one questions if he includes in his estimate the interest 
on the money invested by his Company in expensive 
propagating plants,) and adds that the difference 
is even more marked when the hardy stock grown 
solved the problem of how to manage this work ecor.o- 
mically. In order to show this to those in eitsted I 
will give a brief account of the landscape work which is 
now a permanent feature of the Reading Railway system. 
“In the first place it was decided that the most econo- 
mical plan would be for the corporation to have its own 
outfit, con isting of a nursery for hardy trees, shrnlis 
and plants, and propagati g houses for soft wooded, 
flowering and foliage plants for Summer decorations, 
the necessary tools, etc., in connection with same and 
also help to run it. After the first year the cost of 
maintenance is comparatively small, the main item be- 
ing for wages; but that is a small item in comparison 
to the expense if plants had to be bought in the open 
market. 
“For instance, I plant every season about a hundred 
thousand flowering and foliage plants about as follows: 
16,000 geraniums, 5,000 cannas, 18,000 alternantheras. 
St 
PLATE I. 
in their nursery is considered, as its expense is 
covered by the first cost. The following are extracts: 
ECONOMICAL LANDSCAPING FOR RAILROAD 
CORPORATIONS. 
“The desirability of having the grounds around 
railroad stations embellished with grass plots, trees and 
shrubbery, and livened up with foliage and flowering 
plants during the Summer, is generally acknowledged 
to be of piime importance as an advertisement for the 
railroad as well as an educative influence to the public 
at large. Most railroad officials look at the question 
from the economic standpoint. They do not question 
the value of attractive stations along their lines, provid- 
ed it does not cost too much. The matter of cost at 
first sight frightens a great many from entering into 
this improvement: but when more closely looked into it 
is found that there are ways of accomplishing the desir- 
ed result without a large outlay. The corporation 
which I have had the honor to serve for a great many 
years in the capacity of landscape gardener has, I think. 
2,000 scarlet sage, 2,000 Begonia Vernon and varieties, 
2.000 ageratum, 15,000 echeverias, 40,000 coleus, 3,000 
abutilon, 2,000 acalyphas, 1,000 Centaurea candidissima, 
4.000 miscellaneous, such as celosias, amaranthus, petu- 
nias, zinnias, vincas, etc. 
“These would cost at least ^5,000 to buy, and the 
whole cost of producing same is less than half that sum. 
To the $5,000 would have to be added the cost of plant- 
ing and maintaining, so that the economy of having an 
outfit is apparent. This view is still further enhanced 
when we consider the hardy stock in the nursery, which 
is all included in the first cost. 
“A special feature of my work, which I think impor- 
tant and one which any corporation might imitate to 
advantage, is the planting of privet hedges as a live 
snow fence for the protection of lines from snowdrifts. 
These hedges are neat, effective and permanent, and 
last, but not least, they are inexpensive. The privet I 
consider one of the finest hedge plants for this latitude. 
It is almost evergreen, has no insect or fungoid enemies. 
