78 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ciation and the hundreds of women’s clubs through- 
out the country. By this means the work of the 
association will be brought directly before such fav- 
ored women as have both the time and the inclina- 
tion to do just the work that they are best fitted to 
do and which most needs doing, viz: improving the 
every day surroundings of the masses. As we have 
often said in these columns, no work is better worth 
doing, none is so greatly needed, and certainly no 
one can do it better than the intelligent women of 
the country. It may be further said that they can 
undertake no work that will, while benefitting others, 
also add so surely to their own health and happi- 
ness. For such reasons every woman who reads 
these lines, if she is not already a member, is urged 
to join the Park and Out-door Art Association 
which will give her the right to become a momber 
of the Woman’ Auxiliary and make her eligible to 
be sent as a delegate from her Wc man’s Impro\e- 
ment Club to the Federation of Clubs of her s'ate. 
Tree,” the Value of Foliage about Buildings,’ 
“Cemeteries,” “Basins, Shore Lines and Rocks,” 
“Sculpture and its Surroundings,” “Rocks and 
Paths,” etc. Under such heads the groups of photo- 
graphs exhibited, quite adequately represented the 
reason for certain treatment, as well as the good and 
bad practice in landscape art as at present recog- 
nized. The range of subjects in which landscape 
art plays a part was also set fmth, as also its 
possibilities in situations not usually recognized as 
capable of improvement ; it also conclusively indi- 
cated that art out of-doors offers a large field for ef- 
fort and with promises of results amply justifying 
the activity of the association. That such exhibits 
might be collected and used to educational advan- 
tage in Improvement Associations generally, is a 
suggestion that occurs at the moment, for it is quite 
possible to secure photographs in this age of the 
camera at little expense, and as an aid in such 
missionary work they are of inestimable advantage. 
epARK important matter now being agi- 
CONSOLIDATION, tated in Chicago is the consolida- 
tion of its three park systems under one management 
and control. At present the three systems are the 
south, the west and north, the two latter dominated 
by the governor of the state, with all the posssibili- 
ties and actualities of political influence which such 
a condition invariably invites. The South Park 
management has always had the confidence of the 
people and is managed by commissioners appointed 
by the Circuit Judges. The conditions pertaining 
to the north and west side systems has for some 
years past attracted public censure, and with little 
prospect of amelioration under the present form of 
government, and to remedy matters a strong move- 
m jnt has set in to create a homogeneous system 
of park management to supplant the existing un- 
satisfactory divided responsibility. It is pro- 
posed to secure legislation at the next session of the 
Illinois legislature providing for the appointment 
of a park commission who shall have charge of all 
the Chicago parks, and it is to be hoped that it will 
be so formulated as to eliminate the baneful influ- 
ences which have so seriouly affected park affairs in 
the past. 
A PHOTOGRAPHIC A feature of the recent conven- 
An-r of American Park and 
(Jut-door Art Association, and 
one that attracted considerable attention was an ex- 
hibit of photographs, wliich were very conveniently 
arranged in one of the corridors of the Art Institute. 
They comprised agreat variety of subjects and v\ tre 
grouped under heads designed to explain the ob- 
ject of their arrangement. Such heads as the fol- 
lowing were conspicuous: “The Value of a Simple 
LANDSCAPE It is a matter of sincere congratulation 
that t lic dc vcl opm c n t of I a 11 ds cti pc art 
in cemeteries has - been free from the 
limitations and obstructive tendencies of political 
machinations, so that where conditions permitted 
full sway to the artistic accomplishments of the sup- 
erintendent the results have been generally satis- 
factory from every point of view. It is true that 
the physical requirements of a cemetery tend greatly 
to enhance the difficulties of the landsc.ipe gardener, 
particularly as regards the large area of road sur- 
face and the obtrusiveness of the monumental woik; 
nevertheless we have manyexamples in the country 
where, with all the difficulties encountered, the 
landscape effects are of a high order, and of ihat 
quality which betokens untrammeled artistic effort 
on the part of the designer. Landscape art on the 
ground like landscape art on the canvas does not per 
mit of Interference for the best results. Every com- 
ponent detail of the finished -work has been ar- 
ranged in the artist’s mind, each to a specified end, 
and the whole to form a completed picture. Inter- 
ference from any direction and from any cause must 
of necessity conduce to at least lack of harmony in 
arrangement as ordained by the designer and per- 
haps complete failure in the end from the same 
standpoint. The development of the lawn plan in 
cemetery design and the opportunities for so high 
an order of landscape gardening, has done much in 
the great work of improving taste in out-door work, 
and has furthermore drawn public attention in some 
cities to the cemetery superintendent as a fitting 
man for association with the city officials entrusted 
with the care of public grounds, street trees and out- 
door improvement generally. 
