PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Ill 
cared for in any boulevard twelve inches is ample. In 
some of the outer boulevards nine inches will be suffi- 
cient. The question might be asked why if a nine inch 
road will hold up a traffic in the parks when frequently 
very heavy vehicles pass over it, is it necessary to have 
a heavier road in a boulevard? It is the matter of wear 
again. Take Michigan avenue for instance in the busi- 
est part, where 13,000 vehicles have frequently passed 
over the road in 24 hours and the traffic is always very 
heavy even in wet weather. The wear is, of course great. 
Suppose the road to have gone two years without sur- 
facing; nearly three inches is worn off the surface. Sup- 
pose the following winter to be a severe one on roads, 
that is a wet one, then if the road was nine inches thick 
to start with there would be perhaps, only five or six in- 
ches of material remaining with its bond broken, utterly 
incapable of holding up the traffic. ^Vith a twelve inch 
road there would still be eight or nine inches of mater- 
ial, which would be sufficient. The kind of material to 
use? There are several things tj consider in determin- 
ing this. Principally it must be durable and of two 
grades. The upper three inches should be material that 
will best resist abrasion, which means a hard, tough uni- 
form granite or trap rock. The under six or nine in- 
ches as required may be any hard stone that will pre- 
serve its integrity when subjected to frost. The upper 
three inches should be stone broken into pieces closely 
approximating one and one-quarter inches in their larg- 
est dimensions as nearly cubical as possible, the under 
layer into two and one-half inch pieces. The granite or 
trap rock as was said should be used for the upper three 
inches. For the much used boulevard drives this is al- 
most imperative, but for the outer boulevards and the 
park roads a softer and less expensive material may be 
economically and satisfactorily substituted, limestone or 
good bank gravel. For the roads in a park color of sur- 
face is a consideration. The glaring white surface of a 
limestone road is very painful during the bright day.s and 
at all times its great contrast with the surrounding dark 
greens is anything but pleasant or desirable. The sienna 
of the bank gravel is much better but the gravel road is 
more difficult to keep clean and is much more liable to 
be muddy after the summer shower or if as frequently 
happens in any park but yours, the sprinkling is too 
heavy. The determination of this matter must be largely 
affected by the local conditions in each case as to the 
cost and materials found at hand. To darken the sur- 
face of limestone roads a dressing of crushed granite or 
trap rock, say one-half an inch thick, has been applied 
but it is expensive because of the frequent renewal nec- 
essary to keep the color at all even. If it is thought 
necessary to darken the surface it would be economy in 
the end to ma^e the upper three inches of the road of 
the more expensive material to begin with. 
The result will certainly be more satisfactory as to 
maintenance; for, of course, the harder material does 
not wear as rapidly, therefore does not have to be 
cleaned as often and is not as dusty in dry weather nor 
as muddy in wet weather. 
( 7 h be continued.) 
UTILIZATION OF WASTE LANDS IN TOWNS. 
Villages spring up and develop into tbvvns and 
often into cities in some most uninviting localities; 
as the town grows the physical imperfections be- 
come more apparent and more and more abused un- 
til they become quite objectionable. 
Finally it may be decided that at a considerable 
cost, the hand of man must overcome the features 
nature has left to his abuse. 
Under such laws as the s'ate may provide let an 
action be commenced to condemn all lands necessary 
to work out such a scheme as will afford control of 
portions of the grounds subject to contamination or 
objectionable encroachment. 
Wisdom will suggest that the advice and direc- 
tion of a competent landscape engineer should be 
secured to at least outline such improvements as 
the circumstances warrant. But where even such 
an expenditure is out of the question a village im- 
provement association can arrange to gradually 
extend such a system of planting as will hide from 
view all barns and outbuildings, and event- 
ually bring the grounds into such condition as 
will convey the impression that one is alone with 
nature, where all else is excluded. 
If the valley should be broad enough, let wind- 
ing roads and paths be marked out therein and im- 
proved from time to time as circumstances will 
permit. If a running stream, or even a periodical 
water flow finds its way along the grounds, let such 
channel be provided as will keep itself clean and 
free from stagnant water. Where high banks oc 
cur let them be sloped down until by the aid of trees, 
shrubbery and rocks they will retain a sodded slope. 
If running water can be provided, pools and la- 
goons will suggest themselves at favored localities 
which may be stocked with fish and possibly may 
with little expense be made to provide boating for 
small crafts, to the delight of the children. Aqua- 
tic vegetation and flowers may also be encouraged. 
Again these ponds will provide suitable skating 
places in winter. 
One of the most common and serious obstacles 
to be met in these valleys is the springy and boggy 
ground. But these can in a large measure be over- 
come by cutting off the upland water by a few string 
of tile laid parallel to the hill for a short distance 
and then leading obliquely off through proper chan- 
nels to the main outlet in such valley. An obser- 
vation and study of these conditions will suggest 
how best to meet and deal with them. 
Next in importance will be a judicious planting 
system in which forest trees, including a fair allow- 
ance of evergreens and flowering shrubs should be 
employed. Climbing vines may be employed where 
opportunity for their growth is present. 
Finally to assure the success of the whole regu- 
lar attention to mowing and pruning must be fol- 
lowed, and rules for keeping the grounds clean rig- 
idly enforced. F. Knight, 
