Editorial JVote and Comment. 
The Home Gardening Association, Cleveland. 
The magnificent results achieved by the public school 
children of Cleveland, O., in their recent "flower 
shows” under the auspices of the Home Gardening As- 
sociation is worthy of permanent record and emula- 
tion. The good work carried on among the children 
by this Cleveland association has been referred to in 
these columns on other occasions, and it is decidedly 
gratifying to note that the promises heretofore held out 
are being justified even to a greater degree than might 
have been anticipated. Last year the total number of 
school flower shows did not exceed eight, while this 
year twenty-four schools entered the competition for 
prizes, being one-third of the number of grade schools 
of the city, and besides, upwards of thirty schools held 
flower shows without entering the contest. Comparing 
the shows of this year with those of last, there was a 
decided advance in taste, both in selection and arrange- 
ment, and there was an evident appreciation of the 
object of the association to encourage a love of flowers 
and natural beauty in the minds of the young. Not 
only was there a sincere enthusiasm displayed by the 
schools and teachers in the shows, but public interest 
is being thoroughly aroused, and large numbers of vis- 
itors were present to enjoy the floral displays and to 
give encouragement by their attendance. It may be 
safely asserted that a vast amount of permanent good 
has been implanted in the lives and characters of these 
coming citizens which is already reacting in their 
homes, as it will continue to react in all the phases of 
their careers hereafter- 
City Tree Planting. 
As has been previously noted, Kansas City is setting 
an excellent example in city tree planting. Under the 
able control of its city forester the work of planting 
shade trees and their care has been reduced to a sys- 
tem which is not only resulting in great success as re- 
gards the trees and the appearance of the thorough- 
fares, but is securing the confidence of the property 
owners and their sympathy in the prosecution of this 
phase of civic embellishment. In examining the speci- 
fications for the planting and care of trees issued by 
the Department of Forestry of the city, we opine that 
many will declare that some of the conditions are too 
exacting, and that under a contract system they would 
not be maintained ; moreover, many nurserymen would 
claim them to be unnecessary, particularly in regard to 
the treatment of the trees after planting, on which the 
specifications deal forcefully. It is unquestionably true, 
however, that it is in the first years of a tree’s life in the 
city that unremitting responsible care tells, for upon 
this the future of the tree particularly depends. We do 
not believe that under present civic conditions too much 
stress can be laid on the importance of attention and 
care to the newly planted street shade trees. Under the 
circumstances every city tree should be a specimen of 
its kind and its best development depends upon the 
intelligent ministering to its needs which our present 
knowledge suggests. 
^ ** ^ 
1 Politics and the City Cemetery. 
The report of a committee appointed to investigate 
charges of irregularities in the management of the city 
cemetery of Salt Lake City, L T tah, created a stir in 
a recent council meeting in that city, which once more 
strikingly exemplified the degrading effects of political 
control of the resting places of the dead. To describe 
the conditions in this case would call for too much 
space, but the principal cause of the outburst was the 
practice of the city employees of the cemetery soliciting 
from lot owners the work of sodding and planting lots 
and graves, presumably to fulfill their contracts in their 
own time. It takes but little thought to conjecture what 
trouble such a system would finally bring about, or 
to what condition the cemetery would ultimately be 
brought. In this case it undoubtedly afforded a grand 
opportunity for “graft,” and when this had reached a 
certain point the rival factions came into conflict, the 
scandal saw the light, >and its ramifications were, as 
usual, startling. Political methods and procedure, ques- 
tionable as they generally are, never come into stronger 
contrast than when associated with God’s acre. The 
degrading influences brought to bear tend to destroy 
all the hallowed suggestions of the place, as well as to 
eliminate every idea of business method from its man- 
agement. A municipal reform which calls for enact- 
ment as urgently as anything is that of removing all 
shades of political influence from city cemeteries and 
parks. 
^ ^ ^ 
The Billboard Nuisance. 
The crusade for a more beautiful Chicago received 
an encouragement last month which was cheering. The 
city council by a vote of forty to twenty-one decided 
against the billboard advertisements and signs on the 
elevated railroad structures and stations. The effect 
of the council’s action will be to strip every station not 
erected upon the right of way of the company of its 
bills and posters. It is very unfortunate for all efforts 
in municipal housecleaning that the law’s unaccounta- 
ble delays impose undue restrictions. The two leading 
advertising companies who combined to fight the ordi- 
nance of 1901, and who agreed with the city to erect 
no new signs during the litigation, have increased their 
billboard frontage from thirty miles a year ago to fifty 
miles at present, and still the city is awaiting an opin- 
ion from Judge Chytraus, who took the case under ad- 
visement a year ago. 
