1 94 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
Charles Ehot, Landscape Architect; 
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.; Boston, 1903 ; 
price, $3.50 net : 
This story of the life and work of the 
late Charles Eliot is in effect an auto- 
biography edited by his father, President 
Eliot of Harvard. It embraces a large 
and carefully selected collection of Mr. 
Eliot’s letters, papers, and 1 professional 
work, and furnishes a mine of valuable 
information on all forms of landscape 
work as well as an intimate biographical 
study of one of the masters of landscape 
art. President Eliot had every facility 
and qualification for writing a scholarly 
biography, but has chosen rather to let 
his talented son speak directly to his 
readers. To this end the major part of 
the text consists of the son’s own writ- 
ings, President Eliot's notes being chief- 
ly introductory and explanatory. It is 
this method that gives the book the 
charm of a personal talk with Mr. Eliot, 
and keeps one in close touch with the 
growth of the man and the progress of 
his art. 
Although his career as a practicing 
landscape architect owing to his untime- 
ly death at the age of 33, was a brief 
one, he was connected with much of the 
best work of his time both as a member 
of the firm of Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, 
and when practicing his art alone. The 
book contains nearly 800 pages, and is 
freely illustrated with fine photogravure 
views of before and after scenes show- 
ing specimens of Mr. Eliot's landscape 
work, and many of his own plans and 
drawings. These include examples of 
every phase of the art, from home 
grounds, country estates, and cemeteries 
to his great work for the Boston Metro- 
politan Park Commission. 
Mr. Eliot was a ready and entertaining 
writer on topics pertaining to landscape 
art, and many of his contributions to cur- 
rent literature, and private letters form a 
valuable addition to landscape literature. 
Two chapters of this nature are those 
entitled: “The Function of the Land- 
scape Architect,” and “What Would be 
Fair Must First be Fit.” 
The relations between architects, land- 
scape architects, and landscape gardeners, 
and the distinction between these terms 
are frequently touched upon. His views 
in general on these points coincide with 
those of Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted. 
Jr., recently quoted in these pages, as 
will be seen from these extracts : 
“As I understand it, all conscious ar- 
ranging of visible things for man’s con- 
venience and for man’s' delight is archi- 
tecture. * * Landscape architecture in- 
cludes and covers landscape engineer- 
ing, landscape gardening, and land- 
scape forestry.. A formal avenue or 
parkway is a work of landscape archi- 
tecture ; so is a well-designed picturesque 
park. The engineer and the gardener 
will each have his share in both pieces of 
work ; but each must labor for the per- 
fecting of the general design, if a success- 
ful result is to be achieved. * * Land- 
scape gardening is that part of the land- 
scape architect’s labor which is directed 
to the development of formal or natural 
beauty by means of removing or setting 
out plants. As a matter of fact, I find 
it but a secondary part of the profession ; 
the devising of general schemes which 
shall combine convenience with pre- 
served, increased, or created beauty is 
the most important part of our work.” 
The book is in 40 chapters, the first 
ten dealing with Mr. Eliot’s early life, 
professional training, and landscape 
study in Europe. Some of the chapters 
that will be of especial interest in addi- 
tion to those mentioned are the follow- 
ing: Two Scenery Problems; Six Old 
American Country-Seats ; Adequate 
Open Spaces for Urban Populations, and 
Public Ownership of Coast Scenery ; 
Creation of the Preliminary Metropoli- 
tan Park Commission of 1892-93 ; Gen- 
eral Principles in Selecting Public Reser- 
vations and Determining their Boun- 
daries; Charles River — 1891-96; Policy 
and Methods of the Metropolitan Park 
Commission, 1896; Making good use of 
the Skill and Experience of a Landscape 
Architect ; Landscape Forestry in the 
Metropolitan Reservations ; Metropolitan 
Parks and Parkways in 1902. 
The Bulletin of the New York Bo- 
tanical Garden, Vol. 3, No. 9, contains 
the following botanical contributions : 
New or Noteworthy North American 
Crassulaceae, by N. L. Brittton and J. 
N. Rose; The Flora of the Matawan 
Formation, by Edward W. Berry, illus- 
trated ; Bolivian Mosses, Part I, by R. S. 
Williams; The Dimensional Relations of 
the Members of Compound Leaves, by 
Charles Zeleny, with drawings. 
Country Life in America will issue a 
special gardening number in March that 
will contain a number of articles of un- 
usual value to landscape workers. Among 
them are the following : Practical sug- 
gestions from the Arnold Arboretum ; 
My Back-Yard Garden; Rock Garden- 
ing; A Small Formal Garden 30 Years 
Old; How We Improved the Looks of 
Our School; A Brookside Wild Garden; 
Points on Rose Growing; Plants for Va- 
cation Homes; A Back-Yard Water Gar- 
den. It will be a double number illus- 
trated in the usual fine style of this pub- 
lication and \yill be a treat to any one 
that loves the things out-of-doors. Price 
50c ; Doubleday, Page & Co., New York. 
Tenth Annual Report of the Board of 
Park Commissioners of Des Moines, 
la., for the year ending April 6, 1903 ; 
Contains state laws, park rules and re- 
ports of officers. The expenditures for 
the year amounted to $67,819.99, divided 
as follows: Land payments, $27,751.17; 
maintenance, $14,017.61 ; improvement, 
$22,258.41 ; general maintenance, $3,- 
692.80. The city now has all the park 
property it can need for many years, ex- 
cept the tract along the east bank of the 
Des Moines river from Locust street to 
the Coon river, which it expects to ac- 
quire. High water during the season of 
1902 prevented further improvement of 
the river front property already acquired, 
but extensive plans have been made for 
this work. The report is neatly bound 
and illustrated with a number of attract- 
ive half-tone views of park scenery. 
Bureau of Parks, Troy, N. Y. : The 
Municipal Improvements Commission 
of Troy has issued a handsome illus- 
trated report of the work of the Bureau 
of Parks for 1903. This commission 
was authorized by an act of the Legis- 
lature of 1903 to assume the park work 
formerly conducted by the Commission- 
ers of Public Works. It includes a re- 
port by the Landscape Engineer, Garnet 
D. Baltimore, an historical sketch en- 
titled The Park Idea, Superintendent’s 
report, financial statement, etc. The re- 
ceipts for the year were $2,600, and the 
expenditures, $2,291. 
Proceedings of the 19th Annual Con- 
vention of the Society of American 
Florists and Ornamental Horticulturists, 
held at Milwaukee, August 18-21, 1903. 
Contains detailed report of the proceed- 
ings and list of officers and members. 
