54 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
Annual reports or extracts from them , historical sketches, 
descriptive circulars, photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department . 
The annual report of Superintendent W. S. Egerton of 
the Albany, N. Y., parks, takes the form of a summary 
of the monthly reports of the Bureau of Parks, and gives 
an interesting running account of the work on the parks and 
the changing conditions from month to month throughout 
the year. The parks were kept in their usual fine condition 
with an expenditure well within the appropriation, and Wash- 
ington Park especially received much praise from the New 
England Association of Park Superintendents, who held their 
convention in Albany, a delegation from the Association of 
American Florists and other officials and experts who visited 
it during the year. The appropriation for the year was $52,- 
900 and the balance on hand January 1, 1904, was $4,000. 
The inventory of the park property is appended to the re- 
port. 
* * * 
The Board of Park Commissioners of Burlington, Vt., 
has issued an eight-page booklet prepared by Prof. L. R. 
Jones of the University of Vermont entitled the “Planting 
and Care of Shade Trees in Burlington.” It contains much 
condensed practical information about the selection, plant 
ing and care of trees in that locality, and will be a valuable 
guide to local tree planters. The American elm and the 
silver maple are given the preference for street planting 
there, with the elm as the favorite. The other trees in- 
cluded in the list are the English elm, Norway maple, Ameri- 
can basswood or linden, European linden, tulip-tree, syca- 
more, white ash, red ash. red oak, white oak, burr oak, yellow 
locust, honey locust, American chestnut, hackberry, Lom- 
bardy poplar, horse chestnut, and beech. Kinds suited for 
other than street planting, kinds to be avoided, planting and 
care of trees, source of stock, including size, methods of 
handling and pruning, are the other heads under which the 
information is grouped. 
* * * 
A bill providing for township parks throughout the state 
of Ohio has been passed by the Legislature of that state 
and is now a law. It was introduced by Hon. W. J. Will- 
iams at the suggestion of Volney Rogers, of Youngstown, 
O., park commissioner of the Mill Creek Township, and pro- 
vides for the appointment of a board of township park com- 
missioners by the judge of the Court of Common Pleas of 
the county in which the township is situated on petition of 
one-tenth of the electors voting at' the last general or town- 
ship election. This .board shall have the power to employ 
landscape architects and other necessary technical assistance for 
the selection of a site and determining the cost of the proposed 
park or parks and shall then submit the definite proposition 
for the establishment of the park to the people at a general 
or township election. On the approval of the majority of 
those voting on the question, a tax of not more than one 
mill on each dollar of taxable valuation may be levied for 
the establishment and maintenance of the park, and bonds 
issued for the amount. Additional levies for special im- 
provements may be made only after submitting the question 
to a popular vote. The commission shall have full power to 
make laws for the government of the parks and to condemn 
land when necessary. The board shall consist of three mem- 
bers, to serve without compensation for three years, except 
in the case of the first commission, whose members , shall 
serve for one, two and three years, respectively. The com- 
mission shall make an annual report which is to be audited 
by two accountants appointed by the court, and printed notices 
of all questions for public vote must be posted in at least 
five different places and printed in one newspaper thirty days be- 
fore the election. This act shall not affect the operations 
of any municipal or township board now in service until a 
new one has been organized under the provisions of the new 
law. 
* * ■ * 
1 he report of the South Park commissioners of Chicago 
for the year ending November 30, 1903, covers a period 
memorable as marking the second epoch in the enlargement 
of the South Park System and the provision for small parks 
in congested neighborhoods. Bills passed or amended by 
the Legislature authorizing the Commissioners to go forward 
with the work of park extension and enlargement and pro- 
vide small parks have enabled them to make substantial 
progress in this work. This legislation was covered by the 
following acts : 
An Act authorizing the enlargement of the South Park 
System by acquiring additional land at such places in the 
district as thought proper. Prior to this Act, the Commis- 
sioners were limited to taking land adjoining the parks and 
boulevards already established. In the seven months since 
the adoption of this act the Commissioners have selected 
sites, where the natural growth of population required them, 
for seven additional parks, aggregating 585.58 acres, and a 
$3,000,000 bond issue authorized to carry out the provisions 
of this act has been approved by popular vote. An act con- 
veying the state’s interest in certain submerged territory 
necessary for the improvement of Grant Park, on the lake 
front, and another authorizing cities and park districts to 
purchase and maintain museums, giving them the power to 
levy a y 2 mill tax for this purpose if approved by popular 
vote, thus allowing the erection of the Field museum in 
Grant Park. Another act increases the maintenance tax from 
\V 2 to two mills, and another authorizes the issuance of 
$1,000,000 in bonds for small parks; sites have already been 
selected for six of these. Olmsted Brothers have been em- 
ployed to make preliminary plans for Grant Park and for 
the other new parks as they are acquired. 
The total area of the South Parks and boulevards is now 
1,731.69 acres, and the cash receipts for the year were $3,022,- 
166.63, the expenditures being $1,102,632.06. The expendi- 
tures for the larger tracts were as follows: Washington 
Park, $91,933.46; Jackson Park, $63,530.82; McKinley Park, 
$18,719.30; Grant Park, $12,441.63; Midway Plaisance, $16,- 
686.50; Michigan Avenue, $53,828.13. 
The improvements made at Jackson Park have added 
thirty-four and one-half acres to the graded area of the 
park and twenty-eight and one-half acres to the lawn sur- 
Park Commissioners. The improved area of the park is 
now 475.4 acres, leaving 48.5 acres still to be improved. 
The report of Landscape Gardener Frederick Kanst 
shows a total of 35,941 shrubs and trees planted. The largest 
plantings of trees were as follows: Jackson Park, 3,070; 
Washington Park, 120; McKinley Park, 136; Gage Park, 
500; Grant Park, small trees and shrubs, 500. There were 
13,038 shrubs planted in Jackson Park and 1,550 in Wash- 
ington. 
