117 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
which $25,000 will be used for the improvement of Niagara 
Square, the site for the McKinley monument, to be erected 
with a state appropriation of $100,000. The principal work 
done during the year, aside from the ordinary care and main- 
tenance, has been the construction of a shelter-house in Hum- 
boldt Park, costing $7,183, and the building of retaining walls 
for the approaches to the bridge in South Side Parkway at a 
cost of $15,488. Superintendent Brothers recommends that 
drastic measures be taken for restoring the lake in Cazenovia 
Park, which is nearly filled up with the accumulations of the 
past eight years. The report of Prof. John F. Cowell, Director 
of the Botanical Garden, says that the planting suffered much 
from the severe winter, some species being almost entirely 
destroyed. Most of the Nordman firs, which had been planted 
for seven years, were killed. The California privet was in 
most instances killed to the ground, and the European cut- 
leaved elders were generally destroyed. The cost of replacing 
lost material is estimated at $2,000. 
* * * 
The Board of Park Commissioners of Hartford, Conn., pre- 
sent in their 44th annual report a number of interesting items 
not found in the average park report. The total expenditures 
for the year were $47,564.01, of which $11,432.63 was for im- 
provements and $36,131.35 for maintenance. A plan for the 
future development of Riverside Park, differing in some fea- 
tures from the original plan, has been prepared by Superin- 
tendent Theodore Wirth, and is included in the report. A 
comprehensive plan with planting key of the new rose garden 
just completed in Elizabeth Park at a cost of $2,500, is also 
attached. The garden covers ij 4 acres, and contains 116 beds, 
each bed representing but one variety. Lafayette Street Green 
has been somewhat remodeled, after a plan by Mr. Wirth, 
shown in the report. The elm leaf beetle is reported as not 
very much in evidence, timely spraying and the severe winter 
being jointly given credit for the absence of the pest. The 
San Jose scale is reported to be gaining headway. Soap 
spraying has been effective, but new sections are being in- 
fested in spite of the severe winter. The increase of the 
Lady Bug, the enemy of the beetle, is encouraging, and it is 
hoped will eventually destroy it. A section on “Bird Life in 
the Parks” is included and a list of those found in Elizabeth 
Park given. The birds are welcome visitors and are fed by 
the commissioners in winter. 
>■< J{e sjc 
The report of the park commission of New Bedford, Mass., 
for the year 1903-4 is a beautifully illustrated souvenir book 
with half-tones printed in sepia on heavy enameled and 
tinted paper. The total park area is given as 191.96 acres, 
the largest tract being Brooklawn Park, with 91.91 acres. The 
total expenditure for the year was $42,042.23, divided among 
the various tracts as follows: Buttonwood, $17,592.30; Brook- 
lawn, $8,171.94; Common, $5,726.52; Triangle Park, $50; 
Hazelwood Park, $6,385.67; Grove, $922.49; Office, $3,193. 
The commissioners urge the necessity of acquiring more park 
land as they believe the present park area inadequate for a 
city of 62,442. 
Annual reports or extracts from them y historical sketches , 
descriptive circulars^ photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department . 
The city council of Belleville, Mo., has passed an ordinance 
forbidding any one but the superintendent or other employe 
of the cemetery from working upon any grave or lot in Wal- 
nut Hill Cemetery. The ordinance provides for a fine of not 
less than $3 nor more than $100 for each offense. There was 
some opposition to the ordinance from lot owners. 
Lot owners of Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D. C., 
recently held in that city what is reported to have been an 
“indignation meeting” to protest against lax and careless 
methods in the management of that cemetery. Among the 
charges made were that the law's concerning drainage were 
violated ; that lots were sold twice and interments made one 
above another. 
* * * 
The directors of the new Interstate Cemetery at Wilming- 
ton, Del., are planning to make it one of the finest in this 
country. Their large tract of land is splendidly located with 
fine views of the Delaware River from its comparatively high 
and rolling land. Plans covering every detail of the work of 
improvement are now being prepared by the landscape depart- 
ment of Thomas Meehan and Sons, of Philadelphia and 
Dreshertown, Pa. 
Pinelawm Cemetery, near Long Island City, L. I., N. Y., is 
said to be the largest in the country. It embraces 2,319 acres 
and the contemplated improvements include a depot, chapel, 
fountains, offices, etc. A great deal of money is being ex- 
pended on the property in grading, laying out drives and in 
erecting a water tank capable of irrigating the entire tract. A 
receiving vault containing 100 marble catacombs has been built, 
at a cost of $40,000. The cemetery is owned by a New York 
syndicate and is in charge of Superintendent Wilbur De Graw 
and Secretary W. H. Locks, Jr. The grounds were laid out 
by Samuel Parsons, Jr., landscape architect of the New York 
parks. 
Justice Wilmot M. Smith, of Brooklyn, N. Y., holds that a 
cemetery is not liable for punitive damages, and has granted 
a new trial in the suit of Mary Brechtlein against the Green- 
wood Cemetery Corporation, of that city, in an action to 
recover $50,000 damages for false imprisonment. She got 
judgment for $5,000, and the defendant appealed. It is alleged 
by the plaintiff that while visiting her daughter’s grave in the 
cemetery on June 10, 1902, she was arrested for picking a 
flower from a rosebush, and was locked up in a station house. 
In his opinion Justice Smith said: “I do not think it neces- 
sary to consider all the interesting questions raised by the 
defendant upon this motion, for I am satisfied that a new 
trial must be granted, because upon the undisputed facts in 
the case the defendant corporation is not liable for punitive 
damages, and it was an error to permit the jury in their dis- 
cretion to award such damages.” 
5jc JjS jfc 
WEED KILLER. 
Editor Park and Cemetery: In response to many requests 
for the formula for weed killer used here, will you kindly 
reprint as below ? W. N. Rudd. 
20 lbs. common arsenic, 15 gallons water; boil 15 minutes; 
35 gallons cold water to be then added ; 40 lbs. caustic soda ; 
