PARK AND CEMETERY 
183 
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 Oxford Improvement Association, Fairhaven, Mass., 
has accepted plans by Architect John Williams, of New Bed- 
ford, for a new building, and will soon advertise for bids for 
its erection. 
* * * 
The Improvement Association of Bridgewater, Mass., is 
organizing a winter course of instruction along the line of 
Arts Crafts, embracing some of the simpler, desirable forms 
of industrial work for children, such as needle work, wood 
work, paper and cardboard construction, designing, booklet 
making, clay modeling, raffia and" reed work, bent iron work, 
leather work, metal work. A committee has been appointed 
and recommends that heads of the following four depart- 
ments be appointed: Needle work, wood work, designing 
(including paper and cardboard construction and booklet 
making), and miscellaneous. 
* * * 
The department of civic improvement of the Nineteenth 
Century Club of Memphis, Term., is organizing a campaign 
for beautifying that city. Particular attention will be given 
to the care of both front and rear yards, and the citizens 
will be urged to have ashes, tin cans and garbage of all 
kinds properly disposed of. Another matter that will be 
agitated is the smoke nuisance. Efforts will be made to 
promote a sentiment in favor of the introduction of smoke 
consumers. The Nineteenth Century Club will endeavor to 
interest housekeepers and public school teachers, in order 
that the children may be reached and instructed along the 
same line. 
sjc % 
The Metropolitan Improvement League has been formed 
for the development of Greater Boston along artistic lines. 
President R. A. Boit of the St. Botolph Club, elected presi- 
dent of the new organization, defines the objects of the 
league: “To economize and safeguard the physical growth 
of Boston as a metropolitan center along well-considered and 
artistic lines. To take measures to see that all matters 
relating to plans of development shall be carefully laid out 
by architects and engineers, so that the city may be beautiful 
and well planned. The organization includes as members, 
architects, engineers, judges, business men and prominent 
real estate men of the city. Those serving on the executive 
committee include S. Baxter, M. Bloomfield, F. L. Olmsted, 
C. E. Fay and J. M. Little. J. H. Cox, of Cambridge, was 
elected secretary. 
* * * 
The Algiers Improvement Association, of Algiers, New 
Orleans, La., has been incorporated “to promote the advance- 
ment, improvement, and prosperity of the city of New Or- 
leans and particularly the Fifth Municipal District thereof ; 
to invite immigration and the investment of capital ; secure 
new enterprises; build and improve streets and roads; debate 
and act upon all questions relating to municipal progress, 
sanitation and commercial advancement ; and to these ends 
to use all means to promote the happiness and prosperity of 
the people of the city and state.” The incorporators are : 
Frank A. Daniels, A. C. King, M. D., F. J. Weinberger, 
Geo. Herbert, Jr., C. M. Jennings, Robert O’Connor, A. E. 
Hotard, Aug. Schabel, Dr. C. V. Kraft, and Geo. Koppel. 
* * * 
The Village Improvement Association of Norfolk, Conn., 
has placed enameled signs on the different species of trees found 
growing on the Norfolk Green. The signs and the inscrip- 
tion were approved by the chief of the department of den- 
drology in the bureau of forestry at Washington, D. C. Fif- 
teen different species now growing in the park have been 
marked, but only one of each species is indicated. The 
signs, which make a very attractive appearance, bear the 
scientific name of- the tree, the common name, and the native 
place of the tree. Several years ago much progress was 
made in the attempt to plant in the park a specimen of all 
the trees native to Norfolk. Many kinds once planted there 
have lived and have never been replaced. 
* * * 
The Kent Improvement Association, Kent, R. I., offered last 
spring a series of prizes for best kept private grounds and 
school gardens and has awarded the prizes after a very suc- 
cessful contest. Prizes were offered for private grounds not 
exceeding 10,000 sq. ft. in area, to be cared for personally by 
the owner or occupant. Prizes of $5 and $3 were given. A 
first prize of $3 and a second prize of $2 were offered for the 
best kept flower bed by a boy or girl not over sixteen years of 
age, while the third offer was a choice of $5 worth of shrubs 
to that school having the best kept grounds and gardens. No 
award was made for the children’s prize, as no notice of entry 
was received and the committee was unable to learn which 
flower beds, if any, had been under the care of children. In 
making its report the committee speaks of the gratifyingly 
large number of homes in the village whose surroundings evi- 
dence the neatness and taste of the occupants. 
* * * 
The Springfield Improvement Association, Springfield, 
Mass., has recently been giving much attention to expurgat- 
ing the billboards of that city. They have secured the passage 
of a drastic ordinance which is being rigidly enforced by 
City Marshal Stebbins. The ordinance not only prohibits 
indecent posters, but hereafter nothing that has any resem- 
blance to a fight can be pictured on the show bills. Even 
a battle scene will be barred if the rule is strictly carried 
out. The amended ordinance reads as follows : “Every 
licensee shall prevent his place of amusement and any per- 
formance or exhibition therein from being advertised by 
means of pictorial posters or placards which have not been 
approved by the city marshal or some person designated 
by him, and the marshal or person so designated shall ex- 
clude such placards or posters as are lewd, indecent or 
vulgar, or which pictorially represent the commission or at- 
tempt to commit a crime or bodily violence.” 
* * * 
The Arlington Heights Tree Protective Association and 
other improvement organizations of Arlington, Mass., and 
vicinity, whose successful work in exterminating moth pests 
has been noted in this department, have -adopted the follow- 
ing methods of work which can be studied with advantage 
by other organizations engaged in similar work : A can of 
creosote and a brush to paint the gypsy moth nests were 
distributed to every house, with a notice that when the cans 
were empty they would be filled again free of charge. Five 
stations were established, each one equipped with three lad- 
ders, 10, 15 and 25 feet; two 12-foot pruners and two 
scrapers. Anyone living in the district could use these im- 
