94 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
with the Mayor and leading architects as its founders, 
but our report says that “as yet no results of their 
work is seen.” 
The people of Orsa, Sweden, practice scientific 
forestry to such good purpose that they have in the 
course of a generation sold $4,600,000 worth of trees 
and have provided for a similar income every thirty 
or forty years. This money is used for municipal 
purposes and the people pay no taxes. Railways, tele- 
phones and schools are entirely free. Gas and water 
rates are met by this fund as are also the cost of build- 
ing city halls, courthouses, and similar expenses pro- 
vided for in almost all countries by taxation. 
Good work has been dotie in France and Belgium. 
Our Singalese report tells of prizes offered by offi- 
cials of the Government Railways of Ceylon for the 
best kept station grounds, and of prizes given by the 
director of Public Instruction for schoolhouse grounds. 
travel through it, attract visitors and make the nat- 
ural beauties of the region accessible.” Throughout 
this region all of the land is either in farm or forest 
as the state cannot afford unproductive areas, and 
there are village communes receiving incomes from 
forests which not only meet all taxes corresponding 
to our road, county and school taxes, but which pay 
annual dividends to householders. Apropos of this 
foreign work, Miss Dock says, “it is not necessary to 
go to England or to Germany to realize the financial 
value of well ordered communities, for the States of 
New Hampshire and Massachusetts together receive 
about six million dollars a year from summer visitors, 
because they have fine roads, and clean, well managed 
villages where visitors are able to enjoy the beautiful 
scenery.” 
The States of Michigan, Minnesota and Wiscon- 
sin have the same incentives and the same opportu- 
WORK OF HONESDAFE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY, HONESDATE, PA. (NOTE TREATMENT OF RIVER BANKS.) 
In Austria Improvement Societies are found only 
in small places, chiefly at summer resorts and water- 
ing places. In England and in Germany, the coun- 
tries that lead in improvement work, the pollution of 
streams is not permitted, neither are their banks de- 
faced. Miss Mira Lloyd Dock, of Harrisburg, Pa., 
to whom we are under deep obligations for informa- 
tion and inspiration in preparing our report, says that 
“Investigators in Germany find the country is practi- 
cally one vast improvement association ; that the 
chief features of German river towns are the avenues 
of trees along river banks and the floating baths an- 
chored off shore.” She tells of the great Schwarzwald 
Verein, or Black Eorest Improvement Association, 
composed of business men who have learned that 
beauty and scientific forestry, and good roads bring 
dividends in dollars and cents. The aim of the society 
is to “extend knowledge of the Black Forest, facilitate 
nities as the eastern states named and should make 
the most of them. 
In England we find sewage provided for, the 
streams protected, and various established societies 
for the creation and preservation of beauty. The 
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association of London 
is the greatest improvement association in the world. 
It has been in existence eighteen years, and during 
that time has successfully completed 430 distinct un- 
dertakings of varied character, but “all,” as Miss 
Dock has said, “‘intended to contribute to health and 
happiness.” They range from placing a seat beneath 
a sheltering tree to improving Epping Eorest at an 
expense of £277,000. 
It has opened more than 200 schoolhouse grounds 
on Saturd.ays ; has transformed not less than 120 neg- 
lected, dreary and unsightly disused burial grounds 
into play grounds and public gardens ; and the mere 
