PARK AND CEMETERY 
and Landscape Gardening. 
Vol. XII CHICAGO, MARCH, 1902. No, 1 
Entered at the Postoffice at Chicag’o as Second Class Matter. 
CONTENTS. 
Editorial — Politics in Park Affairs — Something Worth 
Reading — Bluff City, Kansas — Civic Improvement in 
St. Louis — Diversity in Small Parks — Washington 
The Beautiful 238, 239 
*The Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Mass 240 
Village Improvement ' 241 
*American Thorns 242 
The Elm Tree Beetle 244 
*Beautifying the .Small Towns 245 
Lawn and Shrubbery on Residence Grounds 245 
Cremation Becoming Popular 246 
*One of Nature’s Paths, Fairmoimt Park 247 
*Plan for School Grounds, Excelsior, Minn 248 
Connecticut Improvement Societies 248 
^Improvement Associations 249 
Water Lilies 250 
*Street Improvement for Uniting Two Cemeteries 251 
*Cemetery Office Buildings. Chicago 252 
Books and Current Literature 252 
^Garden Plants — Their Geography — LXXV 253 
Seasonable Suggestions 254 
Park Notes 255 
Cemetery Notes 256 
Reviews of Reports, &c 257 
*Illustrated. 
POLITICS IN 
‘PARK AFFAIRS. 
In many important centres of the 
country, notably Boston, Essex 
County, N. J., Cleveland, and Chicago, the question of 
political interference in park management is slowlv but 
surely coming to a head, and must eventually be settled 
in the interests of the people. In Boston the present 
issue is the Common, now controlled hy the Depart- 
ment of Public Grounds, and which by reason of the 
lack of expert care, it is highly desirable should be 
placed in the hands of the Park Commissioners. In 
this case the American Park and Outdoor Art Associa- 
tion, through its president, Mr. E. J. Parker, advocates 
reform in a letter to the Transcript. The live ques- 
tion in connection with the Essex County, N. J., park 
system is the effort to turn the maintenance account 
over to the Freeholders, a movement which it is earn- 
estly hoped pending bills in the New Jersey legislature 
will frustrate. The management of the Cleveland 
park system which suffered such an upheaval but a 
year or so ago, is again a bone of contention among 
the politicians both in Cleveland and Columbus. In 
Chicago, death and a resignationTave placed the South 
Parks in the hands of the' Circuit Judges for the ap- 
pointment of two commissioners, and opinion is urgent 
that proper men shall be appointed; the West Side 
parks are in a disgraceful muddle of political misman- 
agement, and Lincoln Park, which under pressure of 
])ublic sentiment was last year placed in business hands 
has clearly demonstrated, although left well-nigh bank- 
rupt by the previous board, what an honest adminis- 
tration of its business means, and has thus most forci- 
bly illustrated the degrading and devastating influences 
of political partisan control. It is quite true that the 
people recognize that politics in park affairs mean 
devastation, degradation and robbery, and that under 
no circumstances whatever should political partisan- 
ship he permitted to exercise its peculiar functions in 
park management. 
SOMETHING “Let us make a beautiful city of 
WORTH Springfield, Mass.,” is the title of a 
READING. ^ • f ■ 
pamphlet containing a series ot six- 
teen articles reprinted from The Springfield, Mass., 
Republican, with illustrations. This series written by 
an authoritative writer, is deserving of the widest 
reading. Especially prepared for the needs of the city 
of Springfield, the suggestions are of broad applica- 
tion and are presented in a clear and beautiful man- 
ner, and practically cover the many lines of work 
which the beautifying of a city compreh.ends. The 
pamphlet is j^ublished by the Republican Company, of 
Springfield, Mass., and may be obtained postage paid 
for thirteen cents. In this era of outdoor improve- 
ment nothing is of more benefit to a growing senti- 
ment than writings of this character, for while dis- 
tinctively of an educational trend, their literary value 
not only attracts attention but directs it in practical 
channels. It is on these grounds that we draw our 
readers’ attention to this valuable addition to tlse liter- 
ature of civic embellishment. 
BLUFF CITY, Bluff City, Kansas, will become as 
KANSAS. known as a western pioneer t(.nvn 
in the work of improvement as any of the eastern 
places of far greater pretensions. It has the advan- 
tage, however, of having but one name coupled with 
this development, that of Mr. James Glover, a com- 
munication from whom appears in another column. 
The lesson to be learned and applied is this : That 
what can be accompilshed at Bluff City can be done 
elsewhere; all that is needed is a public spirited, de- 
voted and earnest spirit as an initiative. Bluff Cit}' 
has somewhat less than 300 population, and is situated 
in a farming country. It has a pretty park of some 
eleven acres, and the tone of the place is an improving 
one. The inhabitants in due time became iii'pressed 
with the efforts in their behalf and a general attention 
to outdoor surroundings followed, until the little town 
stands as a model for up-to-date improvement energy. 
Towns and villages everywhere should take ad van- 
