PARK AND CEMETERY 
jz/^ ParK Notes jS/' 
The parks maintenance bill for the support of the parks of 
Essex County, N. J., which has recently caused political 
controversy in the state, has been passed by the Legislature. 
The bill provides for a mandatory appropriation of $157,500, 
and contains a clause providing that the question as to 
whether the park appropriation is to be fixed by the free- 
holders or the park commissioners is to be decided by a pop- 
ular vote at the election next fall. In the meantime another 
bill is to be introduced authorizing the Board of Freeholders 
to appropriate $100,000 for the maintenance of the parks this 
year. 
* * * 
FROM THE' PARK REPORTS. 
The Park Commission of Topeka, Kan., has presented a 
report for the first two years of its existence, showing ex- 
penditures for 1900 and 1901, of $12,660.71 exclusive of special 
levies. The amounts expended from May 16, 1900, to Feb- 
ruary 28. 1902, for the different parks, are as follows : Gage 
Park, $4,204.51; City Park, $3,146.71; Holliday Park, $645.99; 
Huntoon Park, $593.41 ; Chesney Park, $361 ; Potwin Park. 
$112.25; Central Park, $39.96. The largest owrk of improve- 
ment has been in Gage Park, an 80-acre tract in the western 
part of the city. A green-house 25 by 50 feet, with a fount- 
ain, has been built here, and a nursery of four acres has 
been laid out to supply the city parks. Over 1,000 collected 
trees and shrubs were planted in this park, much of which 
suffered from the unprecedented heat and drought of last 
summer. The general loss in the planting in all the parks 
amounted to about 50 per cent, and the transplanting of 
many trees to conform to the general plans of improvement, 
was not as successful as usual. The board emphasizes the 
inadequacy of the maintenance allowance of $5,000 a year, 
and recommends to the City Council a bond issue of $45,000. 
The annual report of the commissioners of Mill Creek- 
Park, Youngstown, O., gives the total cost of the park to 
January i, 1902, to be $313,767.74, including the following 
items: Land, 457 acres, $60,223.84; improvement and main- 
tenance. $191,078.54; interest, $59,749.84. The present park 
debt is $163,000, bearing interest at 5 per cent. The receipts 
for the past year amounted to $23,869.47, including a balance 
of $5,914.87 on hand January i, 1901, and the expenditures 
for improvements and maintenance were $11,985.27. A new 
water drive has been built along Mill Creek, and the banks 
are to be planted with shrubs and trees. Two and a half 
acres of additional land have been purchased and ten new 
rowboats added to the fleet of Lake Cohasset. The net 
profit from the lake amounted to $2,715.52. 
The report of the engineer of parks, Toledo, Ohio, tells of 
an active year of boulevard and park construction and im- 
provement work. In the East Side parks $18,600 has been 
expended on improvements, and $67,077.72 on the boule- 
vard. A new pavilion has been built in Navarre Park, and 
a new section opened up and graded. Collins Park, a new 
tract, has been cleared, graded, and excavations for a lake 
made. Engineer T. R. Wickenden speaks as follows con- 
cerning some oiled road construction which was tried last 
year: “The oiled road experiment of last year proved a 
failure and has been abandoned. It is possible that an oil 
with an asphaltic base might prove more successful, but the 
oil available in this region failed to protect the clay against 
the action of the water, although great care had been taken 
both in applying the oil and the rolling of the surface.” 
1 he Metropolitan Park Commission, Boston, Mass., in 
its niiith annual report states that the total appropriations 
and the original loan on the Metropolitan Park Act now 
amount to $10,000,000, and that practically all of the land 
provided for has been acquired, and the construction work 
on one-half of it has been fully completed. The district 
comprises Boston and 38 neighboring cities and towns within 
a radius of 13 miles of the State House. Under the various 
acts have been acquired the woods reservations, Blue Hills, 
Middlesex Fells, Stony Brook, Beaver Brook, the banks of 
the Charles, Mystic and Neponset rivers, and seashore at 
Revere Beach, King’s Beach, Lynn, Winthrop and Quincy. 
The appropriations for 1901 were for the settlement of out- 
standing claims, and no new acquirements of any importance 
have been made. 
The Park Board of Bangor, Me., reports an expenditure 
of $4,470.58 for the year ending February 28, 1902. The 
largest outlay for improvements was in Chapin Park, where 
the pond walls were rebuilt, a fountain moved, and trees and 
shrubbery planted. The Board calls attention to the fact 
that more than 18 per cent of the entire appropriation was 
devoted to the care of the trees, which it attributes to the 
large number of trees injured by wires of the city and vari- 
ous companies. 
The recent annual report of the Quincy Boulevard and 
Park .'Association, Quincy, 111 ., shows a successful year’s 
work in the parks of that city. The treasurer reports the ex- 
penditure of $5,697.20, including $3,016.28 for labor, and 
$^ 33-32 for trees, shrubs, vines and seeds. The report of 
President E. J. Parker contained many recommendations for 
the improvement of the parks during the coming season, and 
gave the following statement of the planting done by the 
association: Washington square, 97 trees; Franklin, 25; 
Madison, 251; Riverview, 178; Primrose, 1,487; South, 2,917; 
Indian Mounds, 7i964. Total number of trees, 13,019. Total 
shrubbery and vines, 18,981. Total number of pieces planted, 
32,000. The following officers were elected for the present 
year: President, E. J. Parker; vice-president, R. W. Gard- 
ner; treasurer, E. A. Clarke; secretary, Homer D. Dines. 
The nineteenth annual report of the Board of Park Com- 
missioners of Minneapolis, Minn., is a handsome example of 
printer’s and engraver’s arts, and shows many beautiful 
views in the parks of that city. The work of the year was 
confined chiefly to maintenance, and the following statistics 
of the year’s work are taken from the report : Receipts for 
the year, $203,921.23; expenditures, $205,812.40, making an 
overdraft of $1,891.17. The chief items in the expense ac- 
count were as follows: Land purchases, $5,480; maintenance 
of parks and parkways, $43,829.13; improvement of parks 
and parkways, $1,172.92; tree planting on streets and care, 
$6,696.81; trees and shrubbery, care of nursery, etc., $942.30; 
salaries, $5,500; interest on bonds, $32,535; certificates of in- 
debtedness, $61,455.64. There were 1,751 trees planted dur- 
ing 1901, including 1,540 elms, and 21 1 lindens. 
The eighth annual report of the Park Commissioners of 
New Bedford, Mass., is an attractively printed book of 78 
pages containing many fine half-tone views of park scenery. 
A comparative statement of park statistics, reports of offi- 
cers, and detailed accounts of work in the different parks 
make up the contents of the report. The financial report 
shows the following figures for the year : The total expendi- 
tures, $51,011.63, and the net expenditures for maintenance 
of the several park areas were as follows : Buttonwood 
Park, $8,043.61; Brooklawn, $7,257.08; Common, $5,443.62; 
Hazelwood, $28,000. The expenditure for labor and salaries 
v/as $14,217.45. 
