277 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
with chapters, after the pattern of the xA.uclubon Soci- 
ety. Many, who have given careful thought to the 
subject, will endorse the suggestion of the public 
school as a fruitful field to be cultivated, and will 
emphasize the idea still more fully. Plant life is so 
varied and profuse, as a general fact, that even in this 
enlightened age the ordinary demands of the average 
life, whether in town or country, afiford little oppor- 
tunity for any systematic acquirement of any general 
knowledge of plants after the i)er’iod of schooling: but 
it is certain that much that is now forced into the 
juvenile mind might properly give place to the study 
of plants and plant life, which would be of lasting 
benefit both to the individual and the community in 
the years to come. 
IMPROVEMENT WEEK The meeting of the Ameri- 
cAT CHAUTAUQUA. can League for Civic Im- 
provement, held for one day only at Chautauciua last 
year, as an appropriate conclusion of the Buffalo con- 
vention, attracted so much attention and interest that 
is is proposed to rej^eat the experience at the coming 
summer assembly. No. 7 of the special weeks is offi- 
cially programmed as Public Improvement week, dur- 
ing which there will be a series of meetings under the 
charge of the League. The Chautauqua annual as- 
sembly draws visitors and students from all parts of 
the country, of whom it may be said all are deeply 
interested in matters of education and progress, and 
it is doubtful whether any other gathering in the 
world would afford richer oj^portunity to impart the 
])rinciples of so attractive a cause and with so much 
promise of the labor bearing good fruit when the dele- 
gates again reach their homes. In this regard Chau- 
taiuiua is evidently appreciated, for besides the week 
as recorded above, “Arts and Crafts” and “Municipal 
Progress” are subjects also provided for by special 
weeks. 
THE cHEED OF A We have always cordially en- 
TREE WARDEN. dorsed such legislation as in a 
wise manner regulates the care and protection of pub- 
lic ornamental and shade trees, and we would wish 
that the necessity for such legislation had impressed 
its appropriateness upon all the States. Such laws 
have amply justified their enactment, and have done, 
moreover, valuable service in creating a better knowl- 
edge of trees and their economic uses in the commun- 
ity. The ruthless destruction of valuable trees in our 
country highways and villages, even at this late day, 
is appalling, and is evidently largely the result of 
ignorance, with all its lack of appreciation of either 
beauty or usefulness. In many rural districts through- 
out the country, the landscape is fairly denuded of tree 
life, simply because the abutting owners cannot realize 
that every good tree is worth the ground it occupies 
many times. Unfortunately the country school house 
does not yet ground its pupils in the primer of nat- 
ural economics, so that the tree that draws its modi- 
cum of nourishment from the boundaries of the grain 
field or truck patch, even from the other side of the 
fence or hedge, is dubbed an enemy, to be destroyed 
at a convenient time. In the present condition of 
knowledge of the higher conditions of life, the tree 
is too often condemned as a nuisance, which on the 
contrary should attract the veneration and care of the 
community. It has become the duty of public in- 
structors to incorporate into the school curriculum 
under their charge a liberal proportion of nature study, 
■that the pupils may learn to act with understanding 
and discrimination when the question of trees and 
their care becomes a personal one. Let laws be en- 
acted in every State that vdll at least provide a sensi- 
ble method of control and management of our shade 
and highway' trees. 
IMPROVEMENT IN Although it is more than ten 
COUNTRY CEMETERIES years since the lawn plan of 
cemetery improvement first attracted practical atten- 
tion, and that beautiful examples of that practice are 
dotted all over the country in the leading cities, and 
not a few in the rural districts, it is astonishing to note 
how slowly the idea takes active form in the country 
places generally. It cannot be that the people in the 
smaller communities do not realize the advantages of 
such improvements, because no dissenting voice is 
ever raised adverse to the cause, and it would be very 
difficult to find a person not impressed by the appear- 
ance and conditions of a modern cemeteryq but yet 
year after year finds the country cemetery still, for the 
most part, neglected and forlorn, the field of experi- 
ment in decorative energy for every individual lot 
holder, and the market for the monument dealer, 
wholesale and retail. In casting about for a reason for 
these continued and prevailing conditions, one is at 
once impressed with the thought that education is 
needed, education along the lines of advantages to be 
gained and the methods to be pursued to secure these 
ends. But education in any direction is a difficult mat- 
ter without guide or teacher, and the conclusion is 
forced upon us that an enlightened and leading spirit 
is required in every community before we shall find 
any gratifying progress in the improvement of the 
country cemetery. But these leaders themselves must 
be educated and inspired, and how is it to be done? 
The Association of American Cemeterv Superintend- 
ents might take this thought up and experiment with 
it. The organization has done a vast amount of good, 
it has been the mainspring of the modern cemeterv 
reformation, and it should be able to radiate sufficient 
of its experience and knowledge to inspire and instruct 
leaders in the good work in communities more remote 
from its active centers, and so help to increase the 
number of beauty spots over the country, upon which 
such a wealth of energy is now being concentrated. 
i 
