PARK AND CEMETERY 
AND 
LANDSCAPE 
GARDENING 
PUBLISHED BY ALLIED ARTS PUBLISHING COMPANY 
R. J. HAIGHT, President 
H. C. WHITAKER, Vice-President and General Manager 
O. H. SAMPLE, Secretary-Treasurer 
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$2.50 a year. Single copies, 25 cents. Published on the ISth of the month. Copy for advertisements and reading matter should reach us by the first of the month. 
MAY, 1916 
EDITORIAL 
VOL. XXVI No. 3 
Court Decides Against Tree Surgery Patents 
The District Court of the United States, Southern District of 
New York, handed down a decision April 4th which marks the 
first step in an important patent trial. The Davey Tree Expert 
Company, of Kent, Ohio, is denied preliminary injunction against 
Clifford H. Easton, of Xew York, on three different patents which 
the Davey company is endeavoring to sustain. The patents, 
which were granted in 1908 and 1909, claim to cover ; A method 
of bolting and chaining together two limbs or parts of trees ; 
the method of filling the cavities in trees with cement placed in 
sections ; a watershed which is claimed to prevent water from 
getting underneath the cement in the interior of the trees. 
In its opinion the court says : ‘T am satisfied, from a peru- 
sal of the records of this court (as well as the papers on this 
motion), that none of these patents has ever received adjudication 
after contest worthy of the name.” It says further as to the 
patent pertaining to the tying together of two limbs by chains and 
bolts: “I am of the opinion that the state of the prior art and 
the extent of common knowledge prevent any preliminary in- 
junction being properly granted.” In respect to the watershed 
patent it says: “There is no infringement even alleged except 
one that is more than six years old; and I am further per- 
suaded By the defendant’s affidavits that there is e.xtreme un- 
likelihood of any or many other and more recent infringe- 
ments because the method of process sought to lie covered by 
this patent is of no practical value.” 
In respect to the patent concerning the sectional cement 
method, the court says: “No. 958478 is confessedly the prin- 
cipal bone of contention. I think it proven that in some (but 
by no means all) cases of filling tree cax'ities with cement, 
the sectional method (or a sectional method) of inserting the 
plastic strengthening material is advantageous ; but I am not 
convinced that claim 1 of the patent is, in view of the prior 
art, sustainable, and there is no showing that defendant has in- 
fringed any other claim except No. 1. It would be useless to 
dwell upon the enormous number of instances of prior use 
alleged by defendant, but it is enough to mention the case of 
the tree on Mill street, Springfield, Mass. As to that, I am 
completely persuaded by defendant’s papers. 
“Further affidavits such as those of Neale, Riley and O'Hearn 
(and others), who are in public employment and have large op- 
portunities for observation, are persuasive that opportunities for 
contesting this patent have been numerous for years, even if the 
method sought to be covered by the patent was not known and 
practiced before Davey thought of it. An amount of delay fatal 
to motion for preliminary injunction is conclusively shown.” 
The art of repairing and preserving specimen trees along streets 
and upon home grounds, parks, etc., has been improving steadily 
year by year since the early eighties, and it is important that the 
widest use be made of all modern methods of tree care. Those 
practicing tree surgery should be liberal in assisting the art as a 
whole, as one physician works with another for the development 
of the profession. 
Touring the National Parks 
Every American citizen ought at some time to visit our great 
National Parks, and the National Parks tour planned by the 
American Civic Association, as announced on another page, offers 
a rare opportunity to park and cemetery people to visit all of the 
principal parks under unusually favorable conditions and at a 
minimum expense. The itinerary of the tour is splendidly de- 
signed to give all who plan to make the proposed trip a compre- 
hensive survey of not only most of the principal national parks, 
but also a very large portion of the points of interest of the West. 
The Department of the Interior is making strenuous efforts to 
develop the parks for the coming season and will be onlx- too glad 
to welcome those who take this tour, giving them every oppor- 
tunity to see the scenic beauties of these great national playgrounds. 
In each of the parks visited the resident supervisor will give the 
association special attention, w'hile Washington representatives of 
the department will probably be present with the party througli 
one or more of the larger parks. The American Civic Associa- 
tion e.xtends a cordial invitation to all who are interested to come 
and learn to know the scenic resources of our own land. It now 
seems probable that this invitation will meet witli wide response, 
and all who can possibly go should make reser\ations earl\-. 
Editorial Notes 
It is estimated that automobiles carried to the fjrand Canyon 
National Monument last year 20,000 persons, while the number of 
persons to reach the canyon by railroad was 92,000, or five times 
as many as in 1914. 
.Approximately 85 per cent of the losses of cattle on the na- 
tional forest ranges due to poisonous plants is caused by tall lark- 
spur. jJeath camas, lupine, laurel, sneeze weed, and rubber weed 
are responsible for sheep losses from such cause, while loco weed 
is the principal poisonous plant affecting horses. Last year the 
loss from these causes amounted to about $300,000. 
Resolutions urging Congress to create a national highways 
commission to investigate and report upon the most economic and 
beneficial method for the federal government to participate in the 
building of good roads are being submitted by the National High- 
ways Association to state legislatures, chambers of commerce and 
civic organizations in all sections of the country. Helieving that 
Congress is now practically committed in principle to the policy of 
federal participation in good roads construction, this movement 
has been undertaken to direct such jiarticipation along the most 
scientific and economic lines. 
After a long tight by the friends of forestry in this country 
for appropriations from Congress, the head watvrs of streams in 
the Appalachian chain are being secured by the government and 
protected. Congress made an appropriation of $1<),00(),(X)() under 
what is known as the VX'eeks .Act in 1910. to be expended over a 
[leriod of five years. Up to the present, 1,200,(100 acres have been 
lUirchased under the terms of this act for the guarding of water 
sheds and navigable streams throughout the East. This is a 
s[)letidifl step forward, e\eti though it has beeti necessary to fight 
every step of the way to brittg it aboitt. 
