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 
SUBSCRIPTION TERMS: United States and Possessions , Mexico and Cuba , one year, $2.00; two years , $3.50: three years , $5.00; five years , $8.00. Canada and other countries 
$2.50 a year. Single copies, 25 cents. Published on the 15th of the month. Copy for advertisements and reading matter should reach us by the first of the month. 
JUNE, 1915 
EDITORIAL 
VOL. XXV No. 4 
Economy of the Lawn Plan Cemetery 
The discussion of the laying out of lots and sections in our 
series of articles on the organizing and developing of a mod- 
ern cemetery, on another page, calls forcibly to mind several 
aspects of the economic superiority of the modern lawn plan 
of cemetery layout over the old style of rectangular lots and 
many paths. As Messrs. Hare point out, it was customary in 
the old style burial ground to have paths on each side of every 
lot. The paths were usually made quite apparent, either by 
paving in some manner, or by depressing them below the 
general level of the lots. As a result of this system, 50 per 
cent or more of the land was occupied by pathways. The 
paths made unsightly gashes in the lawns, rendering care of 
lots very difficult, and there was no opportunity for a lot 
owner to get a continuous piece of ground more than one lot 
in extent without eliminating some of the intervening walks. 
Later it was realized that there was no more necessity for a 
walk on all sides of a cemetery lot than for a street on all 
sides of a residence lot, but the elimination of the path as an 
apparent feature of the section was a later development. 
Therefore, the walk in the modern cemetery is more or less 
in the nature of reserve land, which will be used very little 
until the sections become so filled with graves that walking 
across the lots will be difficult. There is a growing tendency, 
especially in the cemeteries of some of the larger cities, to 
feel that it is not at all necessary that each lot have access to 
a walk; that one walk will serve three or four tiers of lots. 
In this aspect, as in many others, the modern lawn plan is not 
only the most beautiful and satisfying development of the 
ground, but the most economical and financially profitable as 
well. 
Editorial Notes 
Arrangements have just been completed between the authori- 
ties who have in charge the public parks and public schools of 
the city of Binghamton and the New York State College of For- 
estry at Syracuse University for the making of a complete shade 
tree census of Binghamton. The work is outlined and the neces- 
sary material and instructions are furnished by the State College 
of Forestry in such a way as to make the field work of distinct 
educational value to the pupils in the public high schools. The 
information gathered will be used in the preparation of a shade 
tree map for Binghamton. It is the plan of the New York State 
College of Forestry at Syracuse to extend this census taking of 
street trees by high school pupils throughout the state as rapidly 
as possible. This work by the pupils will, in many cities of the 
state, be the beginning of the proper planting and preservation of 
public shade trees. 
Frequent inquiries are coming to the New York College of 
Forestry concerning black knot which develops upon the twigs 
and branches of several of our common trees such as oak, maple 
and hickory. These black knots give an unsightly appearance to 
the trees and often cause death to the branches. As a matter of 
fact, very little is known as to the cause of these knots, although 
probably insects have something to do with their formation. 
They are not caused by fungi, as in the case of many such knots 
or burls in the pine trees. Neither are they like the common 
black knot of cherry and plum, w'hich is caused by a parasitic 
fungus. The Department of Forest Botany in the College of 
Forestry at Syracuse is making an investigation of these knots 
or tree tumors. The object of the investigation is to determine 
the distribution of the trouble, the kinds of trees that are affected, 
the loss or injury caused by them, and, if possible, methods of 
prevention. The college will be glad to have specimens of black 
knots upon all kinds of trees and from different parts of the 
state. The young or beginning stages of the knot are necessary 
for the determination of the cause of the trouble. Once the cause 
is known, a means of controlling it may be determined. 
Little diagonal streaks or wrinkles across the grain of a 
piece of timber not only betray weakness, but sometimes in- 
dicate periods of stress through which the wood passed when 
it was growing. They may even be taken as a sort of check 
on the official record of wind storms, as in the case of some 
lumber tested at the Forest Service laboratory at Madison, 
Wis. The marks are caused by w'hat are called “compression 
failures,” which occur when the fibers bend or buckle under a 
too heavy strain. In cutting up logs collected for experiments 
at the laboratory, it was noticed that these compression fail- 
ures appeared on the north side of a number of trees which 
came from the same locality in Florida. By counting the an- 
nual rings of the wood, and from knowledge of the time when 
it was cut in the forest, it was decided that the compression 
failures must have been caused by a severe wind from the 
south about the year 1898. Inquiries were made in Florida and 
it was found that a hurricane had, in fact, swept over the 
region at the time indicated. The experiments have determined 
that the strength of a piece of wood may be seriously im- 
paired by slight compression failures due to rough handling. 
In St. Louis the executive work of the parks is vested in one 
Park “Commissioner,” who is really the superintendent and man- 
ager of the parks. During a period of crippled municipal finances 
the Park Commissioner was unable to employ the services of a 
landscape architect, and the florists and gardeners, among others, 
started a petition for the appointment of a landscape architect to 
the office of Park Commissioner, so that the parks might not 
again be deprived of expert technical service. The newspapers 
took the matter up, and many strong expressions of opinion from 
other cities in favor of this plan were printed in the local press. 
The New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse Uni- 
versity is urging the municipalities of the state to take up 
public control of street tree planting and preservation in the 
same manner as public control is exercised over other street 
improvements. During the past year the college has made in- 
vestigation of the shade trees in many cities and towns of the 
state including New York City. Syracuse, Binghamton, Amster- 
dam, Mount Vernon, Newburgh and Glean. It has been found 
that thousands of shade trees are dying along the streets of the 
cities, due to past mistake in selection of varieties and in spac- 
ing the trees at the time of planting, which has forced the 
trees to grow with weakened vitality, inviting decay by tree 
diseases and by the attacks of insect pests. 
