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 15th of the month. Copy for advertisements and reading matter should reach us by the first of the month. 
JULY, 1915 
E D I T O R I A L 
VOL. XXV No. 5 
Field Work in Parks and Cemeteries 
One of the most valuable and the most practical features of 
the conventions of park and cemetery superintendents that will 
be held in August, is the opportunities offered for field work, or 
the inspection and study of parks and cemeteries of other cities 
both enroute and in the convention cities. This practical "labo- 
ratory work" in other grounds, where other men's methods may 
be seen in actual working, is real educative work for the super- 
intendents, and may well be considered the higher education of 
the craft. These personal talks to other superintendents about 
their methods and observation of results of other men's ways of 
doing things, are. in the opinions of many association men, even 
more valuable than the convention proceedings proper. Seldom 
has there been such a favorable opportunity as this year to con- 
veniently combine field work of this character with the trip to the 
convention. The cemetery superintendents will meet in the Twin 
Cities, August 24 to 28 and in addition to the rarely progressive 
work in both parks and cemeteries to be seen in St. Paul and 
Minneapolis, many of the superintendents will continue their 
journey to the Pacific Coast to see the interesting landscape work 
of the expositions and to make stops enroute. The park super- 
intendents meet in San Francisco, August 18, 19 and 20, and their 
going and coming trip will be rich in opportunities for park study 
that their itinerary will take full advantage of. Park boards of 
several western cities have arranged for interesting trips of in- 
spection, designed to show the visitors the most in the shortest 
space of time. Park and Cemetery has for several months given 
especial attention to describing western park systems and ceme- 
teries, and every superintendent who wants to take the fullest 
advantage of his convention trip, should note carefully the places 
he wants to visit, and enjoy to the fullest extent this season’s rare 
opportunities for the practical field work that always inspires to 
greater efficiency and greater usefulness. 
The Topeka Improvement Survey 
A group of citizens of Topeka, Kansas, representative of many 
classes in the city, secured the co-operation of the Department of 
Surveys and Exhibits, Russell Sage Foundation, in making a 
social survey, probably the first extensive study of this nature 
west of the Mississippi. The findings were presented in the fol- 
lowing printed reports : Municipal Administration in Topeka, by 
D. O. Decker: A Public Health Survey of Topeka, by Franz 
Schneider, Jr.: Delinquency and Correction, by Zenas L. Potter; 
and Industrial Conditions in Topeka, by Zenas L. Potter. There 
was no fear that the city would be unfavorably advertised. The 
slogan was: "A city surveyed is a city unafraid.” Topeka, 
by inviting an investigation of her municipal administration, 
evinced a willingness to have faults discussed that progress 
might ensue. Criticism made will not hurt Topeka — unless per- 
chance the faults remain unremedied. "Better administration each 
year" is the slogan suggested ; the best administration, the ideal, 
for no city can attain the ideal at one step. The study of 
Municipal Administration was made by D. O. Decker, special 
agent of the Department of Surveys and Exhibits, Russell Sage 
Foundation, “solely for the purpose of making constructive sug- 
gestions relating to Topeka's administration and arousing citizen 
interest to the point of continuous co-operation. The suggestions 
are of several classes. Some, if adopted, will immediately pro- 
duce better results at lower expenditures. Some will not par- 
ticularly affect Topeka today, but will steer away from serious 
future dangers. Others are of such a nature that until they are 
adopted the best in Topeka does not seem possible.” This study 
of governmental methods in a middlewest capital city affords a 
concrete sample of conditions and "next steps’’ fairly typical in 
many respects of a considerable number of cities of moderate size. 
The report contains valuable sections on parks and street im- 
provements that will be of particular interest to our readers. 
Municipal Forestry in New York 
Recent investigations in Broome, Chenango and Otsego Coun- 
ties by The New York State College of Forestry, at Syracuse 
University, show that the towns and villages in these counties have 
an opportunity to improve the streets and roadways by planting 
good varieties of shade trees to replace those that have failed to 
grow and to fill in the unplanted spaces of the streets and high- 
ways. The number of trees of really undesirable sorts that are 
being planted is surprising. The Carolina Poplar and Soft Maple 
have been quite generally planted. Both of these trees are quick 
growing, which probably is the only reason why these have been 
selected. However, these trees should he rarely planted, and then 
only as temporary trees between other more permanent varieties, 
such as Elm. Norway Maple, and Red and Pine Oaks. In order 
to maintain a growth of desirable shade trees in the cities and 
towns much care at the time of planting should be exercised in 
the choice of a good variety, a location that will allow plenty of 
room for uniform development, and a thorough preparation of soil 
in which the tree may make a luxuriant growth. By timely and 
proper use of the right timber in the Adirondack's and Catskills, 
the State of New York can save annually from destruction by 
fire, insects and fungi, millions of feet of lumber. Ninety per 
cent of the forest fires in the forests and woodlots of the State 
are preventable. The farm woodlot is in more ways than one 
the balance wheel of the farm. It may easily be so located as to 
protect the home buildings against wind, and at the same time, 
furnish supplies of domestic timber, thereby keeping horses and 
men busy during the idle seasons of the year. It may also be one 
of the most attractive playgrounds on the farm. The State 
College of Forestry is helping to solve the problem of marketing 
the farm woodlot by developing co-operative marketing of the 
woodlots of an entire community. Woodlots should be marketed 
by the carload, not by the single tree. Within the cities of the 
state there are 20,000 miles of streets capable of sustaining a 
growth of 5,000,000 shade trees which can be made worth 
$100,000,000 in increased property value. Buffalo spends an- 
nually about $75,000 for planting and conservation of shade trees 
along its public streets. The State College has examined and out 
lined methods of improvement for public shade trees in 26 cities 
and towns in the state. Almost a half of the land area is better 
suited to the growing of timber than to agriculture, horestry 
and agriculture are co-ordinate, and together will bring about 
the most effective utilization of the soils of the state and of 
the country. New York maintains, under the control of the 
College of Forestry, the only State Forest Experiment Station 
east of the Mississippi. Nearly 2,000,000 trees have been 
planted in this station for experimental purposes. 
