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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SEPTEMBER, 1915 
E D I T O R I A L 
VOL. XXV No. 7 
Broadening Social Si 
The most significant aspect cf recent park history has been the 
constantly broadening development in social service work, and a 
mo'st interesting experiment in this line has been tried in Boston 
this season. A dozen organizations of the city supported a series 
of free evening entertainments in parks and playgrounds during 
the month of July. The purpose was to show in an interesting 
manner the community’s public and private resources for health, 
social welfare, civic progress and recreation. The first Boston 
Park Show was given on Franklin Field the evening of Monday, 
July 5, as a feature of the City of Boston program for the ob- 
servance of Independence Day. An entertainment was then 
scheduled five evenings a week for the balance of the month. 
After this interesting series of experiments during the month of 
July, the committee has proved that there is a popular demand 
and a ready acceptance for information concerning the con- 
structive resources of the city. The answer of this experiment 
is that through motion pictures, supplemented by slides with 
facts and suggestions, large audiences may be instructed at the 
same time they are entertained. The twenty Boston Park Shows 
that were given from the first of July up to the recent rainy 
season which prevented continuing the series, even if the commit- 
tee had decided to continue, had audiences averaging 5,000 to 
6,000 a night in several parts of the city. “Boston Park Shows 
are intended to be worth-while entertainments,” said one of the 
slides, and in this spirit the programs were received. A total of 
probably 125,000 men, women and children attended the entertain- 
ments. A complete, well-balanced program was given each night, 
including music, and the program changed so that no audience 
saw the same show twice. Educational, instructive propaganda 
was not over-emphasized, but was nevertheless plainly evident. 
In other cities similar efforts have been solely for health propa- 
ganda, as fn New York, Chicago, Providence and Fall River; or 
as an additional means for recreation in the parks, as in St. 
Louis. In Boston both purposes have been successfully com- 
bined. The St. Louis plan is now being conducted for a second 
year by the city through the Division of Parks and Recreation 
of the Department of Public Welfare, alternately with band con- 
certs, in fourteen parks and playgrounds. The schedule started 
June 15 and continued to September 7. The Boston programs 
were made up after this manner: First, introductory stereopticon 
Studying New 
Professor Laurie D. Cox, landscape engineer of the State Col- 
lege of Forestry at Syracuse, has just made an exhaustive study 
of the trees of New York City, and will shortly present a report 
to Cabot Ward, commissioner of parks, the New York Times 
states. This report will include the first comprehensive census 
of the trees of Manhattan and Richmond and will be the basis 
for future activities by which Commissioner Ward hopes to in- 
crease greatly the number of trees in the city and prevent it from 
becoming treeless, a condition that rapidly approaches unless 
drastic measures are taken. Professor Cox was employed through 
a fund given by John D. Rockefeller. When Mr. Ward became 
commissioner he found the city losing thousands of trees each 
year through lack of system as to planting the proper species of 
trees and their proper care after they were planted. Commis- 
sioner Ward gave Professor Cox a squad of department men 
and for three months they have been accumulating the data on 
vice in Boston Parks 
slides stating the purpose of the shows and names of organiza- 
tions concerned. Then, alternately, motion pictures and slides, 
such as the following: Current news weekly reel; health fea- 
ture, either slides or motion picture ; slides illustrating and ex- 
plaining activities of B. Y. M. C. Union ; civic feature reel, 
“Around about Boston,” or travel pictures; epigram and quota- 
tion slides; temperance slides; recreation feature, motion picture, 
“Sports of the Nations”; slides explaining and illustrating work 
of Y. M. C. A., or of the S. P. C. A., or of the Milk and Baby 
Hygiene Association, alternating on different nights; social wel- 
fare feature in form of slides or pictures, such as the work of 
the Massachusetts Child Labor Committee ; comedy feature, in 
closing, such as “Gertie,” a popular black and white motion pic- 
ture ; and as the finale, a patriotic feature including slide show- 
ing President Wilson, “the most powerful official in the whole 
wide world” ; then the Stars and Stripes accompanied by “Star- 
Spangled Banner” — a*id “Good-Night.” 
Two special programs were arranged. The first was a “Seeing 
Boston Night,” on Boston Common, the evening of July 20. 
Acting Mayor George W. Coleman was present and spoke briefly. 
The motion pictures and slides were illustrative of Boston activi- 
ties and scenes, including a visit to Governor Walsh at the State 
House, to Mayor Curley at City Hall, officials of the Chamber of 
Commerce and Massachusetts Hardware Association, members of 
the Pilgrim Publicity Association, etc., together with views of 
the Custom House Tower, scenes in the parks, aeroplane flight 
at Revere Beach, etc. The second special night was spoiled by 
rain, which also dampened any further attempt to continue the 
shows through the month of August, for it rained every available 
night without an exception from the end of July. 
When the next series of Park Shows are presented to the 
people of Boston they will be undoubtedly still more comprehen- 
sive and much improved over the experiment just concluded. 
The plan for giving such free evening entertainments in parks 
and playgrounds has proved very well worth while. Results have 
been satisfactory, not only to the committee but to the audiences. 
They are expensive, these shows, but worth all they cost in 
money, time and labor. If additional financial, support comes, 
there may be another series in the fall. At any rate, the com- 
mittee expects the plan to be in operation all next summer, start- 
ing early in June and continuing into September. 
York City Trees 
which the forester will base his report. The tree census will 
include the history of every tree in Manhattan and Richmond — 
the date of planting, conditions of soil and environment, and the 
life of the tree whose place it took. Professor Cox is also gath- 
ering data as to the kinds of trees suitable for various parts of 
the city. The depth of soil, the street traffic, the congestion and 
height of buildings, proximity of gas mains, pressure of vaults 
and conduits, and scant tree openings are some of the difficulties 
that exist in various zones. 
Another feature of the report will be a map showing the loca- 
tion of the city’s trees. This will be divided into zones accord- 
ing to conditions. Thus the down-town district, where under- 
ground and traffic conditions make the growing of trees a prac- 
tical impossibility, would comprise one zone, while a district a 
little further removed, in w'hich the hardest kind of tree might 
grow, would constitute another. 
