MUNICIPAL PARKS 
129 
off clean, or to a joint, where fresh twigs will soon 
sprout and fill in and make good the gaps. Often 
they are cut leaving a piece of wood, which decays 
back to the young growth, and rots into the sound 
part of the tree. 
Some of the worst enemies of the gardener are the 
electric power-stations. The trees suffer terribly from 
the smoke they emit. Even healthy young shrubs and 
bushes, such as laurels, are destroyed by it. In a very 
short time they become completely dried up, brown, and 
shrivelled. In a memorandum on the Electric Power 
and Supply Bill of 1906, the First Commissioner of 
Works pointed out these disastrous effects. He says, 
“ The case is not entirely one of the emission or con¬ 
sumption of black or sooty or tarry matters. The 
other products of combustion, such as sulphurous and 
sulphuric acid, with solid particles of mineral matter 
or ash, are very deleterious to vegetation/’ It appears 
from the report of Dr. Thorpe, of the Government 
Laboratory, that the production of sulphuric acid could 
be “ much diminished, if not entirely prevented, by 
pouring lime-water on the coal before it goes into the 
furnaces, but from the look of trees in some neighbour¬ 
hoods this precaution does not appear to be taken.” 
These hindrances are often very disheartening, and the 
many and serious difficulties that have to be contended 
with, must never be lost sight of in any review of 
the parks. 
In every case the park is thoroughly appreciated by 
the inhabitants, and no one can overestimate the 
health-giving properties of these lungs of the city. It 
would be vain repetition to point out the fact in each 
case, or to picture the crowds who enjoy them on 
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