The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-15
GARFIELD PARK.
Gen. COburn's Remarks Before the
Works Board Not Correctly Reported.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
1 see in a report in your newspaper of
this morning a statement of what I said
to the Board of Public Works yesterday
concerning the condition and management
of Garfield Park which needs correction.
Your reporter makes me say that lin 1873
the report of the City Council showed that
2.179 trees were turned over to the GUS
todian of the park, but hat very few of
them were set out" 1 said no such thing,
but exactly the opposite. / said that it ap-
peared by the report of May q, 1889, of a
committee of the City Council that 1,479
trees were well set out and growing, and
L read to the Board of Works the report
giving the number of the trees and the
varieties; besides about an equal number
of nursery trees. / saw that all the trees
purchased that year were we'll set out and
well cared for, and very few died; that they
were mulched and watered and well cared
for. They were fine and healthy trees,
and might have been living to-day if they
had been properly cultivated. They have
been neglected, and three-fourths of them
have died or been killed by the live stock
allowed to pasture in the park. L said,
further, that more trees died by neglect
though they had the advantage of four
years growth. if a single tree was mulched
or the grass killed around 1t L have not
otCi H. AAtAS La III pICN0AlCC Ol NAiN Gdlb
Of the custodian of the park that the trees
were cared for.
Your reporter says that 1 said that some
one had set out a young birch in the sum-
mer time, when it should have been set out
at some other time" l said, to Illustrate
the total lack of judgment on the part of
the custodian, that a fine lot of white birch
trees had been set out at a time when they
were in full leaf, and that these parched
leaves could be seen last summer as wit
nesseS against him..
Your reporter says tina l said that all
the trees in the nursery row should be set
out L did not say that. In the first place,
there were many nursery rows there, and
If they had been properly cultivated all
the trees would, by this time. have been ht
to set out; but the present custodian and
his predecessor have utterly and totally
neglected to cultivate them, and in conse-
quence many handsome shrubs and ever
green's and fine young trees have die or
and the weeds and grass. The present
custodian has given them no attention. In
these rows were planted 1904 nursery trees,
consisting of mountain ashes, fringe trees,
pyrus iaponica, spirea, arbor vitae, Nor
way spruce, balsam firs, white birches.
Spanish chestnutS, Norway and sycamore
naples and catalpas.
/ said that 1.-The fences had been neglected
sadly by the custodian, and that but a sin
gle wire. that could be bent to the ground
under the foot, stretched between the park
and a large horse pasture, and that horses
had crossed here from the pasture into the
park" And it is the fact that while the
~ 49,,
lars for the building of q greenhouse he
said he had no money to make repairs to
the fence. and that the ground was too
hard TO dig post holes in.
L said he had hauled and Scraped dirt
from a fine artificial mound and a beautiful
hillside for useless purposes, and that, out
side of the greenhouse, could be seen not
one particle of evidence of the taste proper
to a custodian Of a park, and very little
in it: and that, while 1 had no objection to
a greenhouse there, if the city had money
enough to go into the culture of flowers
that, under the circumstances. it would be
prudent. in view of the condition of the
treasury, to plant good trees and cultivate
them-and dam the creek and create a
lake rather than eXpend large sums on
flowers. which are so Short-lived, compared
with noble trees. If one tree has been set
out during the period of the service of the
present custodian l have not seen 1T, while
thousands of dollars have been invested in
p. greenhouse in which scarcely anything of
value can be found. i am Informed that
the books of the controller show an eX-
penditure of about $1,000 in the last year.
To them l refer for the exact amount.
Such a sum as that would refence the park
where it is needed. replace the dead trees,
build a dam and create a Lake of consider
able dimensions-all of which would be
worth more than a dozen greenhouses. Let
these books be examined and speak for
themselves. JOHN
INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. il.