The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-05-22


more money or more intelligent care has
been devoted. Though Superintendent
Parsons is obliged to give much atten-
ton to the many smaller parks, by far
the greater portion of his time is taken
up in the care of this magnificent area
of sward and grove, of shaded walks
and pleasant driveways, of picturesque
arbors and FURNISHED water sheets
The Force Employed.
sit is almost impossible, he said to
me theOther day, ''to separate the work
done in Central park entirely from that
performed in the other parks and
squares, bat there are employed for
what we term general maintenance pur-
poses in Central park-that is, making
and keeping it beautiful-about 200 la
borers, "A drivers, 80 gardeners, Is car
penters and 10 skilled workmen. These
are the average figures They change
from time to time, of course, and this
year are little in excess of the usual
number, though but slightly. A million
dollars, it will be rememb ered, were ap-
propriated to be expended in the parks
so that work could be given to some of
the unemployed Of this city. This mil
lion has been used principally for new
works, the general maintenance expenses
being about the same as usual. -
One of the most important and diff
cult of all the tasks that have fallen to
the superintendent of parks has been to
produce and maintain smooth, even,
velvety turf That is one of the things
they can do much better in England
than here, but it is not the fault of
American gardeners. It is rather the
fault of the American climate. There
is more moisture in the air in England
than here, and there are not nearly so
many sudden changes from very wet to
very dry. A prolonged sod killing
drought is almost entirely unknown
there, whereas it may be looked for here
almost every year, there being very few
localities in the United States were a
smooth, green turf can be maintained
without artificial watering. Central
park is one of the hardest of tracts on
which to maintain good turf, for in adj
dition to the scorching dryness which
is felt there in summer as elsewhere in
this country the soil is deficient in nat
ural richness, and much of it is very
shallow, rock being found at depth
of from one to three feet under several
considerable areas of carefully tended
turf. Many experiments with many va
rieties Of grasses have been patiently
made, and many more will be made I'M
til the very best possible variety has
been discovered and the very best quail
ity of turf attainable produced. But, no
matter how intelligent the care or how
hardy and admirable the variety of grass,
nothing will keep the turf in good or
der but plenty of judicious artificial wa
tering during dry seasons.
Practical Botany.
This careful watering has to be ex-
tended, of course. to the flowers, of which
\,
confines of Central park In truth, it
may be said that Mr. Parsons chief
concern during the season of flowers is
their arrangement and cultivation Al
though he has the assistance of some of
the most competent gardeners in the
country, he has found it necessary him.
self thoroughly to master the science
of botany in practical way. This does
not mean that he has devoted a great
deal of time and quantities of gray mat
ter to the propagation of hybr1ds and
other floral freaks and prodigies, for
that is just the thing not to do in his
case. 1t is required of him that for the
money placed at his disposal to be de-
voted to flower raising the people shall
be furnished with the greatest possible
amount of floral beauty.
MY experience has taught me-, - he
said the other day, THAT the number of
elements in any pleasing prospect is sur
prisingly small, and have directed al
most all the energies of the park gar
deners, in accordance with that truth,
to the production of, comparatively
speaking, very few varieties of stand
ard flowers. Those used most by us ear
~ in the season are tulips and pansies
and geraniums and daisies, of which
we plant enormous quantities We also
use in great profusion plants that are
valuable because of the decorative quail
tiles of their foliage. A great deal of
care is expended also upon the design
ing Of our flower beds and borders, and