Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-21

These reservations are classified as fol-
| lows:
Number. Acres;
Highly improved. OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. log 1853 03
F FainS4svr Improved: :: n 3 s si4
Total 3o2 4O7 2l
Of these 8 have granite coping. "a have
| open. low. iron post and chain fences, y
provided with marking stones only and us
| have no delimiting marks. Between June
80 1889 and June 30. 1890. the $4,000 extra
appropriated by Congress was used for i'm
| proving p reservations comprising ~
acres in various parts of the city. leaving
something less than $1,000 for maintenance.
| The Improvement consisted in marking Dy
| stones grading, Introducing water. cover
ing with soil (beginning) sowing with grass
seed and in some cases inclosing with IRON
| post and chain fences.
The same amount having been continued
by the last Congress it is hoped to make
| equally good progress next year.
Money Required.
| The annual report of my predecessor for
1893 outlines general plan for the develop
| ment of park improvement. Ny report for
1899 discusses:
| a. General treatment of parks in Wash
| ington;
| b. The parks Of Washington in relation to
| those of other cities:
C. The future of parks in Washington.
There are still about l45 unimproved res
| ervatons in the charge of this office. An
average Of $500 apiece would make good
! beginning toward making parks of them.
| An average of $1,000 apiece would make
them fairly presentable.
In other words. at the present rate of APP
preparations for improving new grounds.
SS7 900 will bring all the park spaces now
under this office to the first stage of i'm
provement. and will take about nine years.
1t would take sl45,1o to put all the unim-
proved parks under this office into very pre-
sentable shape. requiring at the present rate
14-5 years. But SOOD0 per year could. be
spent advantageously, and this would prac-
ideally finish up this preliminary work in
| three years. OF course, the facilities of the
nursery and propagating gardens would
have TO be Increased and three subdepots
established. But If the work were under
taken on the scale suggested and pushed
through in three years enough could be
saved to provide for these also.
This suggestion for accomplishing this
preliminary park work Is presented as the
most businessike method of getting the
work done.
In this connection table is presented
showing money spent on parks in various
large cities throughout the country during
the past ten years. Attention is called to
the very large amounts spent by the large
cities and the proportionately large sums
spent by cities of the size of Washington
as compared with the amounts available
for Washington during the same period.
The grounds of the Executive Mansion
QS5 acres) have the most care Of any parks
in Washington; the average cost of main
which they necessarily get prevents as
great perfection as might be otherwise had,
yet they are on the whole apparently salts
factory to the people.
Presidents Park, adjoining. contains 63.7
acres, and has an average annual expendi-
ture of $4,000. or So. so per acre AS might
be expected it is impossible to keep it up
more than passably.
The Monument grounds washington
Park contain 1S.5 acres. and have an av-
erage annual expenditure of $1,000, or $500
per acre.
Smithsonian grounds contain $500 acres
and have an annual average expenditure of
s., 500. or si3 per
Garfield Park has 1898 acres. and an
nual average expenditure Of So, 900 or S124
per acre.
Ordinary simple maintenance only of
fair degree is commonly estimated at $500
per acre per annum. This office has 400
acres. Hence. according to the figures ordi-
narily used s120.00O per year should be esti-
mated for maintenance only. Only about
$72.OOO per year is actually expended. but
the results. while exceedingly good for the
money. are not satisfactory artistically.
Cost of Parks in General.
This falls under three heads, viz:
(a) Purchase of the land: CD Improve
ment: (c) Maintenance. The first depends,
of course on the depth of the municipal
pocket, and here let it not be forgotten that
generous parks bring in large returns in
the better health of the population and re-
OuCUOn OF the QRaJn rate, IN providing
pleasure grounds for young and old in i'm
proving real estate values: in refining and
hence making better citizens of all classes,
and by no means least in establishing a rep
reSentation for attractiveneSS which brings
visitors and residents and hard dollars to a
city.
1t is impossible to give any average figure
for cost of Improvement. 1t all depends
An accompanying tabulation collects a few
park data from which it will be seen. how
actual expenses vary. 1t can be stated,
however that 81 600 per acre on land not
too rough nor too thickly wooded will make
a fine beginning. If there is much draining
or grading telling to be done, 81 500 per
acre. to produce fair results, is not too
great estimate. 1t is great advantage
and much cheaper to improve large con-
nected tracks Of land, rather than small
disconnected parks. More curbing or fenc-
ing, more fountains or more detailed care
are required to make the latter look we'll
But the returns are also greater. as in the
case Of Washington. for instance, where the
great number of little parklets spread their
advantages among more people than does
the one large park Of the city. In 1892
1900. twenty-one unimproved parklets. COM
prising IS acres. were brought to their
first stage of improvement in Washington
by $500. or $1,000 per acre. but these
benefits were scattered all over the city
and more people derive advantage there
| from than If double the area had been i'm
proved for the same money in one location
The cost of granite park curbing like
samples shown in annual report Of this
Office for 1899, varies from 81 per lineal foot
up.
Cost of simple post and chain fences, like
those common in Washington, is about so
cents per ineal foot
The cost of maintenance in general is a
little more definite. Let us take an exam
pie. The area Of the grounds of the Execu-
tive Mansion inside the fence is Is 4s acres
To keep these grounds in satisfactory or
der (Which is by no means the best possi-
ble) would require a minimum annual esti-
mate solely for the grass, trees, walks
ETC.. Of 5000, or $433 so per acre.
To this must be added the cost of soil
| compost, special fertilizers. ETC., thus bring
ing the actual cost annually up to about
5000 per acre.
The average annual expenditure of late
years has been 50. $50, or 473 per acre
These grounds are kept up as well as any
In Washington. but they are used to q con-
siderable extent during q rear by the pub.