The evening times., 1901-05-04
LIVE TOPICS ABOUT TOWN.

time being been turusd into work
room for the engineers Of the Special
Committee on Parks OF the District oI
Columbia. The walls are lined with
maps piles Of paper drawing boards, and
instruments are everywhere There is
ample ocular evidence of the fact that
in a very quiet way a good deal is being
done toward developing the park scheme
which was launched by the las, Con-
gress- The work now is mainly in the
direction of compiling data. The surveys
and records Of the city and surrounding
country are widely scattered. The
city has made its own surveys. surveys
have been made by the District. and the
National Governments has also had enEin-
GERS at work making maps The greater
part OF the work done 10y the Govern
ment has. Of course. been under the di-
rection of The War Department IN or
der to get the data needed to form a
proper basis for further work on the
plan for developing the park system,
much rausackfng OF old files and records
has been necessary The work Of the
past few weeks has been chiefly directed
toward getting maps together. Some very
complete ones made by the War Depart
meu: showing the country around the
city down to the smallest knoll, and even
the trees. have been obtained and viii be
of great service. Several historic Old
maps of the city have been loaned for a
short time. and a great many recently
published Autographed productions OF 10
cal engineers and surveyors have been
procured. In all there are about hIty
mans in the hands of the Assistant En-
Sineer. J. 5. LangdOn-
Part of the work is to dnd out just " nat
the Government and District
own. and this Is not 50 simple as II would
seem Whatever Is done by the present
Commission viii remain as a permanent
acquisition to the records of the park ia
CiIities Of the District Former park com
missions have made reports. but have itIJ
no records of their researches Ar- Lang
don Is now CatalOEUing most carefully eF-
cry fact and the details of every survey
and the result of this viii be a peFma-
nent record of information cOdliled ana
ready for those who take up the Work
and carry it on.
Farmers Of the District and of Mary
land will be interested in certain expert
menrs which are being conducted by the
Agricultural Department on the culture Of
oranges. Heretofore oranges have been
considered d semitTopical fruit, and far
too delicate TO be raised even in the south
eTn part of the temperate zone The study
of the fora Of Japan which the depart
mcnt has conducted has led to the dis
covery Of kind Of orange tree that can
stand severe winters without danger Of
being killed by the frost Five years ago
the first experiments were begun with
japanese orang,- which is extensively used
IN making hedges. 1t has all the charac-
teristics of the orange tree, bIossoming
most beautifully. but bearing no fruit to
speak OF Later the sweet orange was
grated upon the harder stock. and the
cross produced trees that have proved
capable Of standing the winters, and of
bearing fruit that IS palatable- Several
trees are How bIossnTning in ths gardens
of the Agricultural department later
further grating VIII be done to improve
the flavor Of the fruit anG eventually It Is
hoped to produce a tree which can be
urgutHbIy planted in the vicinity of " ash
mGton Should this years yield come up
To expectations the department VIII send
experimental slips to Maryland PennSyl-
vsluia- and Virginia 4 great deal OF in
teTest has been taken in the eSpeTITne ntS
Ey farmers Of advanced methods and they
have siguified q desire TO enter the new
field IS soon as possible
Anyone who has had occasion to trans
fer at New York Avenue and Fourteenth
Street. New York Avenue and Ninth
Street. or Ninth and F Streets. has prob
abIy noted with some sense Of exaspera-
tiou that not more than once out Of ten
times does ne make connection As a rule
ne has 10 wait for the next car He who
sees the car 10 which he wants TO trans
fer standing at the corner as the one he IS
on comes TO a stop makes mistake if he
thinks he is the gamer by the fortuitous
circumstance II does not benefit him, IN
less he is a quick sprinter. and can cover
the distance between the two in record
tinee. Time. tide. and the street cars at
tra nsler points wait for no man woman
or child. 1t makes no difference how near
the prospective passenger may be, if he is
nc; ready to climb on at the very moment
the car comes TO d stop he might as well
give UD hopes Of boarding IL Under no cir
cumstanccs do cars wait Tor transfer pas
SeuEcrs- They take those who happen 10
be beside the track. but leave all others
bg hind This custom though s0meT nat
wearing Ou the nerves of the passengers.
Is Il splendid thing for the schedule Of the
cars The railway companies. 50 IL =
stated bv the conductors who must bear
the bruHt of all the iil-tenPer, have issued
an order that there must be no waiting
al transfer points. Those who are ready
to on must Be taken and ali others left be
hind. This rule enables the cars 10 save
several minutes each trip
Visitors to the White House during the
past few days have watched with inter
est the construction Of scafoidins from
the ground TO the roof OF the lofty rortico
At the north front This scafoIding IS in
tended TO support a number Of men who
will paint the ceiling and columns The
scaffoIding has been rising for three days
and has not vet been completed. 1t IS
composed Of very heavy timbers and there
Is no danger of It coliapsing while the
painters are at work
The state War and Navy Departments
have just been fitted up with Il special
telephone service which includes every
room in the building as well as the homes
Of all OF the officials. The service in the
building IS regulated by a central Office.
which * a branch OF the city central
Office. When the plant was installed sev-
eraI days II go some trouble was had in
making connections. but this has been
remedied and the system IS working
smoothly.