ous architectural terrors had been used in buying loam, they
would not now present the dreary ranks of starved and stunted trees
and the great patches of wornout turf which too often disfigure them.
Only the hardiest trees and shrubs should be used in park planting;
for there is no economy in planting trees or shrubs which are liable
to be killed any year, partially, if not entirely, by frost or heat or
drought, which annually ruin many exotic garden plants, nor is it wise
to use in public parks plants which, unless carefully watched, are
disfigured every year by insects. It costs a great deal of money to
cut out dead and dying branches from trees and shrubs, to remove dead
trees and fight insects, but work of this sort must be done, unless
the selection of plants used to decorate our parks is made with the
greatest care. Fortunately, the trees and shrubs which need the least
attention, and are therefore the most economical ones to plant, are
the best from an artistic point of view; and to produce large effects
and such scenery as painters like to transfer to canvas, no great
variety of material is needed. The most restful park scenery, and,
therefore, the best, can be obtained by using judiciously a small
number of varieties of the hardiest trees and shrubs, and the wise
park maker will confine his choice to those species which Nature helps
him to select, and which, therefore, stand the best chance of
permanent success. No park can be beautiful unless the trees which
adorn it are healthy, and no tree is healthy which suffers from
uncongenial climatic conditions and insufficient nourishment. Even if
they are not inharmonious in a natural combination, the trees and
shrubs which need constant pruning to keep them from looking shabby
are too expensive for park use and should, therefore, be rejected when
broad, natural effects in construction and economy of maintenance are
aimed for by the park maker.

The sum of the matter of park construction is to make rural city parks
less pretentious and artificial in design and to so construct them
that the cost of maintenance will be reduced to the minimum. This will
save money and lessen the danger of exhibitions of bad taste and
encourage that simplicity which should be the controlling motive of
sincere art.--Garden and Forest.

* * * * *

INFLUENCE OF OCEAN CURRENTS ON CLIMATE.

Few people realize that a very large part of inhabited Europ