the nursery and repaired during the winter. In the spring the valves were replaced and the water turned on. During the year the following additional galvanized-iron water pipe was laid in the parks, as mentioned in detail elsewhere in this report: One thousand eight hundred and twenty-four feet of 4-inch pipe, 1,198 feet of 3-inch pipe, 3,077 feet of 2-inch pipe, 4,593 feet of 11-inch pipe, and 58 feet of 2-inch pipe, a total of 10,750 feet. Stoppages were removed from drainpipes and repairs made to broken pipes as required. The following quantity of additional drainpipe was laid during the year: One thousand and ninety-three feet of 12-inch terra-cotta pipe. Eight brick catch basins were constructed. The fountains were given regular attention and repairs made to supply pipes, waste pipes, and valves. The display fountains and their jets were cleaned weekly except in winter, when the jets were removed and stored until spring. New dippers were placed on the drinking fountains where needed. The water was turned off during the winter. Two display fountains and two drinking fountains were painted. LIGHTING THE PUBLIC GROUNDS. The following parks are lighted with electric arc lights: Executive Mansion grounds... President's Park... Monument Park. Franklin Park.. Lights. 5 12 9 Two of the lamps in the Potomac Park division were discontinued and taken down on March 1, being no longer needed, the District government having erected lamps on the streets in the vicinity. A question having arisen in December as to whether the candle power of the arc lamps met the requirements of the contract specifications, pending its decision payments under the contract were suspended and no payments have been made since the one for the October service. In the sundry civil act approved March 4, 1911, it is provided that Any settlement for are lighting under the existing contract with the Potomac Electric Power Co. effected by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia shall apply to the contract with the same company for arc lights for the public grounds and highway bridge. At the close of the fiscal year no settlement had been effected by the commissioners. The number of gas lamps in the public grounds not connected with meters lighted during the year was 226 in July and August, 231 from September 1 to January 19, and 227 from January 19 to June 30. Five were taken down during the year and 6 were erected. At the request of this office the Bureau of Standards in March made a series of tests to determine the actual candle power of the incandescent gas lamps in the parks. The result of the test showed the lamps to be 10822°-ENG 1911- -198 fulfilling the requirements of the specifications. On April 20 the contracting company executed a supplemental contract in which it was agreed that they would make a reduction to this office in the contract price for the lamps equal to any reduction they might make the District government on account of any reduction that might be made to the contractors by the gas company which supplied them with gas for the lamps. This reduction amounted to 58 cents per lamp per annum, and dated from January 1, 1911, so that this office paid during the last half of the fiscal year only $20.22 per lamp per annum instead of the $20.80 called for in the original contract. WALKS, ROADS, CURBING, AND COPING. Walks. Five hundred and sixty-five square yards of cement sidewalk were constructed. Roads. Seven thousand five hundred and five square yards of gravel roads were resurfaced with broken stone. Twenty-nine hundred and forty square yards of macadam roads were constructed with a water-gas tar as a binder, and 3,500 square yards were constructed using a coal tar as a binder. One hundred and thirty-two thousand one hundred and ninety square yards of macadam roadway was oiled, and 34,300 square yards of macadam road was surface treated with a water-gas tar. The following table shows in detail the cost of the work. Table showing cost of treating macadam roads with asphaltic oil or tar in Washington parks during the fiscal year. Cost of labor per square yard..... Cost of oil per gallon... Cost of tar per gallon.... Average cost in past years of watering roads, per square yard. Cents. 0.8 6.5 6.8 3.9 There are about 4,500 feet of gravel and macadam roads 30 feet wide (15,000 square yards), which have not yet been treated with oil. Curbing and coping. Substantial and gratifying progress was made during the year in constructing cement copings around reservations, with corner posts of similar materials at entrances to walks. A total length of 3,983 feet of coping and 6 corner posts were built during the year, all the work having been done under contract. There was also constructed 2,736 linear feet of cement curbing, all on North B Street. MISCELLANEOUS. Benches. During the year 168 park benches were repaired and 1,148 were painted. All loose benches in the parks were fastened down. Manure.-Green manure received from Government stables and 1,390 cubic yards received from other sources without expense to the United States was piled in the compost grounds, located in an unimproved portion of Potomac Park, about 600 feet south of B Street, between Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets. The manure when rotted made 1,000 cubic yards, which were hauled out to the various parks in December and spread over the lawns and around shrubs and young trees. In the spring this was raked in and the refuse removed. Thirty-nine tons of shredded cattle manure, 20 tons of air-slaked lime, and 5 tons of bone meal were purchased and spread over lawns not treated with stable manure. Fences.-Repairs were made to post and chain fences as required; such fences were placed around two reservations hitherto uninclosed. The iron post and chain fences around four reservations and the iron pipe and post fences around two were taken down and removed. In all but one case the fences were replaced with cement copings. Removing snow and ice.-The snow and ice were removed as soon as possible after each storm from the walks around and through the various parks. When, through freezing, the snow could not readily be removed sand was sprinkled and the slush and dirt removed as soon as a thaw set in. There were in all 12 falls of snow between November and March. Park lodges. The plumbing in the lodges was looked after and kept in good order and the toilets were regularly policed. The front of one lodge was painted. CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUNDS. In accordance with law, authority was granted in the summer of 1905 by the officer in charge of public buildings and grounds to the Washington Playgrounds Association for the temporary use of reservations Nos. 19 and 126, in the southeastern part of the city, as children's playgrounds. During the summer and fall of 1908 a number of complaints were received from residents in the vicinity of the two reservations that their use for playground purposes constituted a serious nuisance. Upon investigation it was found that most of the abuses complained of were due to the fact that the playgrounds had not been under proper supervision, and permission for their use was temporarily revoked. It was, however, again granted the association on June 8, 1909, under regulations which it was hoped would remove |