The cherry trees of Washington are almost entirely of the flowering species, of the single and double blossom varieties; the former, planted at the edge of the Tidal Basin, appear first. There they are near, also, to the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and with their tinted blossoms present a charming vista. The double-flowering variety in East Potomac Park appears about two weeks later. MERIDIAN HILL PARK Meridian Hill Park is located between Fifteenth and Sixteenth and W and Euclid Streets NW. It comprises about 12 acres. The design for improving the park has been completed and approved and a large-scale model of the southern portion prepared for special study in carrying out the details. In design Meridian Hill Park is similar to an Italian garden, containing an upper and a lower garden, and as a formal garden of its kind there is no other like it in the United States. The upper garden extends from Euclid Street about 900 feet south on a practically level stretch of mall to the grand terrace, which forms the cross axis of the park. Concert groves and promenades, with niches for statues and monuments in the hemlock hedge, are features of the upper garden. This part of the park has been for the most part completed. From the terrace a commanding view of the city is obtained. Immediately to the south is a cascade, descending to a pool in the lower garden. East of the pool there is a statue of President Buchanan, erected by authority of Congress as the gift of Harriet Lane Johnston to the United States. In the lower garden there is also a great exedra, forming the main point from which to view the cascades. Along the sides of the lower garden are walks amidst planting, leading to the upper garden. The main entrance to Meridian Hill Park is on Sixteenth Street. A tablet here suggests the name given to the park. It bears this inscription: THE STONE MARKING THE WASHINGTON MERIDIAN WAS FORMERLY LOCATED 52 FEET 9 INCHES WEST OF THIS TABLET, WHICH WAS PRESENTED BY THE ARMY AND NAVY CHAPTER OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1804-1923. [Illustration: MAP OF ROCK CREEK PARK] On the grand terrace is a copy of the famous Dubois statue of Jeanne d’Arc, given by the Société des Femmes de France à New York to the National Capital. There is also a statue of Dante in the lower garden, the gift of Chevalier Carlo Barsotti, editor of a leading Italian newspaper of New York City. An armillary sphere is in the great exedra of the lower garden. While a million dollars could not buy the land occupied by Meridian Hill Park, it is of interest to know that for the 110 acres, which extended from what is now Florida Avenue to Columbia Road and east of Sixteenth Street, Commodore Porter paid $13,000 in 1816. ROCK CREEK PARK