THE ANNUAL MEETING. 127 



FLOWER-BEDS AND SHRUBBERIES. 



Flowers and flowering shrubs will claim the attention of the landscape-gar- 

 dener, and the smaller the space he may have to ornament, the greater becomes 

 their importance and use. Indeed, in large areas, and especially in the ceme- 

 tery, their introduction should be restricted to the most narrow bounds, and 

 confined to the immediate vicinity of the entrance. Their scattered use all over 

 the ground must be considered in bad taste, and too often their shabby condition 

 renders them obnoxious rather than otherwise. Wherever flower-beds are per- 

 mitted, they should be artistically arranged, most judiciously selected and 

 thoroughly tended by a professional florist. Their perfection is the requisite to 

 their success, and this demands a perfect knowledge of the plants employed. 



Thus you will see that the office is one of no limited acquirements. He who 

 undertakes these tasks must be a man of extensive acquirements and broad 

 views; he should be well educated in all that relates to good taste ; he must be 

 a practical engineer and architect; he should have a thorough knowledge of 

 the botanical characters of plants and trees; he needs to be an artist, an archi- 

 tect, an engineer, a farmer, a forester and a florist, all in one. 



With these views firmly impressed upon his mind you may now understand 

 the feeling of hesitation and diffidence under which a compliance with the 

 request of your Secretary has been undertaken by him who is forced to exclaim, 

 "who is sufficient for these things?" 



Pardon this extended exordium, my friends, and let us turn to the landscape 

 which should characterize the modern rural cemetery. This is essentially an 

 American idea, and it is most important that we should begin right, and so 

 execute our plans as to keep within the pale of strict good taste. We have 

 emerged from the barbarism and desolation of the forlorn burying grounds of 

 the past, many of which — but for the neighboring church — were liable to be 

 mistaken for the Spotters' field, and intended only to bury strangers in." 

 Therefore we must be the more careful to avoid the risks we incur of intro- 

 ducing barbaric splendor into these last resting places of the dead. The first 

 attempts at improvement are to be encouraged, be they only the planting of 

 common evergreen trees, in regular rows and squares, like an orchard. They 

 show at least a desire for improvement, and in an old, long-used village burying 

 ground this is often the utmost that can be accomplished. 



The old church-yards of this country, as in Europe, once furnished the ground 

 and the protection for burying the dead. Witli their limited areas a few gene- 

 rations only were required to fill them to repletion, and they were necessarily 

 abandoned. These sacred spots are filled with associations of the past. In 

 Europe especially they are famous for their ancient yews and box-trees, more 

 venerable than any to be found in our new continent; but from them we may 

 learn the value of these small evergreens, which are so eminently appropriate 

 for the smaller lots in our cemeteries, where larger trees would be inadmissible. 

 There are many other plants of small size that may be used. The grave-yards 

 of southern Europe still present us with illustrations of the effects of the fune- 

 bral cypress, so stiff and formal that they serve as exemplars to be avoided 

 rather than patterns to be imitated in our rural cemeteries. And indeed we are 

 in danger of committing a parallel blunder by seeking substitutes for the con- 

 ventional cypress in the erect forms of yews and junipers, which are equally 

 stiff and formal. 



But in our growing country, with thriving villages and embryo cities spring- 

 ing up everywhere, many of them rapidly assuming metropolitan proportions, 

 new grounds for interment are needed. These should be judiciously located, 



