284 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



mauy persons there are, fellow citizens with us, in this great republic, who by 

 the very nature of their vocation have not the opportunity of gazing at a 

 beautiful view in a landscape, where the art of man has joined with nature in 

 producing the most pleasing of all sights to the eye, only as they see it in one 

 of our cemeteries; lor however gloomy the thoughts may be, when musing on 

 the purposes of a cemetery, that does not change the fact that the view itself 

 is beautiful. Now if this be true in respect to so large and important a class 

 of our neighbors, how necessary it is that we bear this matter of education for 

 the living m our minds, and that in our efforts to make a public cemetery we 

 permit nothing but the most correct taste, combined with adaptation to the 

 purposes for which it is to be used. 



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So important is the care and. keeping of the grounds that, if tliis is neg- 

 lected, no matter how well it is planned, all the beauty will have departed and 

 all previous labor be lost, if slovenly or unskillful persons are permitted to 

 have charge. In view of the interest the public has in this matter, it seems 

 almost akin to sacrilege to put a boor in charge of a modern cemetery. The 

 clown in Hamlet served the purpose of a grave-digger, but he is not the man 

 to keep a cemetery in good order. The constant disturbance of the surface by 

 burials, erecting monuments, grading lots, etc., all make a continuous appear- 

 ance of disorder, unless watchful care is exercised to prevent it. Not a weed 

 should be seen in the drives ; their outlines should be well defined ; the grass 

 should be closely mown ; surface disturbances attended to; unsightly objects 

 removed; trees and shrubs kept in symmetrical and proper shape; in fact, 

 everything possible should be done to give a neat and tasteful appearance to 

 the whole place. The people have a right to demand this of the management, 

 and if the management itself basin it an element of ignorance, lack of taste, 

 or any improper motive, it should be called to a strict account. 



The February meeting was given up to vegetables and the following paper 

 was read by Secretary Parks. 



EAISUSTG ONIONS AND ROOTS. 



The most desirable soil for raising onions is black sandy loam with a mixture 

 of clay. Any land that is well drained and that will raise good potatoes, will 

 raise onions, if properly prepared. To prepare land for onions a piece should 

 be selected, to begin with, that has been worked two years in hoed crops and 

 heavily manured, and kept free from weeds during that time. In October 

 apply about 50 loads to the acre of well rotted manure. Spread the manure 

 evenly over the land and plow it under, taking a narrow and shallow furrow 

 and cutting the land fine, leaving the manure near the surface, well mixed with 

 the soil. Several crops may be raised on the same ground in succession by giv- 

 ing it a top dressing with well-composted manure. A wheel cultivator or 

 spring-tooth drag may be used to stir up and mix the soil, instead of plowing, 

 after the first crop is taken off. Great care should be observed to get good 

 seed, as it is one of the several requisites to success. 



We know' of several pieces of swamp or marsli land in this section that 

 have been thoroughly drained and cultivated in other crops until the soil has 

 become composted and contains all the qualities requisite to raising onions 

 without the aid of manures, where good crops have been raised several seasons 

 in succession ; but all marsh or swamp lands do not contain those elements. 

 We believe, however, that the best of tiiem will have to draw on the gardener's 



