SOriPlTV OF NORTHERN II.I.IXOIS. 241 



required. The better way in villages is to make the cemetery a 

 public affair, owned ;iiid controlled by the town authorities. The 

 necessary funds for buying and iinju'oving the land can easily be 

 raised, and as all will be likely to buy lots there, one good cemetery 

 will take the place of several poor ones. Those who buy lots will 

 have the assurance that the grounds will be a permanent burial 

 place, and ))robal»ly well cared for. and consequently will Ix' willing 

 to pay better prices than they otherwise would. Experience has 

 shown that a burial ))lace can in this way be made to pay for itself 

 and leave money for improvements and permanent care. Of course, 

 crood l)iisiness manaLTcnient and some skill is necessary to accom- 

 plish the double pur[)ose of an attractive, well-cared for burial place, 

 and a ])aying investment. Of the former it will be my province 

 more particularly to speak as pertaining to tree planting and land- 

 scape architecture. 



A visitor to any of the older cemeteries of our country will see, 

 in some parts of the grounds, confused masses of slabs, monuments, 

 stone copings, railings, hedges and trees in various st.iges of neglect 

 and decay. As a rule he will find that a great })art of the money 

 sj)ent for improvements has l)een wasted as far as ])roducing any real 

 beauty is concerned, and that the effect is rather in keeping with the 

 skull and cross-bones and other hideous devices used by our ances- 

 tors to make such ))laces dismal and dreary. 



Within a few years, however, the intluence of sucii cemeteries 

 as that of S])ring Grove. Cincinnati, has made a great change even 

 in our smaller burial ])laces: new ideas in regard to their manage- 

 ment have been successfully carried out, andpe()]de are beginning to 

 realize what taste and skill can do to make them beautiful. Fortun- 

 ately the new nethods derive their chief merit, not from what is 

 only attainable by the ri( h. but from what is easily ol)tained by the 

 poor, and nature herself provides everywhere — grass, trees and 

 tlowers. Advantages of soil and location often favor country cem- 

 eteries in this respect, trees and flowers being grown at a small cost 

 as com])are(l with those near large cities. 



In the laying out of such grounds of course the euqjloynient of 

 some one skilled in the business will always pay well for the money 

 spent, but a general knowledge of what needs to be done should be 

 possessed by the managers. A good selection f)f dry. rolling ground, 

 with some large trees, if possible, is of prime iui])ortauc(\ The sur- 

 face should be graded, at least enough to till all holes and give good 

 surface drainage, just as would l)e done in laying out a lawn or park. 

 The drives and walks should be arranged so as to leave the highest 

 and best ground for the lots. This arrangenuMit will usually be a 

 good one for appearance as well as practical use. 



After laying out the lots in any convenient shape with no more 

 drives and walks than are needful, the main object is to keep the 

 ground smooth and as free as possible from (obstructions in the shape 

 16 



