pnnidt'fl, in perpetuity, for their places of sepulture. Vain hope ! in a century 

 from tills time, it itiay not be too much to say, at least a majority of all the so- 

 called " improvements" will l)e dissolved into their orij^inal elements, and, "like 

 the baseless fabric of a vision," be no more. A little reflection will convince any 

 one of this, if we except vaults below ground, which, being built of brick, and 

 properly constructed, arc much more imperishable ; we sjjeak of the surface ; the 

 parts exposed to the atmosphere, and to public scrutiny. 



Of the monuments, it will only be necessary to say, that no limestone (marble) 

 has yet been discovered which is indestructible, or even what might be called 

 enduring. Granite is much more so, l)ut, wherever this is imperfectly jointed, the 

 inexorable tooth of time, aided by moisture, fungi, and frost, must sooner or later 

 be the concpicror in this climate. This is a slower process than that which 

 attacks the iron, and need not, perhaps, detain us ; but, wherever metal and 

 stone are united, as they frequently are, rust must discolor, and destruction ensue. 



How, then, shall we improve cemetery lots ? becomes a very nice and delicate 

 question, which we shall endeavor to answer, with all the lights which we yet 

 possess. 



There are two descriptions of rural cemeteries adopted in this country ; very 

 different in their general outline, and necessarily differing extremely in their natu- 

 ral and artificial styles. The first is the wooded cemetery ; of this kind are Green- 

 wood, at New York, Mount Auburn, near Boston, Green Lawn, Baltimore, and 

 the one over which our correspondent so ably presides, at Cincinnati. They are 

 essentially very extensive, and calculated to accommodate a large population for 

 a long series of years ; they are the type with which the rural burial-place became 

 identified in the American mind ; with which, in short, our people, the moment 

 they saw Mount Auburn, were not only satisfied, as contradistinguished from the 

 close city graveyard, but gratified. From this truly rural specimen have arisen 

 the many successors we now see distributed around our cities, mostly with good taste. 



Of the second, or garden cemetery, Laurel Hill, at Philadelphia, which we 

 have planted and tended, with a sedulous affection, for twenty years, maybe taken 

 as the example. No suitable spot, of very large dimensions, was to be found near 

 our comparatively old city,* and, moreover, till the experiment was tried, it was 

 firmly believed, by thoughtful people, that the habits of the citizens would be op- 

 posed to departing from the vicinity of the church ; this might have been true, 

 had the churches made proper preparations for a rapidly increasing population ; 

 but they neglected to do so, though very often their charges amounted to sums 

 that the bereaved could illy afford to meet. Country accommodation became a 

 necessity from the crowded condition of city receptacles ; rural cemeteries were 

 at once established in popular favor in every educated community where the want 

 was felt, no less than where it was not. 



In a large rural cemetery, trees offer the first means of improvement, and afford 

 the greatest beauty'; they arc, if there were but one essential beauty to be studied, 

 the essential ; fortunately, where ample space exists, there are few trees that are 

 utterly unsuitable, nature having formed but few floral adornments that even the 

 instructed eye utterly disclaims. There is, however, a choice, and we shall pro- 

 ceed to point out what exjjerience has shown are the best. In doing so, we shall 

 first consider those that are to constitute the permanent investments, if we may so 

 speak, and, afterwards, those trees or shrubs which are more suitable to individual 

 lots, inclosed or otherwise. 



* Tlie Laurel Hill Company commenced with but twenty acres ; tliis has been gradually 

 extended till the corporation possesses about sixty acres. 



