rian Arbor Vite, and Red Cedar. Where the climate will admit of planting them, the 

 various Junipers, Yews, and Arbor Vitses, dftbrd a wide selection.* 



" The Cypress funerall ; 

 The Laurel, meed of mighty conquerours 

 And poets sage; the Firn that weepeth still; 

 The Willow worne of forlorne paramours; 

 The Eugh obedient to the bender's wilL" 



It seems to be generally conceded that flowers should have a place in the rural 

 cemetery. They have a cheerful aspect, and are emblematical of our immortality. 

 But a continual digging of the soil above the dead, suggests the unpleasant idea of 

 maltreating their remains : it at least conflicts with the idea of their complete repose. 

 Is there not more real beauty and grandeur in simply well-kept trees and grass and 

 monuments, lighted up here and there with gleams of sunshine ? If flowers are intro- 

 duced, it should not be for a gaudy horticultural display, but as an expression of affec- 

 tionate remembrance ; and they should be few in number, and delicate in form, size, 

 and color. A white Rose by the side of a tombstone, the Violet, and Daisy, and 

 Myrtle, are always appropriate and pleasing. 



On the subject of monuments and their inscriptions, we will presume to oflfer only a 

 few suggestions. A very common and unpleasant feature of our ordinary grave-yards 

 is that of monuments leaning over and falling to the ground. The only way to keep 

 grave-stones erect, in our climate, is to imbed them in sohd mason-work laid below 

 frost; or, better still, on stone piers built up from the bottom of the grave. The most 

 durable monuments are those composed of the fewest blocks of stone, thus exposing 

 only a small number of joints to the action of the weather. Care should be taken, 

 also, that the stones have no cracks or seams or visible defects of any kind. As to the 

 material best adapted for monumental purposes, the writer will not undertake to give 

 an opinion. The best marbles of this country are perishable ; and even the finest of 

 the Italian, which in Southern Europe stand unharmed for centuries, under our harsher 

 skies soon corrode. Granite, sienite, and some other of the older and harder rocks, are 

 very durable ; and for plain, massive monuments, are quite appropriate. Experiments 

 which have been tried with the red sandstone of New Jersey, seem to indicate that it 

 will prove to be one of the best stones for monuments that can be used in this country, f 



As to the character and style of monuments, it would be presumptuous to lay down 

 any universal and invariable rule. What would be suitable for a king, or an eminent 

 statesman, or a great public benefactor, would not, probably, be suitable for a private 

 citizen, whether he were rich or poor. A huge monument piled to the sky, and be- 

 decked with ornaments, simply because the occupant of the grave beneath it, or his 

 friends, had money enough to build it, is vulgar in the extreme. Monuments which 

 are miniatures of certain ancient and famous structures, are also objectionable ; for, 

 what looked well on a foreign shore, and when built of lofty height and corresponding 

 proportions, often appears ridiculous when reduced to a few feet, and imperfectly cut 

 and balanced. When a work of this kind is attempted, it should be entrusted only to 

 the most skillful hands. Objections may be urged against altars, and tablets placed 



an editorial on this subject, in the JToriicuUurht for April, 1S54. 



a paper on the subject of " Monuments," published by the Greenwood Cemetery Association. 



VOL. V. F 3 



