376 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



England. The oldest French dictionary at our 

 command Le Dictionnaire Royal, does not men- 

 tion it at all in connection with humanity, but 

 says it is the curly hair of horses, or the curly 

 wool of sheep. There are some indications that 

 it was used by the old Romans in connection 

 with braided hair, but in this sense it does not 

 seem to have been employed in old England 

 wherein the word "Ladies' traces" originated 

 for our pretty plant. 



Halliwell's dictionary of English localisms 



gives no support to the idea that "trace" is a 

 corruption of "tress." 



The statement made in the ''Flowers and Ferns 

 of the United States" that there is no reason for 

 changing the good old English " ladies traces" 

 ftjr ladies' tresses, has been considerably com- 

 mented on in England, and the "Authority of 

 Withering, Prior," &c., adduced against it. We 

 have been thus moved to go a little more fully 

 into the matter here, hoping it may interest those 

 who love to look into the histories of things. 



Literature, Travels I Personal Notes, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



THE OLD AND NEW, OR "COD'S ACRE" 

 MADE BEAUTIFUL. 



BY WM. T. HARDING, MOUNT HOLLY, NEW JERSEY. 



A judicious observer says : — "Churchyards and 

 cemeteries are scenes not only calculated to im- 

 prove the morals and tastes, and by the botanical 

 riches to cultivate the intellects, but they serve 

 as historical records." 



It is generally admitted there are no such 

 beautiful cemeteries in Europe, as are to be seen 

 in this country. At least, not as regards the 

 grand land'scape efiects, which render the Ameri- 

 can "cities of the dead," so different from those 

 of other lands. Not that there is any lack of 

 taste, or appreciation of the beautiful, elsewhere 

 among the people, but where utility is para- 

 mount to all other considerations, they are abso- 

 lutely precluded from practically adopting the 

 extensive landscape lawn system prevailing 

 here. 



Although the British empire is undoubtedly 

 of vast extent, they are nevertheless very much 

 circumscribed for want of room within "Albion's 

 sea girt isle." And more especially is that the 

 case as regards cemetery grounds, which in con- 

 sequence are more limited in size. The difficulty 

 of obtaining available land suflficient for such 

 purposes, to say nothing about the cost, in a 

 great measure prevents them from devoting so 



much space for mere ornament. And yet, with 

 all these disadvantages, there are many excel- 

 lent examples of gardenesque cemeteries in 

 England, as travellers often testify. 



The well-arranged modern cemeteries of to- 

 day, with all their monumental grandeur, floral 

 adornments, and fine landscape accessories, 

 bear but little resemblance to the unassuming 

 old churchyards where, for ages past, our 

 I ancestors have gone to their dreamless rest. 

 Beautiful indeed as is much of the rural scenery 

 of " Merrie England," where 



" Town and village, dome and farm, 

 Each give to each a double charm ;" 



yet is incomplete without the ivy-mantled little 

 church and its quiet burial ground in the pic- 

 ture. And perhaps no other objects than the 

 quaint architecture of the village churches have 

 afTorded more subjects for the artist's brush and 

 pencil than have these antique objects of ex- 

 quisite beauty. And whoever musingly walks 

 through an old church-yard, with its solemn 

 mien and its many monuments of decay, with 

 their pointing analogies on every side, has not 

 felt better for the meditative mood which en- 

 grossed his feelings? 



The cheery presence of sweet flowers, now 

 everywhere so lavishly used, eflPectually dispels 

 all semblances of g'oom which, in former times, 

 was supposed to be consistent with the neglected 

 sombre graveyards, as they used to be, even 

 since the writer's recollection. And as trees 



