THE CARE AND EMBELLISHMENT OF CEMETERIES. 179 



I want to improve it and I do not know what to do with it. It 

 looks bad ; still I dislike to disturb what m}' father did." This I 

 know is an ill-advised sentiment ; and I would take that friend and 

 reason with him, as kindl}' as I know how, and would show him, by 

 what had been done on other old lots, what his might be and ought 

 to be made. By taking this course, if he is really in earnest, you 

 can usuallj' win him to your views : but be assured it will take 

 kindness, and not " you must," to gain your end. 



I can show you a beautiful vista where once was an assemblage 

 of unsightly' hedges and iron fences, with ragged banks and ter- 

 races, half dead trees and scraggy shrubs. We now have there a 

 range of well kept lots, with vases and beds of flowers, and choice 

 trees and shrubs ; the whole area is a pleasure to all, and not 

 one of the several proprietors would restore its former condition 

 on an}' account. It took time, of course, to accomplish this result. 

 But it has been done, and this single example has done more to 

 influence others to make like changes than any amount of argument 

 could possibl}' have done. 



On the larger lots, of a thousand or more square feet, a good 

 way is to form a circle, described about the centre of the lot. This 

 will leave spaces in the back and front corners, which may be 

 planted, if you please, with Cnt-Leaved Birch on the back corners, 

 Deutzia gracilis in the front, or Yucca aloifolia, or anj^thing to suit 

 your taste, if not of too strong growth ; place a tree in the centre, 

 to occupy it until you are read}* with your monument. This idea I 

 gain from a plan in my possession, furnished from Spring Grove 

 Cemetery, at Cincinnati. 



It is a good practice, adopted in many cemeteries, to furnish 

 every owner with a plan of his lot drawn to a scale ; and cause all 

 the graves to be correctly defined upon it. A book of duplicates 

 of tliese plans is kept at the office of the cemeter}*, one. page being 

 devoted to each lot. In this way all mistakes are prevented, even 

 if there is neither monument nor headstone on the lot, as each suc- 

 cessive interment is recorded on the proprietors' plan, and also on 

 ,the l)ook at the office. 



While we cannot control all tastes we can influence very many. 

 Some of you will sa}-. Tell us how you do it. The first thing is to 

 know 30ur people, and find out what their wants are, and then 

 adapt yourself to them. 



I have tried to efface all lines implying the exclusiveness of 



