528 General Results of a Gardening Torir : — 



poration. This is so far good, because it is in the spirit of 

 what the government of a town ought to do. The cemetery 

 is formed in the bottom and sides of an immense stone quarry ; 

 and besides its uses as a cemetery, forms a valuable addition 

 to the public walks of the town. We have only to regret 

 that it has been laid out and planted, and that it is also kept 

 up, in a very commonplace manner, owing, as we were in- 

 formed, to the want of funds. The situation is certainly 

 singularly grand, and particularly fitted for the purpose of 

 a cemetery; having steep rocky sides, admirably adapted 

 for tiers of vaults (if that antiquated mode of burial should 

 be persisted in for another generation), and a level area of 

 considerable depth of earth for ordinary burial. Our objec- 

 tions to the laying out of this cemetery are, that the dry 

 clumps in the level area do not form a whole with the parts • 

 around them, being conspicuously liable to the faults men- 

 tioned as common to flower-gardens, (p. 401. figs. 72. and 73.) 

 We should also have preferred more ascending and descend- 

 ing walks in the planted banks ; and we think these banks 

 should have comprised in them all the hardy trees and 

 shrubs which do not require peat earth. Along the margin of 

 the walks, at the top and bottom of the banks, we would have 

 placed all the hardy herbaceous plants which do not require 

 peat earth. All the peat earth trees, shrubs, and plants we 

 would have planted in clumps of peat earth in the open area; 

 and we would have named one plant of each species con- 

 spicuously, so that every passer by might read it. In regard 

 to keeping, we would have had the gravel walks and the 

 lawn as smooth and as closely shaven as those of any 

 gentleman's pleasure-ground. The corporation of Liverpool 

 is said to have an income of upwards of 150,000/. a year; 

 and it does appear surprising to us, that, with such means, 

 and having already expended so much, they should not have 

 been able to finish this cemetery as it ought to be finished, 

 and to keep it up in proper style. 



We shall hereafter have something to say of churchyards, 

 and of the tyranny of some proprietors in levelling the graves 

 and even burying the tombstones of the poor ; but shall 

 only, at present, notice the churchyard at St. Michael's, at 

 Dumfries, as perhaps the most remarkable in Britain, on 

 account of the number and good taste of its tombstones. 

 The appearance of these at a distance is singularly grand and 

 picturesque. Erecting tombstones here is quite a mania 

 among the middle classes, which has been brought about 

 chiefly by the cheap and easily wrought red freestone, and 

 the talents of the late mason and sculptor Mr. Alexander 



