88 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tomb, located near the main entrance, was built in 1880. It is a 

 very desirable acquisition ; some such arrangement should be found 

 in ever}' large and well ordered cemetery. We noticed that some 

 thinning out was being done, where the crowded condition of the 

 natural growth demanded it, and where necessary the ground was 

 regraded at the same time. We were pleased to meet Mr. Chaffee, 

 the superintendent, who unfolded to us his plans for the future,^ 

 and manifested a laudable ambition to keep pace with the times by 

 carrying them into effect. The contemplated improvements give 

 promise that in the near future Oakwood will become a delightful 

 resort for strangers as well as proprietors. 



Forest Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, contains about two hun- 

 dred and fifty acres, access to it being furnished by the Main 

 street railroad, which terminates opposite the cemetery. The 

 cemetery is decidedly park-like in its appearance, being laid out 

 on the most liberal scale, with broad avenues and large sections of 

 lots. The following extract from the history of Forest Lawn will 

 give a good idea of the plan in the minds of the projectors. These 

 remarks had special reference to the improvement of the grounds, 

 but they are as suggestive of right methods now as when thej' were 

 first uttered : 



" It will not be denied that in many particulars, such as the 

 style, kind, and relative position of monuments ; the laying out, 

 adornment and character of the boundary lines of lots, and their 

 floral and arboreal decoration, individual fancies should be subor- 

 dinate to a general plan, and subject to certain rules designed to 

 secure harmony and uniformity, and to exclude all such manifest 

 violations of good taste as often mar our places of sepulture. 

 The trustees feel that it will only be necessary to state this gen- 

 eral plan, and to mention a few of the arguments in support of the 

 rules which have been established, to secure the assent and hearty 

 co-operation of all who feel an interest or ambition in the success 

 and prosperity of the enterprise. It was considered of the first 

 importance to locate this cemetery where it would enjoy a perma- 

 nent seclusion ; where the expenditure of taste and money would 

 become a heritage for all coming time ; where the desecrating ten- 

 dencies of modern commercial growth should never violate its 

 sanctity, nor the encroaching waves of a noisy, restless, city life, 

 disturb its repose." 



