^o8 Thk Canadian HoRiicuLiURisr. 



A rWO ACRE CEMETHRN'. 



SiK, — A number of us here — including all the subscribers of the Canadian Hokticil- 

 Ti'RisT in tlie village— purpose making a new burying grountl of, say two acres. We wish 

 to lay it out in an orderly and ornamental manner, before it is occupied. Please give us a 

 rough sketch, and oblige, Geo. S. Wason, Hamkenbury, Out. 



Rt'plv hy Mr. D. Nichol, Superintendent Catara(/ui Cemetery, Kingston, Ont. 



CCORDING to request, I send you a design for laying out, 

 on the garden and lawn plan, a cemetery, on a square two- 

 acre lot, such as is required at Hawkesbury, Ontario. In 

 regard to future management of a cemetery, be it small or 

 large, I would here take the liberty of offering some sugges- 

 tions, which from experience and observation I have been 

 led to consider of great importance. 

 In the first place, an imperative rule should be established, that railings, 

 copings, hedges, and fences of any kind, around cemetery lots be strictly prohi- 

 bited. They are not only utterly useless, but they seriously detract from the 

 natural beauty of the landscape. They render the tidy keeping of the ground 

 almost impossible, and as they become dilapidated with age they are offensive 

 to refined taste. It is a traditional notion which originated many hundreds of 

 years ago, when church-yards, improperly fenced, were the only burial grounds. 

 In the modern cemetery, the boundaries of lots should be marked by small 

 corner post.s, sunk in the ground so that the tops are level with the sod, in order 

 that the lawn-mower may be worked without hindrance. 



Any one who has been accustomed to see only old style cemeteries, with 

 lots fenced like sheep-pens in a show yard, will take the trouble to see an 

 improved cemetery, where all enclosures have been abolished, will readily become 

 convinced of the folly of expending millions of dollars on useless railings. 



Secondly. The height of headstones should be limited to two feet, or less. 

 Few old style, tall, slab headstones are erected anywhere now, because of the 

 difficulty of keeping them erect, their liability to be broken when leaning over, 

 the certainty of their becoming moss-covered, and their altogether unpleasing 

 apj>earance. In a cemetery which is to be beautified they should be strictly 

 prohibited. A chaste monument, with space for several inscriptions, erected on 

 a good foundation in the centre of the family lot, answers a better purpose than 

 a number of headstones, and may be cheaper. Only one monument should be 

 erected in a family lot. The initials should be cut on the top of all footstones^ 

 which should be level with the surface of tlie ground, permitting the lawn mower 

 to pass over them. 



Thirdly. Sucii a thing as a raised lot. or terrace, nuisl never be permitted, 

 because it mars the beauty of surrounding lots, which ;ue kepi even with the 



