applied to Public Cemeteries. 163 



would also enable the grave-diggers to wheel them away, one after another, as 

 fast as they were filled, and, when the grave was completed, to leave it quite 

 free on every side for the approach of mourners, who would in this case walk 

 on the turf, instead of walking on loose earth or planks. This result is some- 

 times obtained by throwing all the excavated soil into wheelbarrows, and 

 removing these to a short distance, there to stand till the cofiin is deposited. 

 Either of these modes is much better than the common one of throwing up 

 the soil on each side of the grave, and obliging the coffin-bearers to clamber 

 over it. As the grave-boxes are readily taken to pieces, they can be stowed 

 away, in sheds or tool-houses, in little space. 



The grave-platform is a flooring of boards about 10 ft. long by 5 ft. broad, 

 with an opening in the middle, of the shape and dimensions of an ordinary- 

 sized coffin. It is hinged, so as to fold together lengthwise. Its use is to 

 place over the grave, after the soil has been removed in boxes or barrows, for 

 the double purpose of forming a guide to the lowering of. the coffin, and a 

 floor for those who lower it, who in Scotland are commonly the relations or 

 mourners, to stand on. In most cemeteries loose boards, or two or three 

 boards nailed together so as to form a platform, are laid down on each side of 

 the grave, leaving the ground at the end of the grave uncovered ; but this 

 arrangement is far from being so complete and commodious as a hinged plat- 

 form. 



The grave-cover is a low roof of light boards, or of a frame and canvass, of 

 dimensions sufficient to cover the opening of a newly made grave, and with 

 handles like those of a hand-barrow, to allow of carrying it readily from place 

 to place. Its use is to exclude rain or snow ; and also, in the case of a very 

 deep grave, to guard against the danger of persons approaching too near its 

 edge. In large cemeteries it is found convenient to have at all times two or 

 three graves prepared, both common graves and brick graves, ready to admit of 

 interments on the shortest notice. The unoccupied brick graves are com- 

 monly protected by the ledger which is to constitute their permanent cover 

 and finish, but the common graves are protected from the weather by the 

 portable cover described. 



The grave-mould is a box without either bottom or top, but with the sides 

 and ends shaped like a coffin, to serve as a guide to the form of the grave- 

 ridge, or mound of earth raised over a grave immediately after interment. 

 When the grave is filled to the brim and properly rammed, the box is placed 

 over the soil, and more is added and firmly rammed till the box is full, when 

 the soil is raised in the middle, and rounded off in the maimer seen in 

 all neatly kept churchyards. Afterwards the grave-ridge is covered with 

 turf, or planted with flowers. In some of the London cemeteries the stone- 

 crop is planted on the grave-ridge, and forms a very neat evergreen covering, 

 always within bounds. Some of the evergreen saxifrages migiit be used for 

 the same purpose ; and a friend has suggested that the common thrift would 

 be an excellent plant, as its thick mass of dark green grass-like foliage would 

 contrast with the light green of the grass forming the common covering of 

 the cemetery. Where economy is an object, grass inoculation or grass seeds 

 might be resorted to 



A clergyman's shelter is unnecessary where a tarpaulin or a movable shed 

 is used over the grave ; but, where this is not the case, it may be formed 

 of five pieces, viz. A flooring of boards, or, to prevent slipping when the 

 boards are wet, as well as to render the floor lighter, of wooden grating, 

 raised one or two steps above the general surface, in order to give the reader 

 of the service a more commanding position. To this floor three sides, each 

 consisting of a frame of canvass, are readily fixed by means of studs in the 

 lower rails of the sides, dropping into holes in the framework of the bottom ; 

 and they are as readily connected together by hooks dropping into eyes. 

 The roof-piece, vvhich ought to be raised a little in the middle to throw off 

 the rain, can readily be dropped on four iron bolts, fixed in the upper ends of 

 the styles of the sides. The whole may be painted black; and, when not in 



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