applied to Public Cemeteries. 489 



the soil, they will not produce damp when their leaves are on in summer, but 

 will freely admit of evaporation from the surface. 



Supposing a new churchyard to be planted, we should place the trees 

 chiefly at regular distances, in rows parallel to the walks. There are very few 

 churchyards that would bear more trees than a row on each side of the cir- 

 cumferential walk, and also on each side of the walks leading from the 

 entrance gates to the church doors ; while, in cases of limited extent, and a 

 clayey soil, a row of trees, planted at regular distances along the boundary 

 fence, will, perhaps, be as many as can be introduced without producing 

 damp ; and, in others, a few trees along each side of the principal walk from 

 the entrance gate of the churchyard to the church will, perhaps, be enough. 

 It must not be forgotten, that the principal part of the area of a churchyard, 

 in general, lies from east to west; and, consequently, that all trees planted in 

 that direction will throw a shade upon the ground the greater part of every 

 day that the sun shines, throughout the year. For this reason, where the soil 

 is so damp, or the situation so confined, as to render it advisable to introduce 

 but very i'ew trees, these ought either to be in lines along such of the ap- 

 proaches to the church terrace as lie in the direction of north and south ; or 

 to be introduced as single trees, at the intersections of the cross walks with 

 the boundary walk. 



The kinds of trees to be planted in a churchyard form a subject of as great 

 importance as their number ; because a single tree of some species will pro- 

 duce more bulk of head, and consequently more shelter, shade, and damp, than 

 half a dozen trees of some other kinds. As a guide in the choice of the kinds 

 of trees, it may be adopted as a principle, that none ought to be planted 

 which will grow higher than the side walls of the church ; because to conceal 

 the church by its appendages or ornaments is inconsistent, not only with good 

 taste, but with common sense. By good taste, in this instance, we mean 

 allowing the church to have its proper expression, as the principal and most 

 dignified object in the landscape. Thorns, hollies, maples, sycamores, yews, 

 mountain ash, wild service, &c., are suitable trees for the churchyards of very 

 small churches ; and the common maple, some species of oaks, such as the 

 evergreen oak, the Italian oak, and some of the American oaks, with a host of 

 other middle-sized trees, are suitable for the churchyards of churches of the 

 ordinary size. There are very few country churches, indeed, which have even 

 their towers or spires sufficiently high to admit of the stronger-growing elms 

 or poplars being planted in their churchyards. The Oriental plane (not the 

 Occidental) may be especially recommended, on account of the stone-like hue 

 of its bark and foliage, its finely cut leaves, and agreeable shade, for churches 

 of both the largest and the middle size. The purple beech would harmonise 

 well in churchyards with the dark yew ; and the flowering ash is, also, a very 

 suitable tree. 



As all trees in churchyards must be liable to have their roots injured by the 

 digging of graves, this is one grand argument for planting the trees alongside 

 the walks ; because in that case there will be always one side of the tree the 

 roots of which will remain untouched, viz, those which spread under the 

 walk. For the same reason, trees with roots that spread near the surface, 

 such as the pine and fir tribe, should seldom be made choice of. Were it not 

 on this account, the cedar of Lebanon would be one of the most fitting of all 

 trees for a churchyard, from the sombre hue of its foliage, and its grand and 

 yet picturesque form ; from the horizontal lines of its spreading branches 

 contrasting strongly with the perpendicular lines of a Gothic church; and, 

 above all, from the associations connected with it, on account of its frequent 

 mention in Holy Writ. For all these reasons, it were much to be wished 

 that, in all new churchyards, two or three spots (each of about 30 ft. in dia- 

 meter) were set apart, not to be broken up for interments, and each planted 

 with a cedar of Lebanon. In many old churchyards in the country, a spot 

 sufficiently large for at least one cedar might easily be spared ; and the cler- 

 gyman or the churchwardens who should plant a cedar on such a spot, and 



