6 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The cemeteries in the Asiago Mountains afford a remarkable 

 contrast, with their fine bold masses of limestone and forests of fir 

 trees. But little effort will be needed to convert each cemetery into 

 a small rock garden and to establish in them the Saxifrages, Cyclamen, 

 Gentians, and other alpine plants that flourish amongst the rocks 

 close at hand. Thanks to the care of one of the Padres on this front, 

 several of these cemeteries are already in excellent condition and 

 planted with ferns and Saxifrages. 



The Piave and Montello cemeteries are more like those of Northern 

 France, and with the exception of those at Montecchio and Giavera 

 have no particular natural beauty. 



Neither in the cemeteries of the Venetian plain nor in those of 

 the Riviera will it be possible, we fear, to grow grass as is being done 

 in France, but dwarf rose bushes, Iris, and other carpeting plants will 

 grow freely, and as good stone is also abundant it will not be difficult 

 to plant and put in good order our graves behind the Piave front. 



In the cemeteries of the Riviera group, and in those of the plain, 

 we intend planting, wherever possible, the Italian Cypress, Cupressus 

 sempervirens var. pyramidalis, perhaps the most suitable of all trees 

 for the purpose and one which is such a typical and beautiful feature 

 in every Italian landscape. 



In Northern France the soil is one of the principal factors that 

 have to be taken into consideration, for we have for the most part 

 to deal with loam of varying depth, overlying chalk. In the fenland 

 of the north within and near the Belgian frontier, the soil is usually 

 good, though the sites may not be very attractive. In places where 

 there is a good depth of loam the possibilities of successful planting 

 results are assured ; but often the surface soil is shallow and any 

 planting work is attended with considerable difficulty. It is also 

 unfortunate that there are very few places where Rhododendrons, 

 Azaleas, and heaths can be grown with much chance of success, 

 though very good results have been obtained at Boulogne. 



In all cemeteries where the chalk is near the surface, there is the 

 further trouble that in grave or trench digging a great quantity of 

 the underlying chalk has been brought to the surface and, where 

 special precautions were not taken, the good top soil has often been 

 buried. When therefore permanent planting work is undertaken, 

 a great deal of labour is involved in removing the chalk or other bad 

 soil and replacing it with suitable earth. After the appointment of 

 the horticultural staff, precautions were taken to set aside, wherever 

 possible, the top layer of soil and to replace this on the surface after 

 the graves had been filled in, but in the forward cemeteries careful 

 work of this nature was seldom practicable, and the bad soil will have 

 to be replaced when the work of their permanent planting is taken 

 in hand. 



In the important base cemetery of St. Sever, Rouen (fig. 3), where 

 the subsoil is river gravel and sand with a thin surface soil of good agri- 

 cultural earth, the sand and gravel had been brought to the surface 



