BOTANICAL. INDEX. 
«7 
As we have already stated our object in this paper to be a visit to a place of more 
than ordinary interest, we will ask our readers to take a stroll with us — in fancy, on 
a bright May morning, to the model cemetery of Amei ica — Spuing Grove, for in no 
month of the year is nature more beautiml, at least in our latitude, than in the 
month of May. Now, all nature seems refreshed and bursting into new life after 
the long, cold and dreary months of winter, which, however, is only a season of 
rest and sleep for the whole vegetable kingdom. We are supposed to lie comfortably 
located in Cincinnati, and will leave the city with its smoke, dust and busy life for 
the quiet solitudes of nature. The trip will not be a new one to us, but it always 
adds fresh charms upon each repetition, and, especially if we are strangers, many 
strange sight will greet our eyes. We will choose Spring Grove Avenue for our 
route, as it is such a popular drive and affords so many line views of suburban resi- 
dences of great beauty. This drive, a few years ago, was the favorite resort for horse 
racing and fast driving, but the cemetery association have now stopped it by an act 
of the State legislature. The avenue is 100 feet wide, with a well kept and finely 
finished roadway, and from the city limits to the entrance at the cemetery, about 3 
miles, is shaded, with a row on each side, of majestic silver leaf poplars, about 35 
years old and measuring about two and a half feet in diameter, with broad and 
spreading branches, making an almost complete canopy. Unlike the popular routes 
and drives of many of our large cities, this avenue is not ruined with street railroad 
tracks along the centre of the road bed, but the whole space is reserved for the un- 
divided use of the entire community, while along the sides of the road, or between 
the trees and fences, are the street railroad tracks on each side. 
Arriving at the main entrance of the cemetery, which is on Spring Grove Avenue, 
we find a large stone structure of the Norman-Gothic style of architecture, one hun- 
dred and thirty feet long, including gateway, erected at a cost of over $50,000, con- 
taining a large reception or waiting room for visitors, and several apartments for the 
use of Directors, Superintendents, etc. 
Anticipating the future wants of a great and wealthy city, Chief Justice S. P. 
Chase and a few associates, in 1S44, selected the old Gerrard farm on Mill Creek, 
directly north of Cincinnati, and organized the Spring Grove Cemetery Association, 
obtaining a charter under the State laws of Ohio the following year. The location is 
a charming one for the purpose, being one of the most picturesque around Cincinnati, 
easy of access bv railroad, streetcar lines or carriage drive; but most important of 
all is the fact that the high bluffs on all sides break the force of the cold and de- 
structive winds at all seasons of the year. The original purchase was 160 acres, 
but to this has been constantly added as opportunity offered, until now there are 600 
acres enclosed, and a large portion already improved. Through the grounds are 
now 10 miles of solid paved and graveled drives, while nearly 8,000 lot holders have 
contributed to its improvements. At the present date there have been nearly 37,000 
interments, but as a large portion of the residents are still attached to some one of 
the numerous older established cemeteries around Cincinnati, which still are in 
partial use, the interments are not as numerous as one would expect for such a desir- 
able place. 
The orignal designs were furnished by Mr. John Notman, of Philadelphia, and 
pertain to the style of landscape architecture of the past generations. Here we find 
the plats of ground laid out in small pieces, with a corresponding superabundance of 
roadways, while the newer additions have larger plats of ground, with longer and 
straighter drives occupying much less ground. Of course straight lines are always 
ignored, but long and graceful curves bring one gradually to new views, new lakes, 
or new ideas being carefully carried out. 
Of course our first duty will be to call upon the Superintendent of the place, who 
lives in a plain two-story brick house, back of the centre of the ground. Here we 
found Adolph Straueh, the present Superintendent, a hale and hearty Prussian, with 
his wife, an American lady, and their two small children, a son and daughter, all as 
i cheerful as though there was no cemetery within 100 miles of them. With a hearty 
welcome we are bid to enter, and while we talk of the beauties of the place, we are 
also reveling for a short time in the feast of rare and costly landscape literature, in 
such abundance about the room. We cannot give a list of all these rare works of 
art but noticed there huge monographs of the Genus Pinus, Quercus, (Oaks,) &e., a 
rare work by Prince Puckler Muskavv, on Remarks on Landscape Gardening, with 
drawings by W. G. Schermer, of Dusseldorf, large Wall Maps and plans of the most 
celebrated parks and cemeteries in the world, including Regent Park, London, Lux- 
emburg Park, France, &c., all from his (Strauch’s) own hand. But space will not 
permit of even a hurried description of the gems and wonders of these rooms. 
In 1854 Mr. Straueh took charge of the grounds, and although he has made very 
few changes in the old improved portions of the place, he has changed the whole 
aspect of the place since his superintendency by blending as far as possible the old 
