PARK AND CEMETERY. 
5 + 
TREES AND LAWN VIEW. 
East Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, Cal. 
around the walls of the tent which is 
.20x60 feet, but the center poles were 
covered and long strings extended 
from the poles to the sides of the tent, 
and from one pole to the other. On 
these were hung baskets of ferns. A 
The Massachusetts legislature has 
several bills pending relating to the 
restriction of cemeteries within the 
limits of the larger cities and towns, 
and there has been considerable dis- 
cussion in many localities on this same 
subject. As a rule, heretofore, ceme- 
teries have been located both within 
and without city limits with litttle re- 
gard to the future growth of such 
cities, which in the light of accumulat- 
ing experience has been fraught with 
much inconvenience and serious conse- 
quences. It seems quite plain nowa- 
days that only a certain proportion, and 
this a matter of exact study, of the un- 
occupied land lying outside the built- 
up portions of a city or town should 
be permitted to either new cemeteries 
or extensions of old ones, and safety 
zones should be strictly included in 
the calculations. A writer in the Bos- 
ton Transcript says: “Using the prin- 
ciples involved in determining the 
safety zone, it can be determined with 
fair accuracy how much of the unoc- 
cupied portions of a city or town can 
safely be used for cemetery purposes.” 
Such a careful computation of relative 
areas to population, would in all prob- 
screen was placed between the mourners 
and the grave, and all formal pieces and 
flowers were placed in the compartment 
with the grave. The grave is lined with 
flowers and covered so that it closes 
as the casket is lowered. 
ability restrict the increase of cemetery 
holdings in many places, and compel 
their location in outlying districts. The 
above writer concludes ; “If the crea- 
tion of new cemeteries is restricted to 
certain proportions of unoccupied land 
(and the safety zone already surround- 
ing existing cemeteries must be ex- 
cluded in determining the extent of 
such undeveloped land) the land avail- 
able for cemetery purposes will dimin- 
ish as the city or town grows in extent 
and population. Such an automatic re- 
striction would compel communities to 
search for avilable land outside of their 
limits, and tend to the location of ceme- 
teries in places and upon ground better 
suited for such purposes.” 
^ ^ 
A bill has been introduced and re- 
ferred in the Minnesota legislature for- 
bidding the use for cemetery purposes 
of any parcel of land within the cor- 
porate limits of any city in the state, 
now or in the future, having a popula- 
tion of more than 50,000, unless it has 
been duly platted and dedicated as a 
cemetery by a city council, evidence of 
which must be given by a resolution 
that has received an affirmative vote 
of three-fourths of all the members of 
such council in accordance with the 
laws of the state, prior to the passage 
of this act. Penalties are prescribed. 
It is a matter of opinion that this 
bill is not altogether a disinterested 
effort, and it would do great harm to 
the majority of the cemeteries of the 
state. It is not believed that it will 
become a law. 
Several of the well-conducted ceme- 
teries in the larger cities of the state 
which were platted and laid out and 
have been since administered under 
proper but different regulations, would 
be unjustly and unnecessarily forbidden 
to use their grounds under this act. 
PUBLIC COMFORT HOUSES 
IN MODERN CEMETERIES 
An important feature of cemetery 
improvement, but one which has not 
received the attention it demands, is 
the provision of shelter houses and 
public comfort accommodation. In 
comparatively few of our cemeteries 
has this phase of cemetery development 
been studied beyond the merely ele- 
mentary and crude excuses for such 
structures, which a lack of comprehen- 
sion of their necessity deemed suffi- 
cient. In the larger grounds such 
ljuildings are becoming more com- 
mon, and are designed, constructed 
and located to harmonize, as far as 
possible, with the surroundings. From 
time to time in these columns such 
structures have been illustrated, and 
our readers would be doing good serv- 
ice in the cause, if they would send us 
photographs of such improvements, 
coming under their observation, with 
brief descriptions of their construction 
and the materials employed. It is 
quite true that the office buildings in 
nearly all cemeteries provide for both 
shelter and public comfort in their 
offices and waiting rooms ; but this as 
a rule is only begging the question, for 
in grounds of any extent the necessity 
is constantly arising for the protection 
of both the lot owner and visitor, that 
there should be shelter and toilet con- 
veniences located at accommodating 
distances from the main cemetery 
buildings, and they should be main- 
tained as an important part of the cem- 
etery management. Such buildings are 
not at all inconsistent with cemetery 
ideals ; they are necessities and as such 
must be treated as accentuated feat- 
ures of the plan, and they must be fur- 
nished with plant surroundings, to 
make them especially attractive and 
harmonious and be made to serve both 
useful and ornamental purposes. 
PROPOSED CEMETERY LEGISLATION 
