161 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
r 
THE ECONOMY OF STARTING WITH A GOOD PLAN 
The question is often asked by those 
contemplating the opening of a new 
cemetery — does it pay to employ a 
landscape architect and pay a seem- 
ingly high price for his work when 
the county surveyor or local engineer 
can lay out the ground at a much 
less price and the local nurseryman 
will plant it at the cost of the shrubs? 
The management of one cemetery 
in the South has been convinced that 
it not only is economy but a paying 
investment to employ the landscape 
architect. 
Some years ago a cemetery was 
opened at Birmingham, Ala., and the 
engineer did not take into considera- 
tion the topography of the land. 
Roads were laid out to form the out- 
lines and veins of an elm leaf regard- 
less of topographv, drainage and 
grades. Other sections were equally 
as ridiculous in plan. 
After fifteen hundred interments 
were made in the cemetery the man- 
agement discovered that they were 
losing valuable ground in useless 
roads and that the maintaining of 
ground in good order was absolutely 
impossible at any cost with existing 
sunken paths, raised lots and haphaz- 
ard planting. So they commenced 
with a landscape architect who had 
had many years’ experience in ceme- 
tery work and who was also a civil 
engineer. He replatted one section to 
show what could be done. View No. 
1 shows the old plan of this section 
and No. 2 the new plan. The new 
plan provided a five-foot parking 
around the entire section, also a cen- 
tral park area that was to be planted 
as a background to the monuments 
in that section. Ample walks were 
provided so it was not necessary to 
carry any casket more than one hun- 
dred and fifty feet from road to grave. 
Irregular lots were to have corners 
planted and the native trees left and 
a few ornamental ones added. Care 
was also taken that all walks were so 
located that burials could be made .- 
with feet to the walk and yet have 
graves approximately level or lying 
with the contour of the ground. Out- 
side of these valuable improvements 
and suggestions there were several 
items of great importance to the cem- 
etery company noted here below; 
In this section of about three 
acres the area of walks and 
drives in old Plat (No. 1) 
was 39,070 sq. ft. 
Area of walks and ground to be 
parked in the new plat 
(No. 2) 29.695 sq. ft. 
Area saved by replatting. .9,375 sq. ft. 
As this ground was selling for 
$1.00 per sq. ft. this item 
alone will make the com- 
pany $9,375.06 
The saving of 1,765 ft. of road 
at $1.00 per ft 1,765.06 
The saving of 1,535 ft. of 
macadam walk at 25c per 
linear ft 384.06 
Total made and saved. .. .$11,524.06 
As this section contained about 
three acres it is readily seen that the 
saving on 80 acres ■ would approxi- 
mately be $230,000, or more over the 
work of the one who did not know. 
The road around this section was 
finished so the form of this section 
was not changed. 
At half the price per foot, or 50c, 
the low price for ground where a 
maintenance fund is provided, the 
saving on 80 acres — roads and walks 
being the same in each case — would 
be $136,000, an item well worth con- 
sidering. Walks in the modern ceme- 
tery are of sod and uniform with lot 
surface. 
It was through the work of the As- 
sociation of American Cemetery Su- 
perintendents and Park and Ceme- 
tery that the progressive Secretary 
and Treasurer of this cemetery were 
convinced, that a change was neces- 
sary in their grounds. 
Mr. Sid J. Hare, landscape archi- 
tect, Kansas City, Mo., was employed 
to transform the old graveyard into a 
modern park-like cemetery. 
