PAR K A N D C EM ET ER 1 ’. 
4)8 
improved with a smoother — a tool made 
of three planks fastened together with 
their edges overlapping like the clap- 
boards on a house. The final touches 
will be put on by hand-raking just be- 
fore seeding. Care should be taken not 
to disturb the ground when it i.s wet, 
especially if it contains any clay. When 
the grading of a section is completed, 
the delicacy of its lines should make 
it a very pleasing object to look at. 
They should be as graceful as the lines 
of a good horse, or the lines used by 
nature in shaping our rolling prairies, 
or the lines defining the margin of a 
leaf. After using great care and skill 
to produce an attractive surface, this 
CONSTRUCTION 
It is not proposed in this short pa- 
per to consider the arguments for and 
against cremation as a means of dis- 
posing of the dead, but rather to 
deal with the administrative aspect 
of the subject. It may be taken for 
granted that cremation has come to 
stay. There is a considerable and 
increasing section of the public who 
have a definite and unmistakable pref- 
erence for cremation, believing it to 
be a more sanitary, more scientific, 
more enlightened, and less object- 
ionable method of disposing of the 
human body after death than the ex- 
isting practice of placing it in the 
ground, and there leaving it to the 
slow, offensive, uncertain, and often 
insanitary process of “natural” de- 
cay. 
It is true that cremation is still far 
from being popular. The number of 
persons cremated annually, though in- 
creasing, bears only a very small num- 
erical proportion to the number who 
are buried. From the point of view, 
however, of social position and in- 
tellectual distinction, these persons 
are by- no means a negligible cpian- 
tity. 
At the present day, then, a de- 
mand for cremation undoubtedly ex- 
ists, and it is only right that in large 
centres of population facilities for it 
should be provided. 
The number of British crematoria 
at the present time is thirteen. Five 
■of these, viz., the Hull, Leicester, City 
of London, Bradford, and Sheffield 
crematoria are municipal enterprises 
(local authorities being authorized 
by the Cremation Act, 1902, to spend 
public money on provision of cre- 
matoria) whilst those at Woking, Man- 
chester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Darling- 
Ion, Golders Green. Birmingham and 
surface should not be spoiled by al- 
lowing the owner of one lot to raise its 
grade above that of his neighbor's lots. 
The lots should be staked out with ref- 
erence to the grades — the larger lots 
being along the outer part of the sec- 
tion where there would be the greatest 
inclination and where a part of its 
area might be covered with planting. 
If, how'ever, there is a conspicuous 
knob in the center, or any other part 
of the section, it may be best to use it 
for one large lot. 
A complete treatment of the subject 
of grading would include as well some- 
thing about planting. The trees and 
shrubs have a grade, which should em- 
phasize the grade of the land. We 
Paper read before the 24t/i Congress 
of the Royal Sanitary Institute 
of Great Britain, by C. K. 
Millard. 
Leeds (Headingly) belong to private 
companies or societies. Two other 
crematoTia are, or were, in contem- 
plation, viz., at Harrogate and Horn- 
sey. 
There is an important question 
which undoubtedly has to be faced at 
the outset when any scheme for pro- 
viding facilities for cremation is under 
consideration, and that is the question 
of cost. In considering this we must 
make a distinction between 
(a) The initial cost of erecting a cre- 
matorium ; 
(b) The actual cost of performing 
cremations, i. e., the working expen- 
ses. 
(a) The cost of erecting a crema- 
torium varies greatly with the style 
and size of the building desired. The 
furnace — the only really essential part 
of a crematorium — costs only a few 
hundred pounds, and if the furnace be 
simply placed in an incinerating 
chamber as an annex to an existing 
or contemplated cemetery chapel — as 
at Leicester and Sheffield — the extra 
cost involved is comparatively small. 
If, on the other hand, a separate build- 
ing is provided, with a fine elevation 
and interior, and of ample propor- 
tions, including a columbarium — as at 
Bradford or Liverpool, the cost may 
1 e anything from £.5,000 upwards. At 
the present time, whilst the demand 
for cremation is so limited, the ini- 
tial cost of a crematorium is rather 
a serious item. Should the demand, 
however, increase, as many believe it 
inevitably will do, this initial cost 
will be relatively lighter. 
should not destroy the effect of a val- 
ley by planting things which will fill 
it up. It should, instead, be deepened by 
raising the height of the summits on 
either , side with foliage. 
In conclusion, let me ■ ask the super- 
intendents to look out of the car win- 
dows on their way home, and note the 
hills and valleys and the contours of 
the fields, as the most instructive les- 
sons in grading must be given to the 
eye rather than the ear. Downing called 
the beauty which you will see “Na- 
ture’s Smiles,” and if you can put such 
smiles into your cemeteries you will be 
acting on the modern principle of mak- 
ing cemeteries cheerful places. 
Cost of Crematoria in England. 
£ 
Ilford, City of London, total cost 
of building, including furnace 
and catafalque, about 7,000 
Hull, building (including furnace 
£422), furniture and fittings.. 2,700 
Liverpool, buildings only 6,100 
Bradford, about 5,000 
Manchester (including cost of 
land, £976 1 6,277 
Birmingham, about 6,006 
Golders Green 
Woking 5,000 
Leicester (extra cost of crema- 
torium only; the total cost of 
cemetery buildings was £13,- 
8.301 2,869 
(b) The actual cost of performing 
cremations is quite independent of the 
capital outlay upon the crematorium 
buildings, and is a much more im- 
portant factor when considering the 
respective merits of cremation and 
earth burial. For if cremation is ever 
to become popular with the masses it 
is essential that its cost should be no 
deterrent. 
The chief item in the cost of a cre- 
mation is, of course, the fuel con- 
sumed. This, however, is less than 
might he expected. Various kinds of 
fuel 'can be used according to the type 
of furnace adopted. In this country 
chiefly coal or coke have been em- 
ployed., but it is possible that gas, 
from its greater convenience, etc., 
may come to supplant them. In 
America- petroleum is used in a few 
places. . 
With a Simon tyjic of furnace about 
one ton of coke is required for each 
cremation, costing, say from 15s. to 
25s. 
With the Toisoul, Fradet & Co.’s 
gas furnaces, about 6,000 cubic feet 
and MANAGEMENT of CREMATORIA 
