2i8 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
and yet be immediately available for quick 
reference, will ever go back to the old 
Vv'ay. 
I have here an old price book in use 
by us some years back which we have n jt 
been able to materially better in recent 
revisions, and it will give an idea of what 
can he done in this way. Very likely there 
is no one of you who cannot improve on 
the details, but I am quite sure the general 
idea is good. 
In pricing cemetery lots one readily sees 
and admits that one lot in a section may 
easily be perhaps 50 per cent more desir- 
able than another. This is proved under 
the old plan where all prices were alike, 
by the fact that all the more desirable lots 
were sold early and the sales of the last 
half of the section were of almost uni- 
formly undesirable lots. So there can be 
no argument against arranging prices ac- 
cording to the desirability of the lot and 
trying to equalize them so that each buyer 
secures a lot proportionate in desirability 
to the money he invests. There is, how- 
ever, another factor which enters at this 
point and a very important one ; that is, 
the factor of overhead costs. This expres- 
sion has been used so much of late in ttie 
popular magazines in exploiting tnis so- 
called new discovery of scientific manage- 
ment which is really no new thing at all. 
but which is just as old as management is 
old itself, that one almost hesitates to use 
it. By overhead costs in this connection 
we mean the cost of superintendence, of 
management, of office work and the like, 
as distinguished from those costs like cut- 
ting the grass, raking, cleaning, and other 
similar items which can be charged di- 
rectly to the individual lot if necessary. 
We have, then, in approaching the ques- 
tion of the proper pricing of cemetery lots 
these matters to consider : First, the ad- 
justment of prices equitably lot by lot, 
according to the desirability of the loca- 
tion and of the privileges accorded. Sec- 
ond, the prorating of the overhead costs 
or charges so that each lot will bear its 
proper proportion of such overhead costs. 
We all know that in time and trouble 
it costs as much to sell the ordinary $100 
lot as it does to sell the $600 one, and 
often more. In office work, booking the 
sale, indexing, platting, recording, etc., the 
cost is the same. If the lot is sold on 
payments the cost of finishing the trans- 
action and collecting the account is quite 
often greater for the small lot than the 
larger one. In subsequent cost during a 
period of years, that is, in answering in- 
quiries, giving information and investigat- 
ing complaints, the expense connected with 
the small lot is fully as great and, I am 
inclined to think on the average, greater 
than w'ith the larger one. We estimate 
that the minimum expense connected with 
leceiving and booking a complaint, investi- 
gating the same and writing to the lot 
owner, omitting altogether the actual cost 
of repairing damages, should the complaint 
be well founded, is fifty cents or more. 
We receive more complaints from the 
small lot owners than from the owners of 
large lots. 
It thus becomes evident that the pur- 
chaser of a large lot at the same price per 
square foot as against the smaller buyer 
is either paying too much or the smaller 
buyer is not paying enough. Our problem, 
then, is, first, to determine a minimum 
price for a group of lots which will be 
equitable and right in proportion to the 
desirability of the location, and second, 
to so adjust prices according to size that 
each buyer shall pay his equitable share 
of these overhead expenses. 
Our plan is to carefully study each sec- 
tion, block off together such lots as from 
their location and advantages are equally 
desirable, and fix a minimum price per 
square foot for each block or group, which 
we call a basis price. This done, it only 
remains to apply the following schedule to 
the individual lots in each group, the 
subsequent work becoming merely routine 
office work and, if done and properly 
checked, we have a set of prices which 
vary uniformly on a definite basis and can 
be safely compared, one with the other. 
SCHEDULE FOR PRICING CEMETERY 
LOTS. 
TWO GRAVES. 
Minimum 54 ft. Maximum 70 ft. Balance over 
maximum at Basis Price. Increase Basis Price 
lio per cent. Find price of lot as above. Then 
add for F'ront Lots $5.00. F'or Corner Lots 
per cent. 
THREE GRAVES. 
Minimum 76 ft. Maximum 100 ft. Balance at 
Basis Price. Increa.se Basis Price 20 per cent. 
Then add $5.00 for Front Lots. Add IV 2 per 
cent for Corner Ix)ts. 
FOUR GRAVES. 
Minimum 102 ft. Maximum 140 ft. Balance 
at Basis Price. Increase Basis Price 16% per 
cent. Then add $5.iMi for Front Lots. Add 7% 
per cent for Corner Lots. 
FIVE GRAVES. 
Minimum 127 ft. Maximum 175 ft. Balance 
at Basis Price. Increase Basis Price 12% per 
cent. Then add $5.00 for Front Lots. Add 7% 
per cent for Corner Lots. 
SIX GRAVES. 
Minimum 15.1 ft. Maximum 205 ft. Balance 
at Basis Price. Increase Basis Price 8% per cent. 
Then add for Monument Lots 7% per cent. Add 
7% per cent for Corner Lots. 
SEVEN GRAVES. 
Minimum 178 ft. Maximum 230 ft. Balance 
at Basis Price. Increase Basis Price 4 1-6 per 
cent. Then add for Monument Lots 7% per cent. 
Add 7% per cent for Corner Lots. 
EIGHT GRAVES. 
Basis I’rice. No maximum or minimum. In- 
crease Basis Price 2 per cent. Then add for 
Monument Lots 7y2 per cent. Add 7% per cent 
for Corner Lot*. 
LOTS OF OVER EIGHT GRAVES. 
Basis Price (no increase). Add for Corner Lots 
7% per cent. No increase for Monument Lots. 
Increase on Basis Price not uniform by reason 
of special conditions and competition of Select 
Single Graves with the smaller lots. 
NOTES. 
We have no monument lots under seven graves 
in capacity, hence, no addition provided for monu- 
ment lots among the smaller ones. 
The reason for advancing prices on monument 
lots Is that — First, the erection of a monument on 
a lot materially increases the cost of cutting and 
trimming the grass and, second, the increase of 
the i)rice on the smaller lots tends to discofirage 
the common practice of buying too small a lot 
in order to save money for a showier monument. 
We occasionally divide lots into three or four 
small fractions, in which event there are some 
that do not front on the walk and others that do. 
This will explain the terms — inside and outside 
lots. No lots of six-grave capacity or more are 
laid out as inside lots. 
EXPLANATION. 
The following examples will show how the 
schedule is applied in practice; 
EXAMPLE NO. 1. 
Price on outside corner three-grave lot, area 
70 square feet, in a section where the basis price 
Is $1.00 per square foot: 
76 sq. ft. at $1.00 $76.00 
20 per cent increase 15.20 
$91.20 
7% per cent added for corner lot 6.84 
Added for front lot 5.00 
$103.04 
Price (omit cents less than .50) $103.00 
EXAMPLE NO. 2. 
Price on Inside lour grave corner lot, area 165 
square feet — basis price $1.00: 
Maximum 140 sq. ft. at $1.00 $140.00 
Increase 16% per cent (1-6) 23.34 
25 excess feet at $1.00 25.00 
$188.. 34 
Add 7% per cent for corner lot 14.12 
$202.46 
Price (omit cents under ..50) $202.00 
In submitting the above, the writer ad- 
mits in advance that it is open to criti- 
cism, that each of the various percentages 
may fairly he considered too high or too 
low according to the point of view of the 
critic. He admits also that as here shown 
it may not fit the other fellow’s proposi- 
tion at all. All these items, however, are 
easily subject to variation to fit individual 
conditions, and I submit the plan as a 
whole on the basis that it is a mighty poor 
plan that is not far better than no plan at 
all. 
Some Shade Tree P e s t A 
Address before the Barre Convention of the A. A. C. S. by Harold L. Bailey, As- 
sistant to Commissioner of Agriculture of Vermont, in Charge of Insect Suppression. 
Although from previous experience I 
was aware that many cemetery superin- 
tendents took an active interest in the pro- 
tection of their shade trees, I was much 
gratified and encouraged upon finding that 
your Association took sufficient interest in 
combating injurious insects and plant dis- 
eases to allot valuable time on your pro- 
gram for this subject. 
We who are engaged in the work of 
plant pest control find that the hardest part 
of our battle is impressing upon the people 
the importance of -the damage caused by 
such pests if left unchecked and the tre- 
mendous gains to be maide by intelligent 
measures of control. 
Naturally in a paper of this sort time 
will not permit me to treat in detail even 
