tiveness from the standpoint of the land- 
scape gardener, convenient location with 
reference to transportation lines, etc., or 
all of these and others. Any good cemetery 
has certain advantages to sell, and the pur- 
pose of advertising is unquestionably to 
sell a product on the basis of what that 
product has to offer. 
I agree with you that in the ordinary 
case the undertaker is the controlling in- 
fluence in designating the cemetery, but my 
contention is that the same rule would ap- 
ply here that applies in any other depart- 
ment of merchandising, and that is that 
public demand regulates and controls the 
action of the distributor or of any others 
who have to do with delivering a product 
to the ultimate consumer. For instance, the 
storekeeper sells what the people want. He 
has a respect for public demand. In your 
case the point of contact between the public 
and you might be the undertaker, but the 
average undertaker is not going to set him- 
self against public opinion or public de- 
mand any more than the average business 
man, who has a keen sense of the fitness of 
things is going to set himself against a de- 
mand created for some particular product. 
In ordinary merchandising we call the 
efforts of dealers against articles that are 
asked for, substitution. In your case the 
undertaker who went contrary to public de- 
mand would be attempting to practice sub- 
stitution, and advertising is the greatest in- 
fluence in overcoming substitution in the 
world. If you build a wall of good will, 
reputation and prestige around your ceme- 
tery, through advertising, you will find un- 
dertakers much more willing and eager to 
recommend it as an ideal burial place. 
Chicago. A. L. G.\le. 
Cost of Cemetery Lot 
Editor Asked and Answered : A man 
proposed to buy a cemetery lot, in advance 
of his immediate needs, and when the price 
was given him he offered less. His offer 
was, of course, refused, as we do not devi- 
ate from the fixed prices. He then began 
to argue and then to figure it as ordinary 
ground. I hardly know how to answer such 
an absurdity and will be glad to hear from 
some of your readers under “Asked and An- 
swered” how they answer objections as to 
prices. — Cem. Co. 
Purchasers of cemetery lots, like the rest 
of humanity, often use arguments that are 
frivolous and illogical. It is the work of a 
good salesman to assume that they are the 
emanations of clear thinking minds, and 
not to irritate dismissing them as un- 
worthy of attention. Cemetery land is es- 
sentially different from any other purchase, 
because it is relieved from all outside bur- 
dens of taxation, betterment and other ex« 
penses ; because it bas to be prepared for 
the purpose for which it is to be dedicated; 
because large portions of the cemetery are 
laid off as ornamental ground ; because 
there are fences, administration buildings 
and the like to be erected and maintained. 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
and because in all modern cemeteries a 
fund has to be set aside for that and the 
care of the lot. A very slight examination 
of the ordinary expenses of an ordinarj^ 
cemetery will show the difference between 
a lot situated there and one on, say, a resi- 
dential street where the grading, building 
sidewalks and other things have to be paid 
for apart from the price of the lot. 
J. C. SCORGIE, Supt., 
Cambridge, Mass. Mt. Auburn, Cem. 
As to what answers should be given to a 
customer who argues that the price of lots 
is too high, it seems to me that in so far 
as possible the first thing to be done is to 
let him do all the talking and not allow 
yourself to argue. This sometimes seems 
impossible but the more you argue the 
worse off you are as a general rule in my 
experience. If a man argues that cemetery 
land is nothing but ordinary land with all 
the obligations which the cemetery has 
when it sells the land, I have never yet 
found anyone who, when this was ex- 
plained, did not stop arguing even though 
they may not have been willing to pay the 
price asked. I should recommend that your 
subscriber explain these matters in detail 
to a man of this sort, stating that there is 
but one price to all and thus refuse to argue, 
A statement made in an argument is very 
apt to be distorted when your customer 
talks it over with his friends and makes a 
bad impression. Fortunately, in my expe- 
rience, customers of this sort are very rare 
and I do not think it is well to pay too 
much attention to them even though the 
sale of a lot is lost. 
Henry S. Adams, Supt., 
Forest Hills Cem. 
Jamaica Plain, Mass. 
Horticulturists, nurserymen and planters 
generally are showing a lively interest in 
the new hedge plant, “Box Barberry,” that 
was described in these pages last month. 
Most of the leading nurserymen through- 
out the country have already placed orders 
with the view of propagating a large stock, 
so that it will be ready for distribution 
when introduced in 1919. The intense au- 
tumnal crimsons and yellows which this 
charming little dwarf plant is now taking 
on make it very beautiful in the fall. The 
blocks containing the original stock of box 
barberry at the nurseries of the Elm City 
Nursery Co. now present an effect similar 
to a blanket of brilliant crimson and gold. 
At their office grounds is a formal ever- 
green garden, bordered with box barberry. 
The strong contrast of color effect of this 
box barberry border with its intense au- 
tumnal colorings contrasting with the 
green of the evergreens, is brilliant beyond 
description, adding a garden feature here- 
249 
If it is worth while to pay any particular 
attention to the complaints of a man of that 
type, he might be advised that in general 
the original cost of the ground for a ceme- 
tery bears a very small proportion, indeed, 
to the cost of the finished cemetery, area by 
area. Of course that cost varies in differ 
ent locations and under different conditions 
This cost includes in addition to the level- 
ing, grading, fertilizing and planting of the 
sections, the sewers and sewer outlet, the 
water pipes, the drives, the enclosure, the 
buildings, the vault and chapel, and all 
other things of this kind. They are placed 
in the cemetery for the use of the lot owner 
and are properly chargeable against the de- 
velopment cost. Also 15 to 25 per cent of 
the cemetery area is wasted in walks, drives, 
reserve spaces and the like. 
1 should say, roughly, that in modern 
cemeteries of average extent the actual cost 
of the finished land may fairly be consid- 
ered at five times the value of the land 
itself as a minimum and will run from that 
up to twenty times that amount. 
In addition to this is the question of 
maintenance and service. Quite likely the 
gentleman in question might be able to buy 
an acre of ground for the price he would 
have to pay for a good family lot in the 
cemetery. No doubt it would be in good 
shape and he could dig a hole and make 
burials in it, but it would not be a ceme- 
tery. Therefore, a comparison of the price 
between a cemetery lot and something which 
is not a cemetery lot and cannot he made 
a cemetery lot, is a comparison which no 
person is justified in making. 
W. N. Rudd, Prest., 
Chicago. Mt. Greenwood Cem. 
tofore unknown with formal garden au- 
tumn effects, practicable by using box bar- 
berry as a border. 
A. H. Hill, of the D. Hill Nursery Co., 
at Dundee, 111., has just returned from a 
trip through northern Wisconsin, where 
he succeeded in locating a long needled 
and large coned type of Abies Balsamea. 
This is a form that Prof. Sargent of the 
Arnold Arboretum is exceedingly inter- 
ested in, and one that he has been trying 
to locate in the wild state for some time. 
The type is noticeably different from the 
common balsam ; it has a darker and richer 
coloring, the needles are longer, and the 
cones are considerably larger. Another 
marked characteristic is that the trees hold 
their lower branches, and even the very 
old trees are perfect specimens. Prof. 
Sargent calls this type Abies Balsamea 
Macrocarpa, and describes it as being an 
exceptionally beautiful and desirable type 
of fir. 
PARK NEWS. 
