4 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
American species, has larger flowers with plain leaves. ® 
For a blue flower, very early in flower and a mass of color, 
the common dwarf border iris or flower deluce, could be I 
made good use of. It does not last long in flower but^ 
it comes at a time when flowers are flowers, at least in^ 
the north. Then there are the true violets, of course ]| 
where they will stand nothing can equal in early spring^ 
the sweet scented English violets. In their absence 
however, or even with them, the wild violets of our 
woods and by ways planted thickly are a revelation in 
their peculiar color. There are very few places in this 
country where they may not be had for the digging up, 
and grown so as not to be smothered by other ])lants, as 
they often are in a wild state, they are a bouquet of 
color. As there are almost two dozen species enumer- 
ated as natives of North America, it shows how 
plentiful the true violets are with us. The common 
blue violet cuculata, to be met with everywhere, has no 
less than half a dozen distinct types or natural varieties 
and includes among them the palmate or hand leaf, the 
cordate or arrow-leaved, larkspur-leaved, the pedatea 
or birds-foot, and bicolor, a very handsome flower with 
the two upper petals deep violet and almost velvety like 
a pansy. This variety is not common like some of the 
others. Gray giving it as occurring sparingly from Mass- 
achussetts to Maryland, etc. With such a stock of na- 
tive violets to choose from it is strange something has 
not been done with them as with the English violet and 
the pansy, to improve them by raising garden hybrids. 
Some of the wild kind flower all summer long as it is. 
The English primroses, cowslips and polyanthus where 
they will stand, would be charming plants, as would the 
English daisy, pansy and other similar jdants but that 
could not be in the West or prairie country, as it would 
require too much protection, which is not a point we are 
now considering, as it is not such plants as are to be 
kept in cold frames and the like, and afterwards planted, 
but a class that will stand out altogether, and come Up 
in the spring as though to the manner born. There are 
many parts of this country and protected nooks where 
the latter plants would do like natives, and surely noth- 
ing could be more inviting in early spring than to have our 
phloxes, violets, bluets, spring beauties, dodecathias, 
Greek valerian, and other native spring flowers come 
into blossom along with primroses, daisies, sweet vio- 
lets, Johny-jump-ups and a whole host of old time 
favorites. This class of plants want no formal plant- 
ing to be effective. The more natural they spring out 
of the ground the better. Irregular flower masses, one 
color and kind merging into one another in patches of 
different sizes here and there, would be preferable to 
having them scattered all over the ground with scarcely 
enough in any one place to be noticeable, and there- 
by aid nature by art and good taste. Edgar Sanders. 
BURIAL REFORM. 
ERYTHRONIUM AMEHICANUM OR DOG TOOTH VIOLET. 
g In a paper read before a recent meeting of the 
^Church of England Sanitary Association at Westminster, 
[fon the subject of “Earth to Earth Burial,” the author 
advocated earth burial, but contended that such burial 
i, should be upon scientific and sanitary principles, which 
if® 
"^consisted in the placing of the body in actual contact 
with the earth, and not more than three feet below the 
i surface, in not allowing one body to be superimposed 
^ upon another, and the planting the ground in order that 
I it may be purified and made fit for the reception, if 
necessary, of a second body after the lapse of a genera- 
• tion. If burials were conducted in this way in any de- 
cently porous soil (any soil, in fact, except a stiff clay), 
there was no doubt that with proper intervals the soil 
could be used over and over again without danger of of- 
fense, and that the work would probably be done with in- 
creasing efficiency as the earth grew more fertile. There 
should be no tombstones, but a cloister should be set 
apart for the reception of memorial stones, etc. The 
pomps and vanities which had grown up round the sim- 
ple act of interment had become intolerable, and there 
could be no doubt that the limited popularity which 
cremation enjoyed was largely due to the fact that it 
afforded a ready means of escape from the oppressive 
products of superstition and vulgarity. 
Dr. Richardson, who presided over the meeting, in 
remarking on the great change now taking place in the 
churches, in relation to the physical advancement in 
sanitation, said: It was a most hopeful sign of the 
times to see the learned body of the clergy, who had 
themselves acquired the art of standing first in the class 
of long and healthy lives, putting forth their strength to 
lead the whole community into the best physical meth- 
ods by which the same wealth of life might be attained. 
It accorded well, too, with the work of the clergy for 
them to teach the laws of health as a part of their own 
mission. The clergyman had unrivalled advantages as 
a teacher of the principles of health. He commanded 
an attention and authority essentially his own. More- 
over, there were some questions of a sanitary kind 
which the clergy were bound now to study and impart, 
because the subject formed part of their vocation. The 
disposal of the dead, less the expensive system of burial 
that has so long prevailed, and less the unwholesome sys- 
tem of packing the dead in the earth that had so long pre- 
vailed, was one of those questions. The clergy were 
bound to unite with sanitarians in discussing whether 
ashes to ashes, or dust to dust, or one or the other, ac- 
cording to circumstances, should from henceforth be 
the solemn and accepted function for the disposal of 
the human dead. 
The meeting of the Burial and Mourning Reform 
Association was held subsequently, when the following 
resolutions were adopted: — “That this meeting depre- 
cates undue exposure to mourners at the graveside.” 
“That this meeting urges upon cemetery authorities the 
desirability of heating the cemetery chapel, and pro- 
viding a tent for the shelter of mourriers at the grave- 
side”; and, “That this meeting invites the rich to set 
an example of economy and simplicity at funerals with 
a view to proving that economy in 
dead is no mark of want of respect.’ 
the burial of the 
