88 
THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
of the enclosure and even outside of it. 
The result of allowing trees to grow and devel- 
ope according to their nature, each being so placed 
that it can make symmetrical growth unhampered 
by its neighbors and unmolested by its friends, gives 
one a new insight into their habits and forms. Some 
varieties take on aspects so unfamiliar as to make 
them almost unrecognizable. Most people think 
of a maple as a tree having a more or less well formed 
and pleasing top and a bare trunk as high as, or 
higher, than a man’s head. 
Those at Graceland are clothed to the ground 
with graceful branches that narrow the outline of 
the top as it approaches the surface, and brings the 
leafage down to the level vvith a -light, lilting swing 
that is charming. The slender lower branches give 
the air of children tossing their arms with the free- 
dom of unconscious happy childhood. The trees 
will be no less delightful in age, when the swaying 
branches have grown sturdy and form great leafy 
airy caverns around the trunks. There are other 
trees than the various varieties of maples left to fol- 
low the bent of their inclination, that make pleasant 
surprises for those who have grown weary of the 
discouraged lines of trees that are trying to grow in 
grace in many a Chicago suburb. Among them 
nothing is prettier than a group of alders with their 
somewhat oddly combined characteristics of stiff 
formal boughs and sharply cut dainty foliage dis- 
posed on twig and branch in an indescribably 
graceful and beautiful way. 
The elms are in good contrast to the trees hav- 
ing low branches, in their habit of growing a straight 
clean trunk to a considerable height. The trunk 
being monumental in form it would be a pity to 
mask the noble lines of the base of the tree by 
shrubs as some naturally bare varieties are appro- 
priately treated. Something low and comparatively 
delicate to nestle in the retreats formed by the sub- 
division of the base, where the roots spread to brace 
the tree firmly, would be well; or vines to cling 
closely and define the form; but anything to break 
the clean cut columnar lines would be out of place. 
A stately elm like the one transplanted two years 
ago to the northern part of the grounds, where it is 
used as a monument, is seen at its best when it 
stands, as this one does, sharply outlined against a 
broad expanse of sward. The inference drawn from 
Nature’s lessons would seem to be that trees with 
bare trunks are nature’s pillars, some of which will 
fitly be adorned with vines. 
There are charming vistas here and there through- 
out the grounds as the one down Wildwood Drive, 
(shown in one of our illustrations, ) where the plant- 
ing is particularly happy, the curving road being 
bordered on one side by trees that in the afternoon 
make shifting shadow patterns across the roadway, 
and on the other closely outlined by a thicket of 
shrubby things that take on new aspects as they are 
touched by sunlight and shadow through the chang- 
ing seasons. 
Fanny Copley Seavey, 
Chicago. 
Is Flower Planting Desirable in the Modern Cemetery? 
Mr. Bellett Lawson’s paper on this subject ap- 
peared in our last issue. The following is an ex- 
tract from the discussion that followed the reading 
of the paper at the Minneapolis convention. 
Mr. McCarthy: It is Yery difficult to adv se 
the best course in this matter, because a great many 
cemeteries insist they must plant them and cannot 
do without them. Personally I discourage annual 
planting, even among the graves, and I invariably 
discourage it and all phases of flowers, but we have 
no arbitrary rule against it. They are difficult to 
care for in the dry season and we know how early 
the frost nips them, and then the beds are bare. If 
lot-owners will let me plant the corners of their lots 
with hardy subjects, I give them the best attention 
and put in the best material that I can think of. 
That ornaments their lots, and it also ornaments 
the grounds. Still if every lot-owner did the same 
thing it would become monotonous, and would pre- 
sent almost a solid hedge in a few years. I do not 
want to be understood as not liking or planting 
flowers. While I may be in favor of discarding 
the gay colors that Mr. Lawson refers to, 1 may be 
buying hundreds of another kind. It is the kind 
that I choose and there is no question but what a 
cemetery in the spring with the hardy shrubs, tulips 
and crocuses and plants of this nature (which might 
be introduced by the million), would harmonize 
with the country and the cemetery, and would not 
be offensive as the gay colors would. The great 
difficulty of overcoming the planting of flowers is 
this, that affection will have some outlet and flowers 
seem to be the most natural one for people to select 
and it is very difficult to refuse to plant them. If 
you can suggest any method except an arbitrary 
rule that no flowers shall be planted, I would like 
to hear it. There is, of course, such a thing as 
having this thing too modern, and we must treat 
this question very carefully. Surely flowers are the 
most beautiful expressions that people can give or 
introduce, and although I do not believe in these 
perishable, gaudy displays or figures that have been 
so conspicuously introduced, still I am a great lover 
of flowers. 
Mr. SiMONDS: We plant a great many flowers, 
still I don’t approve of using the ordinary green 
house flowers. I do think that we ought to have 
