THE MODERN CEMETERY. 
87 
ent efforts have been made to bring them about. 
It is always a source of regret that there is not 
more desire for more meritorious trees and shrubs 
in cemetery planting. Why should quantities o 
Arbor-Vita;, Norway Spruce, Austrian or Scotch 
Pine be used, when the more rare and vastly more 
beautiful Nordman Fir, Oriental Spruce, Fugle- 
mans Spruce, Douglas Spruce and the superb Col- 
orado Blue Spruce, and Swiss Pine could be used 
to as great advantage. It certainly should not be 
because the first named are cheaper, — for first cost 
in planting should not be a consideration, as the 
work is to last one may say forever. To be sure, 
there are portions of the United States where some 
of these named may not be hardy, but there are 
many that will thrive almost anywhere. The Blue 
Spruce, Douglas Fir, Fuglemans Spruce and the 
Picea concolor are all natives of the mountains of 
Colorado, and should thrive in almost any portions 
of the United States, unless the soil of the particu- 
lar spot be unfavorable. It is not commonly known 
that plants which are apparently not hardy in a 
more northern climate than where they are indige- 
nous prove quite so if they are protected when they 
are small until they become established. The most 
northern limit of the Magnolia grandiflora is I think 
North Carolina, yet we in Philadelphia and vicinity 
have no difficulty in getting it to grow if we protect 
the tree for a few years until it can force roots be- 
low the frost line. There are several of these trees 
in Philadelphia that are not less than twenty-five 
feet high. 
It is impossible for any one to say positively 
what might or might not thrive in a certain locali- 
ty. This can only be learned by the individual ef- 
forts of yourselves. Select what you believe would 
thrive in your soil and climate, and test it for a 
year or two; the cost would be trifling, and every 
time you find something new or uncommon that 
will grow in your cemetery, you will have added a 
new subject of interest to your grounds. 
Of late years the planting of evergreen beds has 
become quite popular; and in many of the more re- 
cently designed cemeteries and, in fact, in a number 
of the older ones, numerous beds are now planted. 
There is scarcely any form of Spruce, Fir, Arbor- 
Vitse or Retinospora that cannot be used in this 
connection, as by frequent trimming, even the larg- 
er growing sorts can be kept within reasonable 
bounds, and at the same time a much finer color 
will develope from the constant pruning. The 
great labor and cost of planting large beds of green- 
house plants annually have had much to do with 
the advancement of the evergreen bed, — as in the 
latter case the first cost is the greatest one. 
During the last few years there have been many 
introductions of plants from Japan which have been 
found to be extremely hardy, and also many from 
Furope and remote parts of our own country, and 
it may be desirable to mention a few of these that 
would doubtless be valuable for cemetery work. The 
Cercidiphyllum , a Japanese tree, has proven hardy 
in many sections of the country where it has been 
tried. It is a pyramidal tree, but rather more 
spreading than either the Fombardy Poplar or the 
Pyramidal Oak. It seems particularly adapted to 
heavy soils, and especially to low and damp situa- 
tions, where it makes quite a strong and rapid 
growth. The Kolreuteria is a Chinese tree, making 
a low, spreading growth. In July it is densely cov- 
ered with very large panicles of yellow flowers, — 
and is particularly attractive at that time. It is not 
anew tree, but rather uncommon. One of thp pret- 
tiest trees adapted to cemetery planting which has 
recently been introduced is the Styrax Japonica, — 
few things can be more beautiful than the pearly 
white flowers, abundantly produced in the early part 
of July. The Pterostyrax hispidum is also a valu- 
able addition, — a rather spreading tree, of moder- 
ately rapid growth, and covered in May with droop- 
ing racemes of white flowers entirely covering the 
tree. This I think will become extremely popular, 
when it is thoroughly well known. 
Of improved varieties of our native trees, no- 
thing seems to have become more popular than the 
forms of Cornus florida, — the red flowered and the 
weeping. These with the parent plant seem to be 
adapted to all soils, situations and climates, and 
consequently are found largely in all cemeteries. 
The red flowered form is particularly beautiful in 
spring when covered with bloom, though later, as 
with the other two, when it assumes its varying tints 
ofautumn coloring, few plants exceed it in gorgeous- 
ness. 
The recent introduction among shrubs are too 
numerous to mention, doubtless they have been 
brought to your notice many times. A class of 
plants which have sprung into great prominence in 
a short period is hardy perennials, — and they need 
more than a passing word, — indeed, a whole chap- 
ter could be written of the many useful positions 
they might occupy in our ornam.ental planting. A 
class of plants which after planting become more 
and more beautiful every year as the roots become 
stronger, and which, by judicious selection of varie- 
ties give a continuation of bloom from early spring 
to late fall, — and exist in form from those of low 
and dwarf habit to plants making a growth from five 
to six feet are what perennials comprise. It would 
be useless for me to attempt to name desirable varie- 
ties, as this would depend upon the soil and loca- 
tion where the particular bed is to be planted, — 
