PARK 
AND CEMETERY . 
244 
BRIEF VISITS TO SOUTHERN CEMETERIES 
Extracts from the Diary of a Cemetery Expert; 
Seeing Cemeteries from Washington to Cuba. 
Being a little depressed and ener- 
vated, my daughter and I resolved 
that a trip south might cheer and 
invigorate us, so on Feb. 2 off we 
started. 
We first stopped at Washington 
and were met at the station by my 
sturdy brother, Wm. R. Smith, su- 
perintendent of the U. S. Botanical 
Carden. We have been warm cronies 
for 36 years and until I resigned from 
the superintendency of the Pittsburg 
parks to accept that of the Allegheny 
Cemetery he used to visit me most 
every year, but then he gqt mad with 
me, scolded me rnightily, and didn’t 
come near me for three years. At 
last he melted, paid me a week’s visit, 
said I did just right, and now we are 
closer than ever. But after break- 
fast we hurried on, promising him 
a visit on our return journey. Our 
next stop was 
At Richmond, Va. 
With outstretched arms ready to 
receive us as we stepped from the 
train were Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Hooper, 
of Hollywood Cemetery. We had a 
joyous southern welcome, and they 
owned us and led us until they again 
deposited us at the railroad station 
to continue our journey. At the con- 
vention at New York last fall you 
remember what a happy, jolly lot of 
grave-diggers we were. 
But the man with the smile that never 
came off. 
Was neither Taft nor Teddy, 
But good brother Hooper from ’way 
down South. 
The cause; A beautiful lady. 
Aye, and they are smiling yet, and 
as happy as turtle doves, and every 
one who gets within reach of them 
becomes imbued with the same loving 
fellowship. We saw the cemetery, 
drove all around the city, examined 
parks, visited the churches and public 
buildings, and attended a meeting of 
the Legislature. The cemetery is a 
rolling and beautiful tract of land, 
finely kept, progressive in its bearing, 
and forested with magnificent trees. 
Interred in it are some of the most 
famous men of American history — 
Tyler, Munro, Davis and many others. 
Mr. Hooper is laying great stretches 
of concrete gutter-walks and curbings 
much the same as I am doing here, 
but his are heavier. The cemetery is 
appropriately named, for in it the 
holly is indigenous and attains fine 
perfection; the Japanese holly (Ilex 
Cornuta) is also at home in • it. 
Grand among the trees are white, 
willow and scarlet oaks, cypress, elms, 
the evergreen magnolia and Mongo- 
lian ginkgo. Evergreens thrive ad- 
mirably, especially the English and 
Irish yews, retinosporas, thujas of all 
kinds, blue spruce and allied conifers, 
Indian azaleas, tree box, and many 
more, also the greater cryptomeria. 
The English ivy is at home on walls 
and trees, and there is mistletoe 
enough to satisfy a city at Christmas. 
Richmond is a beautiful and pro- 
gressive city and advancing in fine 
boulevards and handsome modern 
homes. 
On to Savannah. 
Let me here state that all of the 
cemeteries we visited on our trip 
that were officered by members of the 
Association of American Cemetery 
Superintendents showed a distinct 
improvement in system, order and 
keeping over those not so officered. 
At the same time, in every case we 
were most courteously received and 
treated. And far be it from me to 
adversely criticize the condition or 
management of any cemetery; it is all 
I can do to pick the beams out of my 
own eyes without devoting my time 
to searching for motes in my neigh- 
bor’s optics. Such critics are usually 
gasbags, egotists or fools, and I have 
no patience with either. 
South of the Potomac a distinct line 
is drawn between the white and the 
colored people in trains, street cars, 
toilet rooms, public places, and even 
in the cemeteries, but we visited all 
of the burial places — protestant, 
catholic and colored. 
It is a very sandy country, but vege- 
tation is rank, trees grow admirably, 
and in spring ^nd summer plant life 
must be beautiful. Bonaventure Cem- 
etery is famous the country over for 
its avenue of weird trees densely 
draped with southern moss (Tilland- 
sia usnioides), and it is so thick and 
so low that it gives one an awful 
creepy feeling. Here they are doing 
much improvement work — new roads, 
grading, planting, laying new water 
lines and putting in hundreds of yards 
of concrete pathways. But what do 
you think is the price of land? Ten 
cents a square foot! At that price 
the sheriff would get us. 
Here the evergreen magnolias are 
magnificent trees, the red cedars are 
aged, gnarled and spreading, the live 
oaks and water oaks attain massive 
proportions and the gum trees 
(Liquidambar) are bold and impos- 
ing. And these are the. trees most 
infested with the epiphytal moss. 
Although the water oak grows faster, 
it is less favored than the live oak. 
The scarlet and willow oaks make 
fine trees, hickory is perfection, the 
China tree (Melia) grows like a weed, 
the loblolly bay (Gordonia), and the 
evergreen Prunus Carolinensis attain 
arboreal size. Among shrubs the 
myrtle is to the south what the lilac 
is to the north. Oleanders abound, 
camellias are plentiful, azaleas less 
frequent, and the fragrant olive 
(Olea fragrans) and Cape jesamine 
(Gardenia) are favorite bushes. 
Euonymus Japonicus, sea elder (Bacc- 
haris) and althaea are considerably 
planted. Pittosporum Tobira, green 
and variegated, is one of the best 
and densest evergreens they grow, 
and the Japan privet (Ligustrum Ja- 
ponicum) becomes a 20-ft. high, full 
headed, shapely tree. It now is 
laden with terminal panicles of black 
fruit indicative of what a glorious 
mound of snow it must have been 
when in bloom. The Yaupon (Ilex 
vomitoria) were bushes of fire, so 
numerous and brilliant were their 
scarlet berries. Evergreen conifers, 
especially the Oriental arborvit^s 
are used freely and thrive well, and 
the Indian Deodar is a good deal 
planted. And at Laurel Grove Ceme- 
tery I found a fair specimen of Cun- 
ninghamia Sinensis. Bourbon, China 
and hybrid tea roses are plen- 
tiful. Wistarias climb up into the 
trees 40 ft. high. The star jasmine 
(Trachelospermum) covers arbors 
and fences and is the most popular 
vine used. When in bloom, they tell 
me, the whole atmosphere is scented 
as in an orange grove. The south- 
ern jasmine (Gelsemium) now laden 
with unopen buds is abundant in 
semi-wild places and cultivated. The 
principal hedge plants are the ever- 
green Prunus Carolinensis and the 
Amoor privet. , Cycas revoluta is 
hardy and frequent, studded here and 
there in lots. Daisies, single violets, 
pansies, white hyacinths and narcissi 
and a few other seasonable spring 
flowers brightened the lots. 
