PARK AND CEMETERY 
362 
The Woodlamn Cemetery, Nenv York. 
We give general care to the entire cemetery, such as keep- 
ing the roads and paths in proper repair and order, and also 
cut the grass with lawn mowers as often as necessary during 
tile summer months, and also keep a force of men over the 
entire cemetery collecting the leaves and rubbish, so that the 
cemetery as a whole will look in as good a condition as 
possible. When money is left to us for special care of cer- 
tain lots, including the monumental work upon the same, such 
as mausoleums, etc., we spend the income derived from such 
fund, which is at the present time at the rate of 4 per cent, 
upon special care of the lot designated. In certain cases, 
securities or property, outside of money, is left with us for 
the care of certain lots. In such cases, we appropriate the 
entire income from such property or security to the care of 
the lot designated. It is our custom, since I have been in 
charge, the last five years, to submit an estimate from our 
superintendent, whenever the lot owner so desires, what in 
his judgment the amount of the fund should be. We find 
that unless we insist upon estimating, that the lot owners 
often leave an insufficient fund. We make no guarantee that 
the lot will perpetually be kept in order. We simply give a 
receipt that we will use the income as far as it will go. 
Chas. H. Edgar, Vice-President. 
Sk>an ’Toint Cemetery, Providence, 9 ^. I. 
We put by 40 cents a foot for perpetual care. This is 
for grass only, as per printed agreement. This is for the in- 
dividual lot. The general care must come from the profits 
from the sale of land, etc. When a portion of the cemetery 
has been sold without special care contract, only such char- 
ity or care as the cemetery may bestow can be given. The 
charter or by-laws, I presume, regulate the organization of 
trustees. Our form of contract is as follows : 
GIFT IN TRUST FOR PERPETUAL CARE. 
“Know all men by these Presents: That I 
of ... in the State of ... do hereby give unto The 
Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery, a corporation duly in- 
corporated by the General Assembly of the State of Rhode 
Island, the sum of . . dollars 
To have and to hold the same to said corporation forever 
for its own use in trust, nevertheless that the interest or 
income thereof to the amount at least of . . . per centum 
per annum, or so much of said interest or income as the 
directors for the time being of said corporation shall from 
time to time, as required, be applied to the care, support, or 
improvement of .... in said cemetery, and to keep- 
ing the same, and the monuments, stones, tablets or other 
memorials, the fences, trees, shrubbery, turf, and soil there- 
on, or that may be from time to time put thereon, in suita- 
ble and good repair, condition and preservation; and the said 
corporation shall upon its books, keep an account of said 
trust fund; and shall, once in each year, credit said ac- 
count with . . . per cent, interest upon said sum of . . 
dollars, and shall charge to said account the amount of ex- 
penditures on said lot during the preceding year; and the 
accumulated surplus over and above said original sum of 
. . . dollars shall from time to time if and when neces- 
sary, of which necessity said directors for the time being 
shall be the sole judges, be expended for the proper execu- 
tion of the trusts aforesaid. 
In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and 
seal this . . day of . . A. D. . . . 
Signed, sealed and delivered irt presence of ” 
Moneys left by will, of which w'e have no knowledge till 
after death, applied at our discretion as far as the interest 
will admit. Sometimes we are consulted by the family or 
the executive as to the amount required, and what the fam- 
ily wish to perpetuate, and the amount is fixed accordingly. 
Flowers, maple groves, vases, etc., may be dispensed with 
and we tell them so. All these will decrease the amount 
of fund required. The basis for determining the amount of 
deposit required from individual lot holders is governed, I 
presume, by the cost of labor, and the rate of interest that 
the funds may earn. So far w'e only accept funds for clean- 
ing monuments, mausoleums, etc. The annual care would 
suggest the amount of fund at 4 per cent. At present we 
estimate 4 per cent can be allowed on perpetual care funds. 
Timothy McCarthy, Supt. 
Annual reports or extracts from them, historical sketches, 
dcscTipttve circulars, photographs of iiupi'oz'cmcnis or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department. 
The Rhinebeck Cemetery Association, Rhinebeck, New 
\ ork, in its Annual Report gives the following financial sta- 
tistics : Receipts for the year. $2,766, and its expenditures, 
$142 less than that amount. The trust fund now amounts 
to $8,875, and the cemetery fund is $4,500. A new receiving 
vault has been erected at a cost of $900, and one acre of 
land added to the cemetery. 
* = 1 = !|= 
Wallkill Valley Cemetery, Walden, N. Y., has a force of 
twenty men now at work completing the plotting, drives and 
walks of 26 additional acres of territory, under the direction 
of Landscape Architect Downing Vaux, of New York. A 
bronze soldiers’ monument was recently erected in the ceme- 
tery by Col. T. W. Bradley. This fall 2,700 trees, shrubs 
and hardy plants will be planted, and the perpetual care fund 
is rapidly increasing. The cemetery including the new addi- 
tion contains 66 acres. 
* * * 
The Spring Grove Cemetery Association of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, has brought suit for $50,000 damages against the Cin- 
cinnati Street Car Compan}^ for discontinuing the street car 
service to the rear entrance of the cemetery. When the line 
was built on land belonging to the cemetery the officials claim 
that the contract included an agreement that the company 
would run cars over the tracks to enable visitors to reach 
the rear gate. This contract they claim has been violated.' 
The trustees have postponed the enlargement of the receiv- 
ing vault at the cemetery owing to the fact that the bids 
received exceeded the estimated cost, which was between 
$6,000 and $7,000. The plan for the enlargement and im- 
provement of the vault includes the construction of catacombs 
into the hill directly in the rear of the present structure, A 
tunnel would be driven about 60 feet into the hill, and 
branches run from the sides of this. The present capacity 
of the vault is about 65 bodies, and under the proposed im- 
provement it would have ample room for the accommodation 
of 200. 
* * * 
The work of remodeling .Lspen Grove Cemetery, Ware, 
Mass., into a modern lawn plan cemetery, was begun by the 
present commissioners seven years ago, and the results in 
the last few years have been so noticeable that Superintendent 
W. A. Conkey and the board have been very generally 
praised for regenerating the grounds. As far as possible the 
old lots have been regraded to conform to the lawn plan. 
All hedges have been removed. Nearly all the iron and chain 
fences have been taken out and stone curbing about lots is 
a thing of the past. The roads about the cemetery have been 
rock ballasted and improved and all unsightly and gloomy 
"cemetery” trees have been removed and replaced with hardy 
varieties. A card index system of records is in use and a 
perpetual care fund has been established, and is growing at 
an encouraging rate. Within the last year the section of 
the cemetery about the tomb has been entirely regraded and 
the driveways adjoining it improved by cutting down the 
