49 : 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
CURIOUS CHINESE CEMETERIES IN AMERICA 
The burial customs of a people are largely the result of 
religious belief The ancient Romans practiced crema- 
tion and the early Christians changed this to earth burial 
on account of the belief in the resurrection of the bod 3 ^ 
It is part of the belief of the followers of Confucius that 
the body must be buried in their native land. So it is that 
the Chinese in America provide for burial here for only a 
few years, the bones eventually being taken back to sacred 
ground. The largest Chinese cemeteries of the Pacific 
coast are at Vancouver, San Francisco, Seattle and Port- 
land. The bodies are left after burial from four to four- 
teen years, after which the bones are exhumed, placed in 
a tin box about two feet long and transported to China 
for final interment. There is no stated time for this ex- 
humation, but it is generally done about once a year. 
The accompanying photograph was recently taken in the 
Chinese cemetery at Portland, Ore., by Howard Evarts 
Weed, to whom we are indebted for its use. In this ceme- 
tery there are now about one hundred burials per year. 
Formerly there were nearly a thousand, but the restriction 
laws are such that there is now much less of a Chinese 
population on the Pacific coast than formerly. A charge 
CHINESE CEMETERY, PORTLAND, ORE. 
of ten dollars is made for the use of the grave for each 
burial, the same ground being used over and over again. 
A WELL-PLANNED CEMETERY GREENHOUSE PLANT 
GREENHOUSES AND SERVICE BUILDING, OAKLAND CEMETERY, ST. PAUL. 
The new greenhouses recently com- 
pleted at Oakland Cemetery, St. Paul, 
have been planned and built with 
more than usual care and with spe- 
cial attention to cemetery require- 
ments. In both layout and equipment 
no pains have been spared to make 
them complete and efficient. 
The general dimensions are about 
98x176, covering an area of about 
16,700 square feet. Of this, about 
14,100 square feet are under glass; 
the remainder is occupied by the 
service building, containing boiler 
room, coal bunkers and dormant cel- 
lar in the basement. The office, clos- 
ets, pot and soil rooms are on the 
first floor, and a general storage room 
in the loft. The service building is 
of ample capacity to serve twice the 
amount of glass now constructed. 
The area of benches is about 8,250 
square feet, besides about 800 square 
feet without benches for palms, dra- 
cenas, etc. 
The glass house is so planned that 
additions, 30x175 feet, may be made 
at any time. The glass house con- 
tains 12 cast iron stages and 6 con- 
crete benches. A central passage, 4 
feet wide, leads from the service 
building, and walks 2 feet 6 inches 
lead from this passage each way be- 
tween the benches. The benches are 
from 5 to 6 feet wide. They are so 
placed that the shadows from the 
gutters fall in the walks. The glass 
house is of the best iron frame con- 
struction on 8-inch concrete walls. 
The service building has stone 
basement walls and reinforced con- 
crete floor. The walls are of inter- 
locking tile, 4x4x17 inches, with 
4-inch headers, alike inside and out- 
side. The cost of the structure, fully 
equipped, is about $29,000. 
The basement and glass house walls 
were built by the cemetery associa- 
tion; the service building by Charles 
Skooglun, of St. Paul; the glass 
house and heating apparatus by Lord 
& Burnham Co., of Irvington, N. Y. ; 
NEW greenhouses, OAKLAND CEMETERY, 9T. PAUL. 
