PARK AND CEMETERY. 
644 
ASKED and ANSWERED 
An exchange of experience on practical matters by our readers. You 
are invited to contribute questions and answers to this department. 
What shrubs flowering in July or 
August are suitable for growing in 
dry, sandy, sunny situations? — H. C., 
Colo. 
There are no shrubs which bloom 
in July and August except altheas 
and hibiscus. I doubt if altheas will 
be hardy at Greeley. The hibiscus is 
all right; it kills to the ground like 
the peony and then comes up and 
blooms next summer about August 
or September. It grows 3 to 4 feet 
tall and is covered with large bell- 
like flowers of great beauty. There 
are several colors among them most- 
ly white and pink. Better plant in 
the spring. 
York, Neb. C. S. Harrison. 
AVhat kind of tools are most prac- 
tical for removing bodies under all 
conditions? 
The difficulty of removing a body 
from a grave is mostly in first get- 
ting straps under the casket. This is 
accomplished by using the long hooks 
shown in the accompanying photo- 
graph, lifting the casket at one end 
and sliding straps under. To remove 
the outer box a pair of tongues, 
somewhat hooked at the ends, shown 
in the photograph, are fastened to 
the end of the box and with straps 
through the handle the box is lifted 
out. The photograph shows tools 
now in use at Forest Hills Cemetery, 
Kansas City, Missouri. 
Kansas City. Sid J. Hare. 
How may citizens of the smaller 
towns be educated to appreciate 
and assist in promoting civic beauty? 
— J. G., Kas. 
[Answers are invited from our 
readers.] 
H. C. P., Vt. We wish to know: 
(1) What to do where grass is win- 
ter-killed on lots in cemetery. (2) 
How to eradicate plantain and dande- 
, lion from lawn. 
(1) Where the grass has died out 
in spots on cemetery lots and it is 
considered inadvisable to go to the ex- 
pense of spading up and resodding 
or re-seeding, by going over the place 
with an iron rake, sowing a grass- 
seed mixture suitable for the particu- 
lar locality and thoroughly rolling, 
good results are often reached. If 
a large space on a lawn is killed, the 
chain harrow may be used instead of 
'the iron rake. 
(2) We have little trouble with 
plantain, but dandelions are only too 
abundant. Repeated experiments 
with chemicals have failed to give sat- 
isfactory results, even when applied 
to the individual plant. An interest- 
ing experiment of this character is 
reported in Bulletin 131, issued by the 
Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Dept, of 
Agriculture. 
A good fertilizer may so stimulate 
the growth of the grass that the weeds 
will be crowded out. In the older 
cemeteries, neglected lots are a proli- 
fic breeding ground for weeds, and 
care should be taken to mow them 
TOOLS USED IN DISINTERRING 
BODIES. 
before they go to seed; with biennial 
and perennial weeds this should be 
supplemented by digging up the in- 
dividual root. 
Cambridge, Mass. 
J. C. Scorgie, 
Supt. Mt. Auburn Cemetery. 
“I should like to know something 
about the cost of planting and main- 
taining small leaved ivy on graves, 
and when planted on perpetual care 
lots, whether the ivy is cared for 
without charge.” — Maryland. 
We plant a great many graves 
with English Ivy and charge $5.00 for 
planting them; our present charge is 
$1.00 per year care. This is not suf- 
ficient and we are thinking of raising 
the price next year to $6.00 and $2.00 
for care. I would very much like to 
cut the planting of Ivy out but it is 
a custom here that it would be almost 
impossible to do away with. I would 
suggest that your correspondent 
charge $6.00 and $2 a year for care. 
Geo. M. Painter. 
Westminster Cem., 
Phila. 
Both Ivy and myrtle (Periwinkel) 
are largely used at Woodlawn for 
mound coverings. The first cost of 
planting graves is $6 — and the care 
and maintaince of same is $5.00 per 
year, which includes covering with 
spruce boughs for winter protection; 
this charge is made in any event 
either direct to the lot owner or to 
the special care fund. Graves of this 
planting require constant tare, hence 
the charge; without care. Ivy or myr- 
tle will soon be choked out by grass 
or weeds and become unsightly and 
untidy. This planting is optional, 
otherwise sod is used. 
Fred R. Diering. 
Woodlawn Cem. 
New York City. 
The cost of planting “English Ivy” 
upon a grave here varies from $4.00 
to $5.00, and in our perpetual care 
lots Ivy is maintained without extra 
charge where such agreements were 
made, and the facts considered in 
arriving at our estimate of the amount 
required for that purpose. 
W. C. Grassau. 
Green-Wood Cem. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 
My opinion of what your corre- 
spondent means by “small leaf ivy” 
is, myrtle that we use here in the 
East to plant graves with. We do 
not use it instead of sod, only there 
are a number of lot owners that de- 
sire something planted on the graves 
and the myrtle seems the most satis- 
factory plant to use. Our price is 
$12.00 to prepare and plant a grave 
and this includes the care for one 
season, after that the charge is $3.00 
per year for care whether on a per- 
petual care lot or not. Our lots are 
sold with perpetual care of grass only 
and if any lot owner wants myrtle, 
flowers, or anything else they have to 
pay extra for the same. 
J. F. Hargraves. 
Forest Hills Cem. 
Jamaica Plain, Mass. 
We plant considerable ivy on the 
graves in this cemetery and make a 
charge of $5.00 for such planting 
when the lot is under what we term 
our special or extra care system 
which, of course, is an extra charge 
for extra care of the particular lot. 
In cases where the lots are no*- undw 
Continued on page XV. 
