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PARK AND CEMETERY. 
778 
THE VALUE OF A GOOD CEMETERY PLAN 
Ray F. Weirick, the Des Moines 
landscape architect, recently contrib- 
uted to The Leader, in that city, an 
interesting- little explanation of the 
value of good cemetery planning that 
illustrates the manner in -which the 
modern ideas of cemetery develop- 
ment should be presented to the 
public. 
Mr. Weirick showed the illustra- 
tion reproduced here to contrast the 
old and the new style of cemetery 
layout and discussed the subject as 
follows : 
The cemetery has always been a 
center of superstition. More than 
that, the forms and practices peculiar 
to burial grounds, when once estab- 
lished, have been almost impossible 
of alteration. If a tombstone dealer 
sets up a few slabs of marble (which 
has demonstrated itself to be an ex- 
tremely poor stone in this climate) 
he has established a precedent for 
tiers of thin pieces of crumbling- 
stone. If lots are laid out with the 
long way pointing east, everyone de- 
mands a lot so located. More than 
this, the laws governing cemeteries 
in every state are so stringent that 
it well behooves every man desiring 
to make changes in a burial ground 
to first learn just how far it is safe 
for him to go. 
For some strange reason, in the 
early days it was the custom to iso- 
late each lot from every other. This 
has led to a practice of wide alleys 
and drives in the older cemeteries. 
Not only are such public spaces ex- 
pensive to maintain in proper condi- 
tion, but an unnecessarily large per- 
centage of land is allowed to lie idle 
in place of being a source of income. 
The evil does not stop here, but it 
very frequently happens that lot 
owners cause their corner stakes to 
be set several feet out into the alleys 
and drives, stealing from the public 
space. Drives and walks are needed 
only for the accommodation of the 
public and it is wasteful to provide 
more space than necessary. 
The illustration shown herewith is 
a striking example of the economy 
of employing expert advice in design- 
ing cemeteries. A sectioi-i is shown 
in a burial ground in Alabama. The 
local surveyor had laid out the 
grounds. His plan was rather more 
elaborate than is usually found in 
such cases, following the outlines of 
an elm leaf, and every lot was bor- 
dered b}^ at least two strips of pub- 
lic ground. His straight lines fitted 
awkwardly to the uneven ground, and 
his arrangement resulted in sunken 
paths, raised lots and haphazard 
planting. A landscape architect was 
employed to replat this one section. 
Under the new plan, plenty of walks 
and drives were provided and irreg- 
ular lots were given over for group 
planting. By this revision, an ex- 
tra 9,375 square feet of lot space and 
1,765 square feet of unnecessary road 
was made available for sale, yielding 
$ 11 , 534 , which was considerably more 
than enough to pay for all profes- 
sional charges and cost of revision. 
The plan of a cemetery in Sedalia, 
Mo., was revised by a landscape 
architect, resulting in the sale of ex- 
tra land to the amount of $120,000, 
and a saving of $ 13,000 in road con- 
struction, making a total of $ 133,000 
to the credit of the cemetery man- 
agement, or a profit of 440 per cent 
on the cost of the new cemetery 
plans. In Woodland cemetery of this 
city, under the old plans by which 
the grounds were laid off, fully two- 
fifths of the valuable space was 
staked out for roads. This is about 
ten tiipes as much space as is actual- 
ly needed now, after the cemetery 
has reached its capacity. If the Iowa 
laws would permit a replatting, 
enough revenue would be realized to 
perpetually maintain the grounds and 
also build a number of fine improve- 
ments. This handicap has l:)een a 
serious problem in the work of the 
last few years of trying to medern- 
ize Woodland cemetery. 
A very common fault is to so lo- 
cate the drives that much valuable 
ground is lost, and expensive grad- 
ing made necessary. For the reason 
that lots below the level or a drive 
are regarded as “low” and undesir- 
able, drives should always follow the 
valleys, and under the same principle 
the entrance should be at the lowest 
point. The antiquated custom of 
mounding up the surplus dirt and al- 
lowing projecting foot and corner- 
stones, makes the lawn cutting cost 
annually ten times what is would in 
a “burial park.” 
Just as in other lines of business, it 
pays to exercise good judgment and 
keep up with the times in cemetery 
work. 
THE OLD AND THE NEW WAY OF LAYING OUT A CEMETERY. 
