PARK AND CEMETERY, 
IOI 
gularly helpful to the public garden and park; if 
they are not, then it is due to that species of job- 
bery known as politics. There is no end to the 
trickery which so simple a proposition as the forma- 
tion of a park may engender. Simply done it is the 
painting of a picture on the ground, with the vary- 
ing colors of trees, shrubs, plants, rocks, water, 
and maybe a building or two. 
Paper work is not necessary to the finished gar- 
dener; yet, often, paper work is the only matter re- 
ceiving the attention of the political huckster, or 
his creature of Agri-Architectural proclivity. 
Thus it is usual for several million dollars to be 
spent on a parcel of ground, primarily designed to 
grow a few thousand dollars worth of trees and 
plants , without which all the so-called “improve- 
ments” would be barrenness. 
It is a remarkable phase of “Public Parking” 
that but few appreciate its essentials, and properly 
encourage their use. Thousands upon thousands 
can be frittered upon roads and bridges, refectories 
and sheep-folds, retreats and hanging gardens of 
Babylon, while there is not a single garden in the 
whole world to illustrate the science of plants in a 
comprehensive and pictorial manner. J. MacP. 
FORMING STATE ASSOCIATIONS OF CEMETERY 
OFFICIALS. 
State Associations of Cemetery Officials are un- 
doubtedly, in the writer’s opinion, steps taken in 
the right direction and it is pleasing to note that 
Nebraska has taken the initiative, but experience 
teaches that it is the older that require instruction 
in modern cemetery work as well as the newer 
states. Wherever the Cemetery Superintendent’s 
Association has met, it has been productive of good 
in the management of burial grounds, in the cities 
and large centres. 
But sad to state the lesser, or as they may be 
called the “Rural Cemeteries” remain in their neg- 
lected condition. Let us look into the cause of this. 
In most of these smaller burial places there is no 
income, consequently there is no person in actual 
charge. The interest of those having friends lying 
therein is divided; they do not care for the 
cemetery as a whole, they simply care for the small 
space occupied by their dead, which may be cared 
for or not, as the case may be. But caring for the 
whole cemetery is a matter out of their range. In 
some instances there is a small endowment attached 
to the place, which enables the grass and weeds to be 
kept cut down once or twice a year. Now, in the 
writer’s view it is to the benefit of these Rural 
cemeteries that the State associations could best 
turn their attention. The association will naturally 
try to gather into its fold the officials connected 
with the larger cemeteries, and there is a lament- 
able lack of cemetery lore even among this class. 
As they become educated, they should do mission- 
ary work among the lesser burial grounds, and 
where there is no person in actual charge, induce 
the women of the neighborhood to take interest. It 
would not take these ladies long to devise some 
method for raising the requisite funds for keeping 
the grounds in order. The main thing is getting 
some one interested. The rest is easy. Once get 
interest awakened in the care of the cemetery, and 
the pride of the residents in that locality will be 
aroused and our country burial grounds will be 
beauty spots, instead of blots. This has been de- 
monstrated all over the continent. See what has 
been accomplished by the ladies of Bloomington, 
Ind., as reported at the last meeting of the Asso- 
ciation of American Cemetery Superintendents by 
Mrs. Eudora Shoemaker, and noted on page 38 of 
the report. 
Other instances come to mind, notably, one 
where the ladies raised by means of a bazaar a sum 
sufficient to endow their cemetery, the interest on 
which though small, enables them to employ a 
handy man all the summer. Their next move is to 
get money to build a small receiving tomb. What 
these ladies have accomplished can be emulated by 
others. It only requires some one to give the thing 
a start. Here is work for the State Associations. 
It is a well-known fact that the superintendents 
of the larger cemeteries are busy men, and cannot 
well be spared from their arduous duties, but the 
writer does not know one of these busy men who 
would not willingly advise, free of charge, with his 
brethren of less degree, to enable them to improve 
and beautify their small portions. 
Last year while visiting in Central New York 
with its innumerable small towns, it was astonish- 
ing to see how many old fashioned burial grounds 
there were with but little attention bestowed upon 
theircare. In one thriving town of 2000 inhabitants, 
the man in charge was the local furniture dealer, and 
undertaker, and from the very order of things natur- 
ally the person most interested in the good appear- 
ance of the local cemetery. The ground had been, as 
is generally the case, bestowed by a church member 
and no charge was made for burial lots. At the re- 
quest of the before mentioned dignitary, the writer 
paid a visit to the cemetery, and found it no 
worse than expected. The official had a good eye 
to business, and had scared up several of the lead- 
ing lights to meet us. It did not take long for a 
person of experience, to see how the place could be 
benefitted with small outlay and after a short talk it 
was astonishing how deeply interested all present 
became. It was unanimously resolved to carry out 
