240 
PARK AND CEMETERY, 
A Burial Plot Perpetual Care Corporation has been pro- 
moted in Brooklyn to deal in cemetery and park supplies and to 
act as agents in matters concerning the care of cemetery plots, 
etc. 
* * * 
The mayor of Knoxville, Tenn., is exercising himself in 
favor of the chrysanthemum. He is endeavoring to establish 
the custom of annually decorating cemetery lots and graves with 
this favorite flower in November. 
* * * 
The old North Cemetery, parish of North Truro, Mass., 
has been remembered in the will of the late A. E. Hughes of 
Somerville. The interest of a sum of money is to be devoted to 
the work of keeping the cemetery in good condition. 
* * * 
California, notwithstanding its beautiful climate, has hith- 
erto had a poor reputation for the care of its smaller cemeteries. 
The press is now, however, making an active campaign looking 
to the improvement of local burial grounds, and if there is a 
place in the world that should have beautiful and well-cared-for 
cemeteries, it is California. 
* * * 
A cemetery episode: The trustees of Odd Fellows’ Ceme- 
tery at Smyrna, Del-, decided to arrest Nathaniel Carey on the 
charge of vandalism. He is the man who removed the tomb- 
stone from his wife’s grave and threw it in the road. His objec- 
tions were that the ston, had been erected by his mother in-law. 
-He holds sacred the memory of his first wife. 
* * * 
An exchange says work on the new cemetery, Ridgelawn, at 
Elyria, O., is progressing, and “it is the intention to have it ready 
for opening early next season. It is to be on the lawn plan, free 
from grave mounds, so that it can be neatly mown. The by- 
laws of the association provide for a certain portion from the sale 
of lots to be set aside for perpetual care of the grounds. This 
will insure the patrons that in the future proper care of the graves 
will be fully maintained.’’ 
* * * 
The result of the action for damages, before the Supreme 
Court of New York State, for injury from poison ivy in a ceme- 
tery has awakened considerable activity among cemetery corpo- 
rations on the subject. A little thought on any such question 
ought to suggest the right course to pursue. Contributory neg- 
ligence has a very broad significance, and in the event of injury 
to the person is as far reaching in a cemetery in relation to poi- 
son ivy as it is in other questions elsewhere. 
* ■* * 
Graceland Cemetery, Washington, D. C., will soon be a 
thing of the past. The work of removing the remains of bodies 
buried there is being rapidly pushed, and it is expected that the 
few remaining graves will soon be opened, the coffins taken 
away, and the last semblance of the graveyard removed. By 
January 1 the land will be ready for sale. In the spring of 1895 
Congress enacted a law providing for its abandonment, the rea- 
son being that it would interfere with the growth of the city in 
that direction. 
* * * 
The first interment in the Forest Park Cemetery, Troy, 
N. Y., was made last month. Thirty-five acres on the south end 
have been laid out, and a force of men is still at work. The 
plats of the cemetery will be named after the counties of New 
York State, and the entire grounds will be included under the 
names of the sixty counties. Those plats having the highest ele- 
vation will be designated by the names of Adirondack and Cats- 
kill Counties, others as Franklin and St. Lawrence. The plat 
in which single interments will be made will be called King’s 
plat. 
* * * 
It is gratifying to record the following instances of the im- 
provement of our cemeteries by useful memorials: The Oak 
Hill Cemetery Association of Pownal, Vt., is the recipient of an 
imposing gateway by Solomon Wright in memory ol his wife, 
who died some time ago in Egypt. The gate posts are of rock- 
faced granite, fourteen feet high, to be connected by an arched 
iron gate.— By the will of the late Mrs. W. S. Wilcox a sum of 
$5,000 is bequeathed to the Oakwood Cemetery trustees, Adrian, 
Mich. , for the erection of stone memorial gates at the entrance 
to the cemetery. 
* * * 
The Allyn memorial at Spring Grove Cemetery, Hartford, 
Conn., of which mention has often been made, has been reno- 
vated throughout, extensive repairs having been carried out, 
both on the inside and outside walls. The decorations, frescoes 
and terra cotta work on the inside have been restored, so that 
the walls are now as beautiful as they were originally. The out- 
side appearance of the memorial" is as attractive as it ever was. 
The building will be maintained at a comfortable temperature 
through the winter season by steam heat, which is carried from 
the new office. The latter structure is well equipped for its ob- 
ject. 
* * * 
The following decision was recently handed down by the 
civil court at Franklin, Pa.: “In the matter of the petition of 
the citizens of Franklin for the removal of the remains of per- 
sons buried in the Second Ward Cemetery, the prayer of the 
petitioners was refused. The court held that the Act of Assem- 
bly governing such cases contemplates a proceeding against a 
burial ground belonging to one religious society or church, or a 
ground heretofore used as such, and now in charge of no person 
or persons, church or society; and where two or more lots, al- 
though contiguous, are used independently of each other, sepa- 
rate inquiry must be made as to each before an order can prop- 
erly be made directing the removal of the remains therefrom. 
The inquiry in this case was general, and the proceeding against 
the whole group of lots.” The cemetery referred to is in the city, 
and the plaintiffs wanted to compel the city authorities to make 
the removals, they claiming to have title to the grounds by rea- 
son of the lots not being paid for. 
* * * 
The following communication in the Gardener's Chronicle, 
England, speaks volumes in favor of the American Modern 
Cemetery: A public body advertised in the Gardener's Chroni- 
cle for candidates for the appointment of cemetery supenntend- 
dent. I made an application for a form and summary of the 
duties required. These are as nearly as possible as follows: Gar- 
dener, caretaker, cashier, accountant, supervisor of headstones- 
to clean and heat all chapels; to disinfect and clean mortuary, 
and receive all bodies; to attend all funerals, and act as sexton: 
to receive certificates, and attach the same to weekly returns; to 
attend upon the officiating clergymen far the purpose of filling 
up and signing a book giving all the particulars of a funeral; to 
attend at coroner’s inquests, also at all committee meetings; and 
the supervision of grave-digging, and the ground generally: and 
this all for the munificent sum of $400 yearly. If the salary had 
been $1,000 instead the requirements could not have been more 
onerous, and it shows unmistakably what a lamentablepass pub- 
lic gardening appointments have come to. 
