PARK AND CEMETERY. 
2S1 
Cemetery Reports. 
The 66’h annual report of the trustees of Mount Auburn 
cemetery, Boston, to Dec.31, 1897, shows that business for the year 
has been good. The Repair Fund, the income of which can 
only be applied to the care of lots, has increased $40,473 77 and 
now amounts to $937,886.85. The Permanent Fund, for the care 
of the cemetery after all the lots are sold, amounts to $378 ,- 
172.48, an increase of $13,711,25. The general fund is $140,- 
168 96, which will be considerably reduced when payments are 
made on the new chapel and office buildings. Among the im- 
provements of the year were: 35 monuments and 309 head- 
stones erected, 1 tomb and 17 iron fences removed, and also 4 
granite curbings. Work is also progressing on the new build- 
ings. There were 492 interments and 38 removals from other 
cemeteries made, bringing the total interments in the cemetery to 
31,937. The total receipts for the year were $194,910.81, which 
included: Sales of lots $21,594.70; labor and materials on lots 
$59,402 80; deposits in Receiving Tomb $1,147. The total ex- 
penditures were $194,507.51, which included among other items, 
Labor, 37,623.42; materials, $10 801.71; repairs of buildings and 
fences, $1,00,71; account of new chapel $21,29002. 
* * * 
The 50th annual meeting of the Swan Point Cemetery Corpo- 
rat on of Providence, R. I., was held February 1st. The report 
comments upon the improvements, the planting out of the ra- 
vines and the preparation for the new entrance, which will em- 
body some new features of construction. The necessity of laying 
out the plans for the new chapel, offices, etc., called for by other 
improvements is touched upon. The fund which has been known 
as the corporate fund, which has been carried on the books since 
1868, and which results from setting aside 13 cents for every foot 
of land sold or laid out in paths or avenues, now amounts to 
$54,622.95, and has been changed on the books to the perma- 
nent fund. The perpetual care and bequest fund has increased 
$10,449 during the year. The statistics of the year to December 
31, 1897, are as follows: Average number of men employed per 
month during the year, 62; interment, including twenty five to 
the receiving tomb, 306; slate vaults built, 100; foundations to 
monuments and tablets built, 218; plain graves opened, 152; 
curbing removed from lots, 2; land sold, square feet, 15,681; 
number of lots under perpetual care and upon which bequests 
have been made, 1,473: number of lots under annual care, 530; 
number of lots under partial care, 288; number of lots not under 
ore, 964; whole number of lots sold to date, 3,255. The report 
of the treasurer showed that the total assets are $522,026.92; lia- 
bilities, $1,644.47, balance, corporate property, $520,382.45; per- 
petual care and bequest fund, $260684 15; receipts during the 
year, $109,125.13; payments, $97,053.70; balance, $12,071.43. 
* * * 
The sixtieth annual meeting of the rusteesof the Rural 
Cemetery, Worcester, Mass., was held January 24th. The re- 
port shows the funds for perpetual care to amount to $76,825 30, 
which includes an increase of $1,550 during 1897. The number 
of burials was eighty-seven; seven inside curbs were taken out 
and three iron fences moved. Considerable work was done in 
raising low and wet places and otherwise improving the grounds. 
In the report the trustees emphasize “the fact that in no way can 
the old proprietors or their heirs assist so much in beautifying 
the grounds as by placing in the perpetual care of the corpora- 
tion those lots which in the early days were sold without the 
wise provision of perpetual care, leaving the care in each indi- 
vidual case to the proprietor, as his taste or interest or pecuniary 
ability might direct. Too often, however, the result is neglect 
and unsightly conditions. Let any one look for himself. May 
the suggestion be heeded, and the trustees be thereby not only 
gratified, but amply rewarded for their own gratuitous services." 
* * * 
The mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, in his annual message 
refers to the City Cemetery as follows, and his remarks will be 
generally indorsed: “The total cost of maintaining the City 
Cemetery for the year was $7,354.65, and thejtotal receipts were 
$6,081.40. The cemetery should be self-sustainable, and I am 
of the opinion that by judicious management it could be made 
so. There is no good reason why the cost of maintenance should 
exceed the receipts by nearly $1,300. 
* * * 
The annual report for 1897 of the Pine Grove Cemetery 
Commissioners of Lynn, Mass., expresses gratifeation on the 
sati factory results of the year’s work, and details the improve- 
ments effected and in progress. In speaking of the lawn plan it 
says: “Every year we hear remarks made upon the beauties of 
the lawn system in laying out of the grounds, which is now, as 
far as possible, adopted in our cemetery, and all the leading 
cemeteries in the country. As conformity is one of nature’s 
laws, the effect cannot fail to be attractive.” Many improve- 
ments have been completed about the grounds, roads and 
avenues, with large additions to the ornamental shrubs. A foun- 
tain, presented by the late Hon. Joseph Davis, has been placed in 
the rockery, and attracted much attention. The perpetual care 
fund has been increased the past year by the amount of $5,720, 
and it now amounts to $99,822. Interments for the year 1897 
were 593; total buried in the cemetery January 1, 1898, 16,260. 
The receipts were $22,426.62, and expenditures $22,425 62. 
* * * 
The forty-fourth annual report of the Board of Cemetery 
Commissioners to the City Council of Cambridge, Mass., for the 
year ending November 30, 1897, reveals more promising condi- 
tions than have prevailed since the beginning of the hard times, 
the amount received from sales of lots being the largest in the 
history of the cemetery. The total receipts were $19,644.05, and 
expenditures $19,846.77. The amount appropriated by the city 
was $20,500. Among the receipts were the following items: 
Sale of lots and graves, $8,678.63; burial and tomb fees, $4,990; 
care of lots, $2,990.02; foundations, brick graves, etc., $1,425.55. 
The number of interments for the year were 673, making the 
total in the cemetery 21 ,659. There were n monuments and 
1 18 headstones erected. Forty-four lots and 33 single graves 
were sold. The average number of men employed was 19. The 
whole number of lots under perpetual care is 292, and the fund 
aggregates $40,184.58. Many improvements were consummated 
last year, and considerable work is planned for this season. 
* * * 
The annual report of the treasurer of the Manchester. N. H. 
cemeteries showed that the trustees were custodian of funds 
amounting to $52,896.31, all of which except cash in hand have 
been invested in cemetery bonds bearing 5 per cent, interest. 
For Pine G:ove Cemetery there was received during the year 
$4,428.95 for the perpetual care of lots, making a total fund of 
$37,666 37. The receipts for the Valley Cemetery were $1,674.02, 
making a total fund of $13,892.05. 
Mr. Volney W. Foster, of Evanston, 111 ., has for many 
years practically encouraged the care of birds in the streets and 
parks of that classic town, by disseminating knowledge of the 
laws relating to such matters in the public schools and providing 
feeding troughs in various localities. Last fall Mr. Foster ex- 
tended his plan and brought several colonies of squirrels to en- 
joy the hospitality of Evanston. The result of the idea has been 
to largely increase the number of these beautiful denizens of the 
trees and thickets. But there has also been a tendency to in- 
crease the number of undesirable birds, and this has brought the 
attention of the Audubon Society to the subject, which may re- 
sult in modification of the feeding plan. Nothing however can 
be said detrimental to the beautiful idea involved and the pleas- 
urable results which have attended the effort. 
