54 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
most southerly representative of its affinity, being 
found almost to the borders of the Antarctic Ocean. 
Coprosma, in 35 species, are from Australia, 
New Zealand, Juan Fernandez and Tasmania, &c., 
some of them reaching low southern latitudes. 
Some species bear showy fruit, and are reported 
to be good garden shrubs in California. C. Baueri- 
ana variegata has been used to some extent as an 
edging plant for summer flower beds. 
Richardsonias, as a genus, are not worth men- 
tioning, except for the fact that a certain school of 
botanists wish to call them Richardias, and so con- 
fuse them with the callas of the greenhouses. Is 
everybody to be made suffer for Dr. Houston’s bad 
spelling? 
Rubia “madder” has 38 species in the warm 
parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. R. peregrina, 
found in the south western counties of England, is 
an evergreen plant, with its leaves four or more in 
a whorl in the way of Crucianella and Galium. 
R. tinctoria is the plant yielding the dye called 
“Turkey red” so largely imported (until recently) 
for the dyeing of calicoes, &c. R. cordifolia is the 
madder of India. 
Galium “bedstraws” have 300 species dis- 
tributed in all warm and temperate regions, but of 
little use to the gardener unless perhaps to cover 
rough ground. 
Asperula “woodruff” is in 90 species, from 
Europe, Asia and Australia. A. odorata is a 
British plant, growing well in shade, and a favorite 
in cottage gardens. A. azurea setosa is treated as 
an annual, and others of the genus might be used. 
So also might Crucianella SEgyptica, Phuopsis 
stylosa and a few others where it is desired to 
represent their rather curious tribe. 
Trenton, N. J. James MacPherson. 
RURAL CEMETERIES — SUGGESTIONS FOR ORGAN- 
IZING BY AN OCCASIONAL CONTRIBUTOR. 
The tomb of Cyrus was situated in a garden, 
amidst trees and flowers and running streams. 
Such is the account of Strabo. To Asia, undoubt- 
edly, belongs the honor of the rural cemetery, as 
distinguished from the churchyard. The most 
magnificent tomb the world has known, the superb 
Taj Mahal, is to-day, as ever, situated in a garden. 
To the Hollanders belong the honor of introducing 
the garden cemetery into Europe. The American 
Colonists always appears to have adopted this 
style — perhaps necessarily — but certainly often from 
choice. The whole country is full of testimony to 
this effect. Some burial grounds are private, many 
are public, some are cared for, many are neglected. 
A village may acquire a cemetery in various 
ways, the ground may be donated, it may be pur- 
chased by the community, or by a society for the 
community. In any event it should always be held 
in trust by the village or town, never desecrated, 
but when built around, and burials cease, it should 
still be used as a garden, a park, or a recreation 
ground. 
It will always be prudent to select accessible 
well drained ground. It may be nearly level, and 
if so, it will be the most economical to improve 
and manage. In a mountain country this cannot 
well be, and the crest of a hill may be chosen for 
its commanding prospect; the summit may be 
reached by a winding road, and interments made 
between the levels. Several such examples exist, 
some of them very ancient indeed. Some are 
rural, others are necropoli. Whatever the char- 
acter of the site, and however acquired, its improve- 
ments should always be intrusted to a competent 
gardener. He is at once the most economical and 
intelligent person that can be engaged for such 
work. If there is the slightest doubt about com- 
petency, ask the nearest known editor or college 
professor to examine his pretensions, and let the 
man have full opportunity to show his parts. He 
may easily be able to examine his examiners, and 
perhaps produce a work entirely unique, and 
beyond the pre-concei ved understanding of the 
locality. If he can demonstrate his ability on 
paper, or on the ground, in reading, writing, peg- 
ging out the work, or sketching the effect, you will 
be fortunate. You cannot expect much from a 
laborer, you cannot expect much from a mere 
draughtsman, but from an old and experienced 
gardener, who has made a study of landscape as 
applied to this country — you may expect anything 
and everything that can be done with earth, rocks, 
water, and the trees, vines, shrubs and flowers 
which he can use to beautify them. 
If he has traveled he will probably treat the 
whole material as simply, and with as much matter 
of fact straight-forwardness as a farmer treats a 
field crop. If there is clearing to be done it will 
be proceeded with; if leveling, road making, grass 
sowing, grouping and planting present themselves, 
they will be undertaken when and where necessary, 
and then only. Upon the planting will depend the 
most effective, enduring and economical part of the 
embellishments. He will be able to present the 
whole scheme of the vegetable kingdom, or any 
part of it, for any special or ordinary effect. It 
ought to be easy for such a man to produce a 
charming picture, either with a botanical, seasonal 
or heterogeneous arrangement. Much the same 
material will be employed in each case, and it will 
only be somewhat easier to throw it down anyhow, 
than select it for given purposes. It matters not 
