128 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
burial place should be that in its pertect form it is a 
quiet, peaceful resting place as beautiful as the “Garden 
of Eden.” 
WHY NEW CEMETERIES SHOULD ADOPT THE 
LAWN PLAN.* 
As it is a generally accepted fact that the lawn plan 
should be adopted in all new cemeteries, I will endeavor 
to give a few reasons why it is so. 
By the term “lawn plan,” I mean a cemetery in 
which the aim is to simplify the grounds as much as 
possible by prohibiting all needless encumbrances, such 
as fences, hedges, stone posts and chains, and in fact 
lot enclosures of all descriptions; where the headstones 
or markers are limited in height to a very few inches, 
or still better, kept level with the sod, where all flower 
planting is confined to the spaces reserved for that pur- 
pose, and lot owners are not allowed to exercise their 
own sweet will and taste as to floral adornments on 
their lots, and where all graves are sodded level with 
the surrounding ground. 
Going still further I would restrict the size and 
number of monuments, and make duplication of de- 
sign a legal offense, but of course these are matters 
which are difficult to control, though I hope and believe 
that in time they will be adjusted through the education 
of the people in our line of work. 
Presuming that all cemeteries sell their lots, in- 
cluding perpetual care (and no other way), it is plain 
that they should be on the lawn plan, as the cost of 
maintenance under this plan is decreased from one- 
third to one-half; the men mowing the grass have a 
clean lawn to work on and are not obliged to stop, back 
up and take a new start every 15 or 20 feet, as when 
working on a lawn obstructed by fences, mounds, etc. 
Again, there is a saving in time when they come to 
trimming around the markers and graves, in fact there 
is but little of this work to do, as the lawn mower has 
cut it all clean, except close to monuments, and nearly 
all work with shears and sickles is avoided. In water- 
ing, the hose can be handled much more easily than 
when the ground is obstructed with mounds, markers 
and fences. All these items are good ones to consider 
when calculating the cost of maintaining a piece of 
ground, and will certainly make a good showing at the 
time of making the annual report. Another feature in 
the financial part of this question is the saving in 
platted ground. Under the old plan a strip from two 
to four feet wide had to be left around each lot, which 
could not be utilized for burial, while on the lawn plan 
burials can be made close up to the lot line, which 
means a saving of from 15 to 20 per cent in land where 
lots are platted as they are in the cemetery which I 
represent. 
The great reason, however, why the lawn plan should 
prevail is because cemeteries on this plan are much 
more beautiful than on the old go-as-you-please style. 
In our cemetery we have quite an object lesson, and it 
has done wonders toward educating our lot owners, and 
others as well. 
As you enter the cemetery at the main entrance the 
first platted ground you come to is about four or five 
hundred feet in. This section is conducted as nearly 
* Paper lead at the Omaha Convention of the Association of American 
Cemetery Superintendents, Sept. i3-i6, i898. By A. W. Hobert, Lake- 
wood Cemetery, Minneapolis. 
■ ' ■ — i- 1 ■ 
on the lawn plan as any piece of ground I know of; no 
markers allowed above the surface of the ground, no 
flowers planted except in vases, no mounds above the 
graves, and in fact no obstructions of any kind on the 
lawn, except the family monuments, and trees, and 
shrubbery. Directly ahead of this section is one on 
which the markers were allowed any height and style, 
and graves were mounded and planted with flowers. As 
one looks across the new on to the old section the 
contrast is so great that it is noticed and remarked upon 
by a great many people, and is the means of causing 
changes in other parts of the cemetery very often. 
While the old section referred 10 is by no means as 
unsightly as a great many I have seen, when compared 
with the new one it shows up badly. The new section 
is a neat, green lawn, broken only by the monuments 
and a few trees, while the old one stares at us with hun- 
dreds of small stones of every conceivable size, shape 
and color, not one of which can present any just claim 
to being a work of art, graves planted with geraniums, 
coleus, and all the gaudy plants known to floriculture, 
without any regard to making a pleasing contrast or 
combination with surrounding work, and a few mounds, 
dry and brown, just for variety. 
To persons of good taste the lawn plan must appeal 
very strongly, and while there is a strong sentiment 
against the rules necessary, it is because people dislike 
to get out of the rut, and it is gradually growing less. 
During a recent trip East, I was told by the superin- 
tendent of a large cemetery which I visited, that they 
had in one case graded down level a lot belonging to 
quite a prominent lady of their city, and upon receiving 
notification that the work was completed, she came out 
to the cemetery, and drove directly to where she sup- 
posed her lot was, but the change in appearance of that 
vicinity was so great that she thought she had got to 
the wrong place, and came to the office to be directed 
right. So pleased was she over the change that she 
says now that if the management wish people con- 
verted to the lawn plan to send them to her. The very 
fact that nearly all cemeteries where “any old style” was 
good enough, are being altered and worked over to con- 
form as nearly as possible to present ideas, should be 
sufficient of itself to deter any one from opening new 
grounds on any but the strict lawn plan. 
The progressive people of to-day, as a rule, want the 
best there is to be had, and are going to have it, even if 
they have to die to get it. 
Green guttapercha is now produced from the leaves 
of the caoutchouc tree and is said not only to possess all 
the advantages of the article obtained by incision into the 
stem, but even to excel it in durability, so that it can 
enter into use industrially and commercially in a hither- 
to unknown way. It is readily prepared and cheap in 
price, not requiring an expensive purification, which 
heretofore increased the price of the product 15 to 25 per 
cent. Besides it is highly plastic, very strong, can be 
divided into the thinnest leaves and receives the most 
delicate and at the same time the most distinct impres- 
sions, by molding and pressing, Moreover, it with- 
stands the action of water and the strongest acids and 
even in a worn and broken-up condition is still worth 
25 per cent of its cost of production. The French 
mail and telegraph department has already com- 
menced its use for the construction of submarine 
cables. 
