30 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
to interrupt occasionally these views and 
have them reappear a little farther on, 
seen from a slightly different angle and 
with different framing; it is like presenting 
a new picture. The writer was highly im- 
pressed a number of years ago in observ- 
ing a view from a bench on a hillside. It 
consisted of a magnificent stretch of lakes 
lying far below, surrounded by wooded 
hills, and the foliage of a single young 
tree standing a few feet in front of and 
below the bench cut the view in two, giv- 
ing two views of a quite different char- 
acter, but equally charming. Then, by 
moving over only to the other end of the 
bench, the tree was made to divide the 
scenery in a different, place, and the change 
in the landscape was astounding, just as 
charming as before, but so different. That 
one little tree, whether planted on purpose 
or not, was the means of giving the ob- 
server four distinct views where otherwise 
there would have been one, wider in scope 
but no more impressive than the four divided 
ones, and it the observer should insist on 
having the whole thing at once, all he had 
to do was to step down in front of the lit- 
tle tree, but he would soon return to the 
bench. A similar observation can be made 
where a road skirts a lake. If the 
country is open you see the entire lake 
from everywhere and the view changes so 
gradually as you proceed that it is hardly 
noticeable. But cut off the lake entirely 
here and there with a group of planting, 
and each opening will give a new view and 
lend a variety and charm otherwise absent. 
Call it an illusion if you like, but, then, 
illusions are very pleasant at times, and the 
above points to a law that is worth ob- 
serving when opportunity offers, and it 
nearly always does. An extensive lawn 
should be broken here and there; a brook 
or lake should present views of varied ex- 
tent and character, etc., but to establish a 
general formula that holds good every- 
where is as impossible as to prescribe a 
universal rule for the proper arrangement 
of objects in a painting. At all events, it 
is too big a job for the writer, and if 
treated fully would keep Park and Cem- 
etery busy for a long time to come. Each 
case is a problem in itself and requires its 
special treatment, and it is just as well, or 
the world would be too monotonous. It 
may be said generally, however, that on an 
extensive area there is room for trees and 
shrubs, detached and single, in smaller and 
larger clusters and in solid masses. 
On a cemetery it should be considered 
that the ground is meant to be used, and 
for that reason the areas given over per- 
manently to planting should be limited ; 
still, the cemetery, whether large or small, 
will generally attain a ripe old age before 
being utilized altogether, and space can 
very well be spared for planting to serve a 
number of years and then to be moved or 
thinned out as necessity dictates. 
Regarding the character of planting ap- 
propriate for a cemetery, much has been 
said in favor of preserving the dignity and 
quiet and against a display of flowers. 
Yes, perhaps it will prove ill-suited to have 
large masses of flowers of too vivid color- 
ing; masses of bright tulips, salvia, etc., 
belong elsewhere, and so do ramblers cov- 
ered with roses to the exclusion of all fo- 
liage, but each has its legitimate field. 
Among the flowering shrubs, however, 
there are very few so pronounced as to be 
offensive under any circumstances, and the 
writer admits never to have suffered any 
great shock at seeing a group of shrubs in 
full bloom. If properly arranged there is 
always foliage enough to assert itself, even 
in the most gorgeous mass of rhododen- 
drons, and no one who has the good for- 
tune to see the acres and acres of kalmia in 
full bloom along the Tennessee creeks will 
venture to call their effect disquieting. 
Somehow a display of flowering shrubs 
seems to possess a certain quiet, an impres- 
sion that is possibly created by the knowl- 
edge that the flowering is only an incident 
in their existence; in contrast to most 
herbaceous plants, the shrub before and 
after is the real substance. And then, 
where is our consistency, anyhow? If a 
display of flowers is considered too gay for 
a cemetery in general, then why are the 
same flowers considered appropriate in 
overwhelming masses at the moment of 
most intense grief, the funeral? At least, 
the flower beds have no ribbons attached. 
The writer will not let this opportunity 
go by without expressing the most hearty 
agreement with Mr. Samuel Parsons when 
he pronounces weeping trees to be a trav- 
esty on mourning, that should be banished 
from a cemetery, or, at most, they should 
be restricted to a few places where it is 
apparent that they have “just happened’’; 
otherwise they are as artificial as a black 
border on stationery, broken marble col- 
umns, etc. 
But — better not continue, or there will 
be trouble brewing. Any discussion of this 
kind is apt to run contrary to somebody’s 
pet ideas, of the kind that we all have on 
some subject or other, with a nervous irri- 
tation arising each time we see them ig- 
nored or opposed. Somebody step in now 
and say something definite on this subject 
and see where he will land. 
PLOWING UP THE OPEN AREAS. 
REORGANIZING AN OLD CEMETERY 
An address before the Association of Cemetery Officials of Can- 
ada, by F. H. Rutherford, Hamilton Cemetery, Hamilton, Ontario. 
Like ancient Gaul, cemeteries of today 
might properly be divided into three parts, 
namely, the organized, disorganized and re- 
organized, with the disorganized one far 
exceeding in number the other two classes. 
The modern cemetery of the large city has 
been placed upon such a systematic basis as 
to preclude the possibility of much criticism, 
but in regard to the hundreds upon hun- 
dreds of village, town and small city ceme- 
teries, many of which (speaking moder- 
ately) are absolutely disorganized, a field 
for work for this association would seem to 
be presented. 
If any attempt has been made to remedy 
these conditions, few at least have been the 
results obtained. If, however, it be main- 
tained that it is a difficult matter to deal 
with these cemeteries whose managers dis- 
play no willingness to co-operate, there 
surely seems to be an excellent opportunity 
for the broadening of our influence by 
supplying, either by individual, or, better, 
by combined association effort, the helpful 
advice and support so much needed by the 
superintendent, who is endeavoring to re- 
organize an old cemetery. 
