36 
possible solution. The results were dis- 
couraging. The authorities then turned their 
attention to a system of water pipes con- 
sisting of six-inch mains and four-inch lat- 
terals, furnishing a pressure of about 50 
pounds at hydrants for 2^4-inch hose. 
These hydrants were distributed all over 
the Common where there are trees or turf, 
and the public has seen the thorough way 
in which the grass has been watered by the 
revolving sprinklers. The first summer the 
sprinklers were moved every twenty min- 
utes in the effort to sprinkle an amount of 
water at each wetting equivalent to one-half 
inch of rainfall, the statement having been 
made by the designer of the sprinkler that 
the application of one-half inch of water to 
soil similar to Boston Common will result 
in wetting it to a depth of three to four 
inches, sufficient to keep the ground moist 
three or four days in the summer months. 
Mr. Olmsted, in expressing his views in 
“Landscape Architecture,” says the general 
effect of repeated application of the sort ap- 
pears to have been to raise the average 
total soil moisture contents appreciably 
throughout two feet in depth next the sur- 
face, thus benefiting the trees slightly and 
the turf largely. Mr. Olmsted, therefore, 
contends that it is not desirable to install 
any sub-surface irrigation there; that the 
present method of watering is highly suc- 
cessful for level surfaces and gentle slopes 
and that it can be extended to the steepest 
slopes if the turf is punctured. 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
The Boston Giant Park Sprinkler is de- 
signed for watering large areas, such t as 
public or private parks, estates, polo 
grounds, fairways connected with golf 
courses, putting greens, baseball grounds, 
cemeteries and truck gardens. When the 
sprinkler is in operation the two spray 
arms slowly revolve, spreading the water 
uniformly in a fine, dense, rain-like spray 
BOSTON GIANT PARK SPRINKLER. 
over an area having a diameter of from 80 
to 150 feet. The capacity of the sprinkler 
varies from 100 to 200 gallons of water a 
minute, according to the operating pressure, 
and is about fifty times that of an or- 
dinary lawn sprinkler. The necessary wa- 
ter pressure is about 30 pounds per square 
inch, and at this pressure it requires only 
40 minutes at each set-up to wet the soil 
thoroughly six inches deep. It sprays in 
such a fine mist that it does not flood or 
wash the grass roots, a most important 
feature. 
One machine has an average capacity of 
two acres a day, and one person can easily 
operate three machines. 
During the past four summers the Bos- 
ton Giant Park Sprinklers have been in 
daily use on Boston Common — 53 acres in 
area — where they were installed after other 
methods of irrigation were tried. 
The Giant sprinkler is mounted on a sub- 
stantial four-wheel truck and is fitted for a 
2j/2-inch hose connection. There is also a 
similar device which requires a llTinch 
connection and which covers a correspond- 
ing smaller area when in operation. All of 
the metal parts are bronze and the net 
weight is 140 pounds, with a shipping 
weight of 200 pounds. 
The Giant sprinklers are in use in the 
park systems of Boston, New York, Los 
Angeles and other cities, inFairmount Park, 
Philadelphia, in the United States navy 
yards in Boston, Washington and Philadel- 
phia, in many country clubs and golf clubs, 
the Niagara Falls Reservation, and in the 
cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Denver, New 
Haven and elsewhere. 
The Boston Giant Park Sprinkler is made 
by the Spray Engineering Company, 201 
Devonshire street, Boston, Mass. 
COURT DECISION ON PROHIBITING INTERMENTS 
One of the most important and far- 
reaching court decisions on the rights of 
a cemetery in the heart of a city to con- 
tinue to make interments and to be free of 
taxes was recently handed down by the 
Supreme Court of Missouri in declaring an 
ordinance prohibiting interments in Union 
Cemetery, Kansas City, to be invalid. 
The Circuit Court had upheld the or- 
dinance, but on appeal to the Supreme 
Court the decision was reversed, and the 
city forbidden from enforcing the or- 
dinance. 
Public sentiment generally is reported to 
be against the cemetery, but its perpetual 
charter protects it and allows it to con- 
tinue to do business. The cemetery has 
no perpetual care fund. The place is run 
down, grown up with weeds most of the 
time, and it is reported that they are now 
closing walks and drives and burying in 
them. There is no fence around it, and it 
is within four blocks of the new Union 
Station. Twenty acres fronting Main 
street are being held unused, free of taxes. 
The question of maintaining old cemeter- 
ies in the city limits of large cities is of 
such importance throughout the country 
that we will print the Supreme Court de- 
cision in full in this and succeeding issues. 
The decison follows herewith : 
The plaintiffs, the appellants here, who 
for convenience will hereafter be desig- 
nated by the former appellation, instituted 
this suit in the Circuit Court of Jackson 
County to enjoin the respondents, who 
hereafter will be referred to as defend- 
ants, from enforcing an ordinance of the 
city, duly enacted by the Common Council 
thereof, and approved by the Mayor, July 
14, 1910, forbidding burials in the grounds 
of the Union Cemetery, a corporation duly 
incorporated under the laws of this state, 
by a special act of the legislature, approved 
November 9, 1857. 
In order to fully and properly understand 
the positions of the respective parties to 
this suit it will be necessary for us to set 
forth both ahe act incorporating the ceme- 
tery and the ordinance prohibiting further 
burials therein. 
Said act of the legislature reads as fol- 
lows : 
“An act to incorporate the Union Cemetery As- 
sociation. 
1. That James M. Hunter, Edward T. Peery, 
Joseph C. Hanson, William R. Bernard, Robert J. 
Lawrence, and Milton J. Payne, and their succes- 
sors forever, be, and they are hereby created a body 
politic and corporate, by the name and style of the 
‘Union Cemetery Association;’ and by that name 
have perpetual succession; sue and be sued; plead 
and be impleaded, defend and be defended in all 
courts in this State, and in like manner to have and 
use a common seal, which they may alter or change 
at pleasure to make such by-laws and regulation for 
the good government of the corporation, and the 
efficient management of its affairs, as they may 
deem necessary, provided, the same are not incon- 
sistent with or repugnant to the public law of the 
land. 
“2. In addition to the tract of land now held or 
owned by the said corporation for a cemetery or 
graveyard, they shall have power to buy and hold 
any number or acres, not exceeding one hundred 
and sixty, for that purpose; may lay off the same, 
or any portion thereof, into lots and subdivisions 
suitable for graves, vaults and monuments; may 
embellish the same with trees, shrubbery, and flow- 
ers, or cause the same to be done by any purchaser 
thereof, and lay out avenues and walks, and when 
so laid off and dedicated, shall be forever held by 
said corporation for the purpose aforesaid, and none 
other; said corporation may sell and convey any of 
the lots or sub-divisions in said cemetery for the 
purpose aforesaid, subject to such conditions as may 
be prescribed by its by-laws; and every right sold 
and conveyed shall be held and used by the pur- 
chasers thereof, for the purposes aforesaid, and 
none other, and shall not be subject to attachments 
or sale under execution, nor by order of any court, 
or be conveyed by the owner out of his family after 
any interments have been made in said lot. 
“3. The officers of said corporation shall be a 
President, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be 
elected every year, out of the said Board of Cor- 
porators, and said corporators may appoint such 
other officers as the board may deem needful, and 
prescribe the duties and terms of office; they shall 
also keep a faithful record of their proceedings, 
copies of which, certified under the seal of the 
corporation, shall be received as evidence in all 
courts in this State; the first election shall be held 
on the first Monday in May, A. D. 1858, and 
every year thereafter, at the City of Kansas. Mil- 
