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PARK AND CEMETERY. 
COMPLETE DEVELOPMENT OF A MODERN CEMETERY 
By OTTO SONNE, 
Landscape Engineer. 
I. Selection of Site and Preparing Ground. 
The construction of a cemetery at North 
Arlington, N. J., for the Roman Catholic 
Diocese of Newark presents some inter- 
esting features, partly an account of its 
size — 200 acres — and partly because the 
work covered the entire range from be- 
ginning to finish of changing an unim- 
proved tract of land into the condition of 
serving its new purpose without influence 
from older plots, roads or other existing 
conditions. Therefore, as the diocese was 
ready to develop the tract as a whole, the 
problem could be approached and carried 
out unhampered and in the right way. 
The original character of the land varied 
considerably. About one-third was open 
farm land, but for some years out of use 
and left to produce a notable growth of 
weeds and bushes. The remaining two- 
thirds had at one time been covered with 
large trees, but had been cut over more 
or less thoroughly some years back, leav- 
iug about one-half still with tall trees, the 
rest with a bushy crop of birches and 
other trees, perhaps fifteen years old, 
among which were a number of oaks and 
hickories, well worth saving. The entire 
two-thirds, however, had left on it a gen- 
erous supply of stumps, large and small, 
from the first cutting. 
The first step of all, and a necessary one, 
was to make a topographical survey to de- 
termine the configuration of the ground. 
Precise levels were taken to the surface, 25 
to 40 feet apart, according to whether the 
ground was irregular or quite smooth and 
even. Besides every tree four inches or 
more in diameter was located, water 
courses, surrounding highways, etc. In 
order to do this stakes were driven at ir- 
regular intervals and from each the sur- 
rounding area was covered with transit 
sights and levels. They were placed close 
enough together to allow the entire grounds 
to be covered in this way — i.e., several 
hundred feet apart in the open and as 
close as 100 feet in the wooded sections. 
Where possible, the stakes were located by 
triangulation, otherwise by carefully meas- 
ured angles and distances, so that when 
the survey was finished the location — co- 
ordinates — of each was known to within a 
few hundredths of a foot, and served as a 
basis from which all roads and other in- 
tended structures could readily be staked 
out. On the plan contour lines were drawn 
showing the elevations with one foot inter- 
vals and giving at a glance the rise and 
fall of the ground, and thereby the loca- 
tions favorable or prohibitive for roads 
with easy grades and curves. One general 
plan was made on a scale of 100 feet to 
an inch and a working plan in eight sec- 
tions on a scale of 30 feet to an inch. 
On the basis of these plans the design 
was made by the writer, and when it had 
been submitted to the diocese and ap- 
proved, the work of construction was 
given to the Fairfield Landscape and Nur- 
series Co., New York City, in May, 1912, 
and has been under the personal super- 
vision of George J. Pearson, the president 
and general manager. 
Naturally, grubbing and clearing was the 
first item on the list to be tackled. Where 
roads or other structures were to go in, all 
growth and organic matter had to be re- 
moved, and outside of the roads consider- 
able thinning had to be done. The brushy 
birches, etc., were nearly all removed, only 
a cluster left here and there, and such de- 
sirable young trees as were found to grow 
among them. Even the older trees needed 
a vigorous thinning, as they bad been 
badly neglected and interfered with each 
other, with the result that a large percent- 
age of them consisted of only a tall trunk 
with a tuft of foliage at the top, and the 
cutting out required much study of the ap- 
pearance of individual trees, grouping, etc. 
More troublesome than the cutting of 
trees and brush was the removal of the 
innumerable stumps, some of them thirty 
inches or more in diameter, some quite 
green and some half rotten. 
The original appearance of the growth 
is fairly well indicated in the illustrations. 
One view is a winter picture of the 
younger growth calling for an emphatic 
thinning out. No. 3 and No. 4 show the 
original appearance and at the same time 
some work of development going on, road- 
ways being cut out, etc. On No. 4 will be 
noticed the undesirable shape of the indi- 
vidual trees already referred to, a stick 
with a tuft of foliage, which is unavoid- 
able where the growth has been for a long 
time left to itself. 
This removal of the smaller growth was 
simply axe work and digging of roots. 
The larger trees were in some instances 
cut down and the stump removed later, 
and, in some instances, where it could be 
done without injury to neighboring trees, 
a stick of dynamite under the tree disposed 
of tree and stump at the same time — as 
shown in illustration No. 5. The heavy 
work was the taking out of large stumps, 
and some discrimination was needed on ac- 
count of varying size and soundness. The 
soft and spongy ones had to be dug out 
piecemeal; the big, sound ones yielded to 
nothing but a stick of dynamite, but then 
they did yield, and between these two ex- 
tremes various methods were applied, such 
as pulling out the stumps with a windlass 
after some digging and axe work (illustra- 
tion No. 3) or pulling them out with a 
heavy traction engine. 
The item of grading consisted in the 
main in removal and replacing top soil, 
grading of roadways, of lawns, deepening 
NO 2. WINTER PICTURE OF THE YOUNGER GROWTH NO 3. SHOWING ORIGINAU CHARACTER OF THE TRACT; 
THAT NEEDED THINNING OUT. PULLING STUMPS WITH WINDLASS. 
