PARK AND CEMETERY. 
280 
we make a charge. We leave a slight 
mound on all graves, not large enough to 
interfere with the lawn mower. 
Riverside Cemetery. 
Rochester, N. Y. 
We have two single grave sections ad- 
jacent to the .better sections. There are 
175 graves in one section and 1,500 in the 
other. There are no paths. Grave marks 
are not uniform and are not furnished by 
the cemetery. Markers must be 1 foot 6 
inches long, 1 foot wide and 1 foot 6 inches 
high, with granite base included. Graves 
get same care as all perpetual care lots 
and the charge is included in the original 
price. The cemetery does all planting. No 
mounds are allowed. Other restrictions are 
the same as for lots, allowing only one in- 
terment in each grave. 
Newton Cemetery. 
Newton Centre, Mass. 
ASKED AND ANSWERED 
An exchange of experience on practical matters by our rentiers. You. 
are invited to contribute questions and answers to this department 
How to Dispose of Leaves. 
“I should like to have the opinion of 
cemetery men on the question of the dis- 
posal of leaves. There has been quite a lot 
in the papers lately about them. One 
writer thinks that to burn them and use the 
ashes is the best and cheapest way; another 
that there should be a law against the 
burning of them and that it would pay to 
collect them in the streets, put them in a 
pile and rot them. We have a great many 
to dispose of here and have tried a number 
of ways, but am undecided which is best.” 
— W. C„ Mass. 
Concerning the value of dead leaves, I 
should say that they are as nearly value- 
less as any waste vegetable matter can be. 
They have lost nearly all their original 
soluble material, either by withdrawal into 
the tree stem before dropping, or by leach- 
ing after lying on the ground. Hence, they 
consist principally of a skeleton and skin 
of siliceous matter and cellulose, with very 
little fertilizing value. So far as I can 
learn, they would not be worth a dollar a 
ton for the fertilizing elements contained 
in them, but are of use in forming leaf 
mold or vegetable matter when they are 
sufficiently decayed. Therefore, the best 
means of removing them is the one which 
will be most economical from the labor 
standpoint without reference to any possi- 
ble fertilizing value. If there were a waste 
place where they could be dumped with lit- 
tle labor and allowed to rot there would 
ultimately be formed a pile of humus 
which might be of use to somebody. Other- 
wise burning them is probably the quickest 
and cheapest way of disposing of them. 
Fred W. Morse, 
Mass. Agricultural Experiment Sta. 
Amherst, Mass. 
The disposition of leaves in cities is a 
matter that I am glad you are taking up. 
The present practice of burning leaves is 
a fair sample of the municipal ignorance, 
inefficiency and waste which is going on in 
American cities. Leaves properly composted 
make the very best kind of soil for all 
plant growth and as a mulching they are 
invaluable. It is incredible that the munic- 
ipal authorities in charge of the trees are 
not educated on this simple fundamental 
principle of plant growth. Where leaves 
are not burned they are generally de- 
stroyed by dumping in localities where 
they serve no good purpose other than as 
filling. I do not doubt but that hundreds 
of thousands of dollars in leaves are burned 
up every year in New England alone. Cer- 
tain oak leaves decay very slowly, but all 
other hard woods make fine compost the 
first season. My recommendation would be 
that the leaves be used for mulching in 
the parks, or otherwise be composted with 
city scrapings for later use on the street 
trees, as most of our New England street 
trees have comparatively little, if anything, 
around them but paving. 
A new street tree policy must be inaugu- 
rated to make possible the application of 
the composted leaves. This would consist 
of openings around the trees and a park 
strip between the sidewalk and road sur- 
face. Harlan P. Kelsey, 
Landscape Architect. 
Salem, Mass. 
The leaves throughout the streets and 
boulevards in this city are gathered up by 
the people who have the contract for street 
cleaning, and are carried to the outlying 
sections, where they are thrown on the 
dumps. Of course, they are mixed with 
the street sweepings, and after they have 
lain there two or three years they become 
very valuable for fertilizing purposes, and 
are largely used for that throughout our 
park system. I believe that in most in- 
stances it is policy to compost them in some 
such way as this, as the labor involved is 
only slightly more than it is to rake them 
up and burn them, as is done in many 
cases. H. B. Filer, 
Buffalo, N. Y. City Forester. 
Regarding the disposition of leaves in our 
grounds, I would say that all our leaves 
are raked and carted from the grounds to a 
compost pile, leaf mold being very valua- 
ble for growing rhohodendrons, azaleas 
and like shrubbery. Although the majority 
of leaves in the city are burned, I feel that 
the additional expense of carting them 
away is made up in the value of a com- 
post pile. H. Wilson Ross, 
Supt. and Treas., Newton Cemetery. 
Newton Centre, Mass. 
In my opinion the leaves are too valu- 
able to destroy, and I will not allow them 
to be burned on the avenues. It is very 
true, many burn them as a quick way to get 
rid of them, but I do not like the after- 
effect. It does not take much longer after 
they are bunched to haul them to some 
out-of-the-way corner and allow them to 
rot, for they make one of the very best 
fertilizers we can get. 
John J. Stephens, 
Supt. Crown Hill Cemetery. 
Indianapolis, Ind. 
In Cave Hill Cemetery we waste nothing 
of this kind. All leaves from the yard, refuse 
and cleanings from the lakes and water 
plants, grass cuttings from lots, lawns, etc., 
are stacked in piles and thoroughly mixed 
with stable manure. These piles are allowed 
to rot for three years, each year the whole 
being turned over and restacked. This 
work is done in cold and inclement weather, 
when our labor cannot be used elsewhere. 
We use the oldest stack of this compost 
each year. All new ground when graded 
for lots we cover with this fertilizer and 
we also use a great deal of it on flower 
beds and borders. We consider this refuse 
of the summer season too valuable to 
waste, and with practically little more, labor 
than would be required to haul it to the 
dump we collect a stack of compost each 
year, which in three years we find ample 
use for. Robert Campbell. 
Supt. Cave Hill Cemetery. 
Louisville, Ky. 
Burial of Disreputable Characters. 
“What is the legal status of the so-called 
disreputable characters as to their purchase 
of lots in the cemetery? Has the cemetery 
a right to refuse to sell them lots, or what 
is the best way to handle this matter so 
that other lot owners' may not be offended?” 
— J. B. S. 
The question has never been raised by 
any of our lot owners, and if it were we 
should simply have to refer them to the 
state law, which compels us to sell any 
cemetery lot we have for sale to anyone 
who desires to purchase it. Of course, in 
Ohio cemeteries are not operated for profit. 
Frederick Green, 
Secretary Lake View Cemetery. 
Cleveland, Ohio. 
Relative to the sale of lots and graves 
for the burial of “undesirable characters,” 
I must admit at the outset that I have 
never given this subject any very serious 
consideration. The contingency has never 
arisen in any serious form in Forest Home 
Cemetery during my incumbency of the 
past thirty-two years. During that time 
we have buried on lots and in single graves 
a number of persons of unenviable reputa- 
tion and in a few cases have sold lots to 
people rather prominent in the red-light 
district, but no offense ever aopeared to be 
given to adjoining lot owners, possibly be- 
cause we never directed attention to the 
