PARK AND CCAETCRY. 
97 
within one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet 
of every lot in the cemetery, and to meet this de- 
mand it is necessary to replace certain portions of 
the lawn with roads. These should go with reason- 
able directness from the entrance to points in the 
vicinity of each lot, and we should be able to get 
from one drive to another without having to go too 
far around. Economy, as well as beauty, requires 
that there should be as few roads as possible, while 
complying with the conditions stated. 
The general result will be that the cemetery will 
be divided into sections, having a width of about 
three or four hundred feet and having the longer 
axis radiating from the gate. This result, however, 
will nearly always be modified by variations in the 
surface of the ground, bodies of water, trees and 
shrubs, or to take advantage of pleasant views or 
shady groves. The drives should rarely be straight, 
curves being more pleasing in this case, just as an 
undulating country is more beautiful than a flat 
one or a winding river than a straight canal. 
When going over hills and through valleys, we 
are always anxious to get to the highest point 
ahead, in order to get a new view or satisfy curios- 
ity in regard to what is at present hidden. When 
riding on a boat in a river, we have a similar feel- 
ing about the next bend. So in riding along a 
curved driveway in a cemetery or park, our curios- 
ity is aroused as to the new objects which each mo- 
ment brings in sight— here a monument, there a 
group of trees or shrubs, then a lake or river, a bed 
of flowers, a majestic elm or a pleasing vista. 
Since it is necessary to have roads, the curves 
themselves should be elements of the beauty of the 
cemetery. They should lead in the most natural 
manner to the point you wish to reach, avoiding 
double curves and circles as far as possible. Per- 
haps the most satisfactory curve is the long sweep, 
which loses itself in distant foliage. 
I always lay out a drive on the ground first, and 
then survey and plot it afterwards. The line on 
the ground is indicated by a number of small 
stakes, which are rapidly placed in the ground 
while walking, approximately on the line that is to 
form one boundary of the roadway. The exact lo- 
cation of this line is then determined by sighting 
along the row of stakes, while an assistant passes 
from one to another, moving it to the right or the 
left until the curve is satisfactory. Before it is pro- 
nounced correct the curve should be viewed in each 
direction from all points along the future drive. 
The opposite side of the roadway is then determin- 
ed by simply measuring across from the stakes men- 
tioned, the distance chosen for the width of the 
road. This may be any distance between twcnly 
and thirty feet, the proper width depending on the 
amount of travel the road will have to bear. 
I have said that the general plan which has just 
been outlined, will, in most cases, be modified by 
features characteristic of the locality. It is desira- 
ble that the driveway should not rise more than 
about one foot in twenty. If there are steep hills 
they will of course affect the location of the road. 
Perhaps it will be necessary to have it ascend a ra- 
vine or wind back and forth along the hillside, in 
order to reach another drive with which connection 
must be made. In Spring Grove Cemetery two 
large elms, whose branches formed a natural arch- 
way, determined the place of one of the avenues. 
In an other place a huge limb projecting from a 
venerable oak caused the spot beneath it to be 
chosen as one through which a new drive must pass. 
In a leading eastern cemetery a road is so situated 
as to make a range of blue hills the principal object 
in the landscape. 
Rivers and lakes must always be considered in 
laying out a drive in a cemetery where they are found, 
and a group of trees or shrubs which would increase 
the attractiveness of any scene, might be a suffi- 
cient excuse for making the actual curve on the 
ground vary from one that an engineer w'ould draw 
in his office. 
Having decided on location, the next question 
that arises is one of construction. This subject is 
treated so fully in works on engineering, that are 
doubtless accessible to all of you, that I will only 
refer to it briefly. At Graceland it was necessary 
to study economy in making the roads. The soil 
was a light sand. No stone could be found in the 
vicinity and only lake-shore gravel which had no 
cementing material. Clay could be delivered on 
the ground for eighty-five cents, and the gravel 
mentioned for one dollar and a quarter per cubic 
yard. After grading the road bed so that it would 
be slightly higher in the middle than at the sides 
and have a variation lengthwise of from one to six 
or seven feet in one hundred and twenty-five, clay 
was spread on in a layer averaging six inches in 
thickness.* The clay was put on a little thicker in 
the center than at the sides, and was thoroughly 
rolled with a five-ton roller, the edges of the clay 
bed were rolled first, and our aim was to have the 
top surface consist of two planes, having a lateral 
slope of about one in twenty, connected in the mid- 
dle by an arc about five feet in length. 
A layer of gravel was then spread on the clay 
and rolled. It was found best to have this layer 
less than an inch in thickness. Of course, as the 
*We now use slag for the first lay er making this layer seven 
Inches thick in the center and five inches thick at the sides. On this two 
■or three layers of broken stone aggregating four or five inches in thick- 
ness are placed, each layer being thoroughly sprinkled and rolled. June, 
!i895, O. C. S. 
