130 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Wild grape vines find crevices of support in 
the inequalities of the undressed stone of the bridge 
and by its aid fling themselves across the water. 
At present they are pleasing, but if the vines are 
allowed to further veil the stone work the bridge 
will lose that appearance of stability without which 
architecture is distinctly inconsistent. 
The shore planting is good, as may be seen by 
the cut. 
The group of plants at the left of the bridge, 
just back of the two workmen in the water, are the 
hardy grass Eulalia Japonica, wild Iris, and the 
clump that rises back of and above the others, is 
Ligustrum vulgare, or common Privet, which is 
among shrubs what Virginia creeper is among vines, 
and is said to have made more barren spots beauti- 
ful than any other shrub. This is because it makes 
itself attractive in spite of poor soil, unpromising 
situation and neglect. In fact it seems to be a real 
friend in need. 
The group nearest to and in front of the bridge 
and stairway on the right occupies considerably 
more space than it seems to, and is composed of 
moisture-loving shrubs, small trees and herbaceous 
plants, some of the latter being strictly bog plants. 
The small umbrella-shaped tree is Ptelia tri- 
foliata or Hop tree. The leafy plant to the left of 
it near the bridge is a thrifty specimen of Hibiscus 
Californicus that gives a good crop of exquisitely 
pure rose pink flowers in late summer every year. 
Another leafy plant near the Hibiscus is Helian- 
thus gr. serratus, and the last leafy plant to the 
right in the same distant group is Aralia Spinosa 
or Hercules’ Club, a tropical looking plant with 
spiny stems. 
Interspersed among this group near the water’s 
edge is the giant reed Phraginatis coviiminis, and 
the pond is fringed just here with wild Arrow head, 
Sagittaria variabilis, growing in the margin of the 
water. 
On the shore to the right of the distant group, 
and in the middle distance, is a clump of Cornus 
siberica, next to this is Rosa rugosa and the nearest 
group on the extreme right at the waters edge is 
Cornus sericea or silky Cornel, a purple twigged 
Dogwood that is a strong grower and a very valua- 
ble shrub in landscape work. 
Any good catalogue of hardy aquatics will fur- 
nish a list of those grown in these ponds, for all are 
there from the miniature white stars of the Japanese 
water lily, Nympliiea pyginea, to the great Ivgyptian 
Lotus, Nehivibiuin speciosnvi , proudly holding aloft 
its classic, cup shaped, rose tinged blossoms— the 
Queen of hardy aquatic.s. 
The two men, clad in waterproof garments, are 
clearing the ponds of that obnoxious water weed 
Lininanlhcmiiin Nymphccoides, formerly called 
J'il/ars/a and popularly known as Floating Heart. 
In some catalogues it is erroneously named Linino- 
charis Nympluefolia\ but Limnocharis, or Water 
Poppy belongs to the Water Plantain order, while 
this objectionable weed is a member of the other- 
wise very respectable Gentian family. It is a pest 
and should not be included in any list of aquatics, 
for amateurs are frequently misled into ordering it. 
Its introduction into a happy water family is 
certain to cause endless trouble, and it is much 
easier to get it there than to get rid of it. 
The water in the hardy ponds is about thirty 
inches deep, and the plants are in boxes one foot 
deep that vary in size from six feet square to big- 
ones I ox 1 6 feet used for Lotuses. 
The boxes ofplants are left in position in winter, 
but an inlet at the upper end and an outlet at the 
lower end of the ponds keeps the water constantly 
in motion so that it never freezes at the bottom. 
Pioneers are usually from the hardy classes and 
it seems a little strange to find the reverse true in 
the use of aquatics in Parks. The tender section 
led the way, broke the ice, as it were, for the hardy 
varieties. 
Both, however, are so beautiful, do so much to 
give pleasing variety, and prove such an attraction 
in Parks, that, having been once used are thereafter 
found indispensable. Fanny Copley Seavey. 
Why not so conduct our cemeteries that, at 
least, after the generation that has a personal in- 
terest in the grave has passed away, that grave may 
be used for other interments, or better still, why 
not apply science to this matter so that the process 
of decay may be hastened, that as rapidly as poss- 
ible the bodies interred in our cemeteries shall be 
resolved again into the earth, and that in the time 
when cemeteries shall have been abandoned and 
cremation shall have been adopted as the proper 
and scientific mode of disposing of the body, our 
cemeteries shall have become beautiful parks, dedi- 
cated to the memory of the dead. Now It seems to 
me that instead of seeking to prolong this process 
of decay by the adoption of leaden caskets, marble 
boxes and hermetically sealed vaults, we should 
seek to promote it by every means known to science. 
So far as sentiment is concerned, I at least find 
nothing dreadful in that thought, that the body of 
one that I have loved has been resolved again into 
the elements of life, and gone to nourish the things 
that purify the air and gladden the eye. There is 
nothing dreadful in that all, but that other thought 
that the form once dear to me lies for years, rotting 
in the ground, a slowly wasting, hideous mass of 
putrefaction, and that the ingenuity of man has been 
employed to prolong this terrible process, that 
thought is horrible.— y. S. Norton. 
