266 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
CEMETERY NOTES. 
The annual report of Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Mo. 
shows the number of lots sold during past year to be 287 and the 
number of interments 2481 . The total number of lots sold up 
to April I, 1896 has been 9815, and the total number of inter- 
ments to same date 58,224. Among recent improvements is a 
half mile of new roadway constructed this spring. During the 
past year there were 356 foundations laid for 126 monuments, 
133 headstones and 97 entrances. 
At the annual meeting of the lot holders of Magnolia Cemetry 
Charleston, S. C., Mr. George W. Williams, chairman board of 
trustees, reported that the permanent fund now amounted to $35, 
564.57, an increase for the past year of $1,567.57. The perpetu. 
al care fund for the care of lots now amounts to $24,216,50 and 
is quite rapidly increasing, an d special attention is urged upon 
the lot holders to contribute to this end. Since the cemetery 
was opened in 1850, 2,250 lots have been sold and nearly 10,000 
interments made. Great improvement has been made in Magno- 
lia Cemetery on progressive lines, and it is now in good condition 
and carefully looked after. 
* * * 
The Chinese of New York, Brooklyn and contiguous terri- 
tory, have a burial plot in Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn, 
where some 200 bodies are temporarily interred with their feet 
toward the Polar Star. Periodically some of the bones are ex- 
humed and shipped to China to be reinterred with those of 
their ancestors. A little plot, oblong in shape, occupying some 
500 square feet of ground is inclosed by a railing of iron bars, 
supported by short pillars of white marble. It is the only burial 
grounds of its kind in that section of the country. It is used not 
as a permanent abiding place for the bodies of dead Celestials, 
but as a temporary place of interment. It is the custom of the 
Chinese to exhume the bodies of their dead five years after the 
date of burial. The bones are then scraped and placed in a 
casket of bronze and silver. Silk and other costly fabrics are 
wrapped around the remains, and then the casket is sealed . It 
is shipped and laid away beneath the soil of China. A Mongol- 
ian would spend his days in misery if he thought his remains 
would not be buried m the land of his nativity, and it is remark- 
able what sacrafices he will make to insure this end. The rites 
attending the exhuming of the remains afford considerable in- 
terest to the American citizen. 
* it * 
A number of bodies have been disposed of in Oakwood 
Cemetery, Niagara Falls, under a new method of burial called 
cementation in which two processes are practiced; One by im- 
bedding the coffin in cement, the other by pouring the cement 
around the nude body. When the first method is used it is nec- 
essary to prepare the body with antiseptics, in order to preserve 
it thoroughly. This is the more common practice. Judge 
Hulett describes the system as practiced at Oakwood as follows: 
The grave is made of the usual depth and 16 inches larger than 
the rough box that is to contain the coffin. A concrete mortar 
is then prepared of fresh water-lime, cement, sand and fine 
broken stone, the proportions of which are one part cement to 
three of sand and broken stone. This mixture is put in the bot- 
tom of the excavation to the thickness of about eight inches; the 
rough box is laid upon this cement so as to leave a space of 
about eight inches on all sides between the earth and the box. 
The concrete is poured into the space around the box. It is 
well stirred with a wooden point, so as to make it of an even 
consistency. This part of the work may be done the day before 
the burial. After the coffin has been lowered into the box a lid 
is screwed on to the latter, and then a coat of cement eight in- 
ches thick is laid on the lid. Care must be taken that this ce- 
ment unites perfectly with that surrounding the sides of the box. 
When the top coat of cement is hardened the name of the de- 
ceased and any other words may be carved on it. These will 
last almost forever. 
» * * 
At this season of the year, and especially on account of the 
unprecedently early and hot spring in many localities of the 
country, great care and much labor must be expended to pre- 
serve the lawns and grass plats of the cemetery, otherwise a 
parched and burned apearance will characterize them. Where 
an abundant water supply exists, the situation can be readily 
met; where poor water facilities make it difficult to keep the 
place fresh and green, the weeds should be kept down and the 
grass cut, so that the dismal appearance of the average country 
graveyard in a dry spell may be as far as possible obviated, and 
the devastating and unsightly effect of the frequent fires occurr- 
ing in those located near the railroad be altogether averted. The 
spring is the time to clear up and trim, and the country cem- 
etery can, with some energy and care, be made to blossom as a 
rose, notwithstanding that conditions are perhaps not so favor- 
able as eleswhere. Organize the village improvement society 
and let the cemeteries be one of the first things cared for, it will 
repay the forethought a hundredfold in promoting increased in- 
terest. 
* * * 
Mr. Chas. L. Knapp, treasurer of tne Lowell Cemetery, 
Lowell, Mass., makes the following pertinent remarks on the 
amount which should be funded for the care of lots; While 
believing in the policy and wisdom of providing for perpetual 
care, I think that too often insufficient money is deposited. In 
a majority of cases a person deposits $100; this with a view of 
providing the usual $4.00 annual care charge. This is well and 
good so long as existing circumstances prevail. But there is no 
margin. Accidents will happen to stone work. The rate of in- 
terest might become less than is paid by our saving banks to- 
day. Several circumstances might arise, when the income which 
barely provides the needs of to-day, would be insufficient. We 
do not wish to create uneasiness in the minds of any one, but is 
it not reasonable to allow some margin for future contingencies? 
In my opinion $150 is little enough deposit for an ordinary lot, 
for a principal, especially in view of what a majority of lot own- 
ners expect to receive in return and that for all future time. 
During the past winter, a piece of marble work, improperly set 
originally, was blown over by the wind and so damaged that in 
the opinion of the marble worker it was useless to reset. An 
ample trust fund that had accumulated interest, permitted the 
corporation ordering new work, which was done. We may say 
also, that in this case, all interested in this lot in question are 
buried therein, and illustrates the wisdom of the perpetual care 
process. Had the lot in question been trust funded to the extent 
of bare annual care charge, we could not repair the damage, 
obviously. The fifty-fourth annual report of the business of the 
Lowell cemetery to the proprietors has just been issued, dating 
from February i, 1895 to February i, 1896. Both the reserve 
fund and the trust fund have steadily increased. The perpetual 
care principal, in twelve years has grown from $13,990.45 to 
$67,343.39, having increased $4,630 during the past year. Lowell 
cemetery has suffered from the depressed times, the sale of lots 
last year amounting to only $3,186.93, which with the exception 
of 1889 is the smallest sales for ten years. The total receipts 
from all sources were $36,562.07 . At the meeting Mr. Robert 
H. Mulno was unanimously reelected superintendent, entering 
upon his twentieth year of service for the corporation. 
