28 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
I T is very exhilarating to observe how wide- 
spread has become the interest in Arbor Day. 
It is but a few short years ago that Nebraska 
set the example. Some of her far-sighted and pub- 
lic spirited men realized to the fullest the value of 
forest lands in certain localities, not from an indus- 
trial standpoint, the lumbermen knew all about that 
and had profited thereby utterly regardless of every 
other consideration, but from the standpoint of 
natural laws in regard to the conservation and dis- 
tribution of moisture, and consequently the general 
welfare. They thereupon went to work and in- 
duced the state legislature to pass a law setting 
apart a day to be generally observed as a day upon 
which to plant trees, not as a mere holiday amuse- 
ment but with a definite purpose in view. A num- 
ber of the states soon recognized the wisdom of thus 
inaugurating a movement which would tend to in 
time make good the waste of former years, and fol- 
lowed the example of Nebraska. The movement is 
rapidly spreading, and in its development it would 
appear to have taken hold where its originators 
would best have desired it, in the public schools. 
In this direction there has rapidly grown a positive 
interest in Arbor Day, and if Nature herself in her 
complex harmonies were striking her strongest 
chord, the idea has enlisted the active sympathies 
of the educators themselves, and the questions of 
utility and sentiment, in relation to plant life is re- 
ceiving, we may venture to say, more general atten- 
tion than such questions ever received before. It 
is from the public schools that permanent interest 
in the movement will receive its strongest impetus, 
and its benefits be more widely disseminated It is 
a question so intimately associated with the ele- 
mentary course in nature study, that it is safe 
to say in common phraseology, “it is here to 
stay.” 
O NE has only to think a little in order to rea- 
lize that the quality of the responsible park 
laborer is of an entirely different grade from 
that of any other class of labor. In his way he 
should be a specialist, that is to say that besides be- 
ing capable of intelligenly fulfilling his duties, he 
must or should have special knowledge, if only of a 
practical kind, of the trees and plants with which 
his duties continually associate hi.n. This know- 
ledge cannot be obtained altogether from books; it 
is a matter of experience and practice, augmented 
and increased bv faithful devotion to duty. The 
lack of this experience and knowledge in the labor 
employed is detrimental to park interests, and is a 
very potent and significant argument against the 
exercise of political methods in park management. 
We note a comment in an exchange wherein it was 
intimated that following an expressed desire on the 
part of the citizens the park authorities had had la- 
bels made with which to mark the trees and shrubs, 
but owing to the fact that there was so little practi- 
cal knowledge among those directly in charge, 
great difficulty had been experienced in distribu- 
ting the labels. What a lesson to the people! This 
emphasizes the necessity on the part of park boards 
of not only making sure of employing labor of the 
necessary intelligence, but of offering facilities to 
their employes tor acquiring knowledge in the line 
of their work. The result of such a course would 
yeild much fruit in the not distant future, and avoid 
the accidents of ignorance which are unfortunately 
of not infrequent occurrence. Then what a boon 
it would be to an efficient superintendent to have 
under his control an intelligent body of employes, 
men who could comprehend the requirements of the 
various tasks as they were assigned to them, and 
who could be relied upon to carry them out in a 
manner conducive to the best results. 
I T matters little how we may regard cremation 
as a method of disposing of our dead, the fact 
remains that its more general adoption is pro- 
gressing. We, who by reason of sentiment or pre- 
judice in favor of earth burial hold to that principle, 
must not blind ourselves to the knowledge that 
many eminent thinkers and teachers boldly advo- 
cate cremation as a wise and consistent course to 
pursue with the dead, nor to the fact that in our 
large cities the number of people annually passing 
away require so much land wherein to dispose of 
the remains, that it is becoming a hard problem 
to consider for the future in the light of present 
laws of sanitation. Figures have recently been 
published concerning this question in the great city 
of London, and it appears that there are 130,000 
deaths to provide for annually, and that the area 
of land required for cemetery purposes to dispose 
of such a vast death list, is attracting the serious 
attention of the health authorities, and directing 
thought to cremation as a sensible means of meeting 
the difficulty. The same considerations will in due 
course force themselves upon us, and they at least 
for the present suggest to the cemetery officials of 
our larger cemeteries the establishment of crema- 
tories, where it might reasonably be expected they 
may be required, and thus meet the question half 
way. From the tendency of the times it can readily 
be inferred that the public may be educated in time 
to this means of caring for their departed. In point 
of fact cremation has ceased to be the objectionable 
term it formerly was. It does not now convey a 
repulsive idea to the majority of people, but it is 
being thoughtfully considered by many as a proper 
solution of the disposal of the dead, especially in 
large communities. 
