52 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
T he fact of Memorial Day being with us once 
more calls to mind the exceptionally long 
and trying winter, and the comparatively 
short spring that has been allowed most of our 
cemetery superintendents in which to get their 
spring clearing up done and to prepare for the oc- 
casion. There is some compensation in the thought, 
however, that the debris and disturbance of the 
monument man will be progressively less in num- 
ber as the years roll along, although in individual 
instances of greater proportions. The lawn plan 
has effectually reduced the number of monuments, 
annually to be erected in our larger cemeteries, but 
on the other hand it has tended to improve their 
proportions and importance. It has also made 
cemetery work less irksome in its details, and a 
more delightful study for those in active control. 
Then again the beauty of the modern cemetery has 
a genuinely inspiring effect upon the visitor — in- 
spiring to the extent at least that it promotes re- 
spect for the quiet beauty of the place, and leads 
the thoughtless, careless, visitor to instinctively ex- 
ercise his best efforts to avoid transgressing the 
rules or doing damage. It is probable that while 
greater throngs may visit our cemeteries on Me- 
morial Day, there will be less damage done year 
by year, and less work left to be done by the sup- 
erintendent after the anniversary has passed. 
S uggestions offered by certain of our cor- 
respondents on the desirability of our ceme- 
tery and park superintendents making com- 
prehensive notes of the damage done on their 
grounds by the almost unprecedented winter 
through which we have passed, deserves particular 
attention, and should not fail to be duly carried 
out. The importance of the matter is emphasized 
by the fact that the government experiment stations 
have been engaged in a system of correspondence 
to obtain such information on the lines covered by 
their several operations. Its importance is of far 
broader interest than at first sight may appear. 
While it may be tolerably certain that the trees, 
shrubs and plants of local origin and use have come 
through all right, the effects of such severe grada- 
tions of temperature will vary on all planting ma- 
terial brought for any purpose from outside terri- 
tory, and a knowledge of their constitution and 
adaptability of some of the much prized ornamen- 
tal plants and shrubbery in relation to their perma- 
nent use will be invaluable. Our readers are earn- 
estly urged to compile such information as may be 
of value concerning the efifect of the past winter 
upon plant life under their observation, and trans- 
mit it to Park and Cemetery, for dissemination 
in the interest of others. 
I N planting Memorial Trees there is one essen- 
tial feature that must not be overlooked tem- 
porarily, and must receive the necessary at- 
tention in due course to secure permanence, — it is 
properly marking the memorial tree. It is noted in 
many reports from Arbor Day exercises that this is 
frequently neglected, and in some instances inves- 
tigation has been necessary to properly identify the 
trees planted on similar previous occasions. It is 
needless to say that this unfortunate oversight de- 
tracts from both the occasion and its object, for 
certainly the intentionally impressive exercises at- 
tending the planting of a memorial tree absolutely 
requires a proper and permanent plan of identifica- 
tion to stamp this act for record. Now it must be 
taken for granted that this important feature is a 
necessity, and really should form part of the cere- 
monies. A label and proper entry of its location 
on the records will establish its identity of course, 
but some permanent record should be either at- 
tached to the tree or solidly set near by that the 
educational influence may be imbibed by the vis- 
itor and passerby, and the historical interest kept 
alive-for the present generation as well as for those 
to come after. 
I T is well worth while to think over the remark- 
able progress which distinguishes any well 
directed effort tor the public good, when such 
efifoit is intelligently put before the people. No 
country in the world offers such encouragement as 
this to the man who may have a good practical id(‘a 
likely to help his fellow man. And no country in 
the world to-day offers a broader field for the ex- 
ploitation of practical means and knowledge look- 
ingto the advance of civilization in its higher phases. 
This happy thought is suggested by the flood of 
paragraphs appearing in the public press regarding 
the observance of Arbor Day. The progress in 
this beneficent idea is truly marvellous, and it is, 
moreover, rooting deeply into the life of the people, 
in that it is being grafted upon the routine of our 
public schools, which means evidently that the 
knowledge involved will be part of the education 
of the next generation of working citizens. It was 
following the directing finger of wisdom to work 
towards the engrafting of the inspiring and civiliz- 
ing ideas connected with the principles centered in 
the practical observance of Arbor Day, upon the 
minds and hearts of the young. The soil was al- 
ready ready for the planting, fresh from the annual 
trips to meadow and woodland after the wildflowers 
of spring, and ready to receive the seed of perma- 
nent love of tree and plant and of knowledge of how 
to combine them to make our natural surroundings 
keep march with progress in other directions. 
