PARK AND CEMETERY. 
135 
N. Y.; Edward A. Sloan, Ironton, O.; T. H. Wright, Covington, 
Ky.; George M. Fainter and wife, Philadelphia, Pa.; H. J. 
Diering and wife, New York, N. Y. ; Mrs. Emma E. Hay, Eiie, 
Pa.; Henry Bresser, Toledo, O.; F. E. Haskell and wife, Port- 
land, Me.; Timothy McCarthy, Providence, R. 1.; John M. 
Boxell, St. Paul, Minn.; H. Wilson Ross, Newton Centre, 
Mass.; James H. Morton, Boston; Arthur W. Hobert and wife, 
Minneapolis, Minn.; Levant L. Mason, Jamestown N. Y.; 
Augustus Reinhard, Orange, N. J.; Frank M. Floyd and wife, 
Portland, Me.: Perry W. Goodwin, Jamestown, N. Y.; Thomas 
White, Fairhaven, Mass.; S. C. Penrose and wife, Wilmington, 
Del ; John C. Reid, Detroit, Mich.; John K. Wilhelm, Defiance, 
O. ; W. H. Druckemiller, Sunbury, Pa.; John Gunn, Whitins- 
ville, Mas-> ; N. 7’. Bulkley, Danbury, Conn.; B. B. Morehouse, 
Cortland, N. Y.; T. Elsasser, Philadelphia, Pa.; W. H. Davis, 
Newark, O.; Mr. Schrader, Mystic, Conn.; C. M. Coring, 
Minneapolis, Minn.; R. J. Haight and wife. Park and 
Ce.mei’ery, Chicago. 
ANNUAL PLANTING OR EMBELLISHMENT OF 
CEMETERY LOTS.* 
“ If annual planting or embellishment of lots is dis- 
couraged or reduced, can the interest of lot owners be 
maintained ?” 
This is a very delicate and debatable subject and is 
governed so much by local customs, prejudices or 
financial interests, that I had better go slow; in fact, 
a man should be as careful in selecting his subject as he 
would be in selecting his ancestors. 
That we all love flowers goes without saying, and if 
love and affection must have some outlet surely plants 
and flowers are the most appropriate and beautiful; and 
yet profuse mourning and floral displays are not always 
reliable evidences of grief, and both often attract public 
attention or curiosity or invite uncharitable comment. 
That flowers have been overdone might be assumed from 
the death announcements in the daily papers. “Please, 
or kindly omit flowers,” “Burial private,” etc., are evi- 
dences of reform among the educated and wealthy, 
which the poor would do well to imitate. 
•Now, if I understand it rightly, the aim of this asso- 
ciation and the mission of a superintendent is to dis- 
courage all lavish expenditure in floral displays and 
other outlays which the poor can ill afford; hence we 
have discouraged the costly curbing, tall head stones, 
iron fences, railings, hedges, etc., of the old graveyard 
for the green turf and well kept cemetery cf to-day, and 
no one will say that interest in cemeteries has suffered 
or decreased, except perhaps in the less frequent visits 
of lot owners to make repairs, etc. 
For similar reasons annual plantings (by lot owners), 
being perishable and costly, should be discouraged, 
their utility and beauty, after the first frost and the bill 
goes in, is not so apparent^ and often disturbs the family, 
and the happy relations that should exist between lot 
owners and the cemetery. The less bills they pay the 
less their minds are concentrated on their individual 
lots, and the more they admire the cemetery as a whole, 
and we are at peace with our people. 
The hope of maintaining interest in the cemetery by 
lot owners annually planting is too precarious and as 
*Paper read at the New Haven Convention ot the Association 
of American Cemetery Superintendents. By Timothy McCarthy, 
Providence, R. I- 
fleeting as “grief and wealth.” I imagine that I could 
make a cemetery beautiful if people would let it alone 
and not cover it with “spread-eagle flower beds,” or a 
“granite yard of headstones.” People do too much 
(especially the poor) who love and pay dearly to have 
their own way; in fact, it is only in the cemeteries of 
the wealthy that rules prohibiting the costly things that 
I have mentioned are enforced. If arbitrary rules are 
not in force, advice and precept may have good effect, 
although it were much better if trustees or superintend- 
ents of cemeteries adopted some standard of style or 
fashion as a guide for lot owners who usually follow or 
imitate what somebody else does. 
The public did not tell the great masters of archi- 
tecture, painting or music what they would like. No’ 
these great men created and made something that was 
pure and good and the public appreciated it, and the 
taste and demand increased for that which was the 
highest, purest and best. To this end the cemetery 
through its directors or superintendent takes the place 
of the individual lot owner by embellishing the entire 
cemetery rather than the individual lots, and thus mak- 
ing pleasant the visits of the living by beautifying the 
last resting place of the dead. 
In the cemetery under my charge there are not a 
dozen flower beds or borders planted or paid for by lot 
owners, still I imagine that the interest of the com- 
munity and lot owners is annually increased and main- 
tained. Even the interest of my critical and obstinate 
brother superintendents we hope to maintain. It is 
small credit to us if we cannot maintain an increasing 
interest and perfection in our cemeteries as the years 
roll by without annual planting. 
That we should anticipate the possible desire of 
future lot owners by planting reserved spaces and sur- 
roundings with hardy trees, shrubs and plants leaves 
little or nothing for the lot owner to do, and, as your 
lots are your “stock in trade” and your principal source 
of income, they will please and show to the best advan- 
tage, and their value must be increased, as the purchaser 
can see for himself, and not have to draw on his imagi- 
nation or the advice of the plant agent or florist, or to 
cemeteries that cater to every source of income. 
Of course cemeteries must make money, and no 
matter what talents or virtues a superintendent may 
possess, his usefulness is often measured by his ability 
to make money. Still timidity or a penurious policy 
will not pay or maintain the interest of lot owners. 
The more you spend in beautifying the grounds or lots 
with hardy subjects the higher will (what you have to 
offer for sale) be valued; the more surely will you pro- 
vide what the public need, what they demand and will 
have, even if they have to die to get it, and if your 
cemetery or corporation does not give it some other 
corporation will. 
Devote our energies and means then to permanent 
works and plantings rather than to a»nual and perish- 
able displays, and the interest of lot owners and the 
community will be increased and maintained as plant- 
ings and trees grow more beautiful and attractive year 
by year. 
