Editorial JVote and Comment. 
The San Francisco Cemetery 'Decision . 
The Supreme Court of California has recently 
handed down a decision concerning the ordinance pro- 
hibiting further burials in the cemeteries within the 
limits of the city and county of San Francisco, which 
was passed by the Board of Supervisors in 1901. The 
question has been one of keen interest to the owners 
of Masonic, Odd Fellows, Laurel Hill and Calvary 
Cemeteries, as well as to the lawyers of the state, and 
the decision is the result of an appeal to the Supreme 
Court by certain of the parties interested. The ordi- 
nance in question is upheld by the court in an almost 
unanimous opinion, so positive in fact, that it is alto- 
gether improbable that any effort will be made to carry 
the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, the 
only resource remaining. Under the decision the ceme- 
tery companies and lot owners virtually lose their hold- 
ings, for while the bodies already interred will be al- 
lowed to remain, no further burials will be permitted, 
and it may be expected that removal of remains will 
gradually be effected and the areas absorbed in the nat- 
ural growth of the residence parts of the city. The 
case in all its bearings is worthy of study on the part 
of all interested in city cemetery property, or in the es- 
tablishment of cemeteries adjacent to populous centers, 
for it indubitably shows that the courts will uphold the 
police powers of those city officials constituting the 
health authorities. The opinion is regarded as the most 
important decision of this session of the California Su- 
preme Court. 
^ 
Fall Arbor Day in 'Pennsylvania . 
October 16 was designated by the governor of Penn- 
sylvania as fall Arbor Day and the officials of public 
instruction advised particular attention to the planting 
of trees. Jn general the fall promises better results in 
planting young trees than the spring, and with the 
proper care it becomes an object lesson to the young to 
observe the breaking forth into life of the bare pole that 
was set out before winter closed in. It was suggested 
also that fall Arbor Day should be devoted to exercises 
and instruction demonstrating the importance of for- 
estry work. There is no state in the Union that would 
not derive benefit in the future from the instruction 
imparted in the public schools on two Arbor Days in 
each year. It is a question of vast importance to the 
permanent welfare of the country, this leading of the 
young mind back again from the city to the country 
by impressing upon it the value of a knowledge of 
arboriculture and horticulture, and to this a repetition 
of Arbor Day in the fall would lend itself, and tend 
to fasten the subject more permanently in the youthful 
mind. Arbor Day is no fad, and its value will impress 
itself on the people year by year. 
Fencing of City and Suburban Lots . 
The fencing of city and suburban residence lots is 
again up for argument, and as has been the case before, 
both sides of the question finds staunch supporters. Un- 
questionably finer landscape effects result in our well- 
designed streets and boulevards where fences and di- 
vision lines are omitted, but perhaps, unfortunately, the 
lack of permanency of ownership militates very seri- 
ously against the ideal as represented bv continuous 
lawns and artistic groupings, for under such conditions 
neglect or change in any one section means more or 
less damage to the whole. Many authorities affirm that 
low fences or shrubbery hedges to define boundaries are 
not only not objectionable, but can be made harmonious 
with other artistic effects. So far as experience goes it 
is probable that the broad landscape effects of the open 
system have not compensated for the social and per- 
sonal disadvantages it entails, nor can it be expected 
until municipal care and oversight shall provide ideal 
government under which to cultivate ideal conditions 
of residential life. 
^ ^ ^ 
Agriculture In the Public Schools . 
Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agriculture 
is bring to the attention of the country a serious lack 
in our public school system of education. While the 
country — nay, the world — is absolutely dependent upon 
agriculture, and while conditions and progress have 
compelled radical changes in the methods of agricul- 
ture, educational facilities have not been provided for 
this branch of life work as for other callings. As the 
secretary says: “We teach the young people of this 
country to do everything but cultivate the soil, and yet 
fully one-half of the population living under the flag 
of the United States earn their living that way. Not 
only has there been but little effort to instruct them 
how to do it, but very little has been done to make 
that kind of labor attractive.” Such is the fact, and 
it is strange that it should be so. There is, however, a 
movement in the air nowadays leading to the realiza- 
tion that agriculture, in some practical and attractive 
way, should be an incorporated part of our system of 
public school instruction, so that the rudiments of an 
education pertaining to this section of the world’s 
labor should be engrafted upon the mind of the young 
in connection with the studies also thought essential to 
the growth of intelligence. The success which has at- 
tended the introduction of the school garden feature 
into school work suggests that the young naturally 
take to co-operative effort with Mother Nature as a 
partner, and it may safely be asserted that the study 
of agriculture in such a manner as would be both at- 
tractive and useful would in time remedy conditions 
which now seriously threaten us. 
