137 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
the inside dimensions will be 22 ft. by 12 ft. by 10V2 ft. to the 
top of the arch. It will be thoroughly and completely venti- 
lated. 
The board of public service, Toledo, O., has advanced prices 
for digging graves in Forest Cemetery. The old prices were: 
$2 for a child’s grave and $3.50 for adults. The new scale 
is: For rough boxes under 28 in. wide and 7 feet long, $4.00; 
in excess of these dimensions $5. For single grave sections, 
rough boxes over 28 in. wide, by 7 ft., one dollar extra. 
* * * 
DEDICATION OF LAND FOR CEMETERY PURPOSES. 
It is well settled in the United States, the supreme court of 
Illinois says (Wormley vs. Wormley, 69 Northeastern Re- 
porter, 865), that cemeteries are among the purposes for which 
land may be dedicated, and it is held that, upon such dedica- 
tion. the owner is precluded from exercising his former rights 
over the land. It is also well settled that no particular form 
or ceremony is necessary to dedicate land for the purposes 
of a cemetery. All that need be shown, to constitute such a 
dedication, is the assent of the owner, and the fact that the 
land is used for the public purposes intended by the appropria- 
tion. Staking off ground as a cemetery and allowing burials 
therein amounts to a dedication. An express setting apart of 
land for such a purpose by the owner may constitute a dedi- 
cation of the land as a burial ground or cemetery. It has 
been held that the notorious use of the property for 20 years 
for burial purposes with the acquiescence of the owner affords 
presumptive evidence of its dedication for such purposes. It 
is furthermore well settled that a court of equity will enjoin 
the owner of land from defacing or meddling with graves on 
land dedicated to the public for burial purposes, at the suit 
of any party having deceased relatives or friends buried therein. 
TO WHOM BURIAL LOT PASSES. 
While it does not mean to say that a burial lot is not prop- 
erty, yet the supreme court of Rhode Island thinks that all of 
the limitations attaching to one tend to show that it has been 
shorn of so many of the ordinary attributes of property as to 
raise the presumption that it is not intended to be passed 
under a general devise in which it is not specifically men 
tioned. It says (In re Waldron, 58 Atlantic Reporter, 453) 
that a strong reason for this is found in the right to the con- 
trol of the corpse, as between a widow and next of kin. The 
right cf custody of the remains and the right of property in 
the burial lot should go together, where it is possible. And 
the court holds that a burial lot does not pass under a general 
residuary devise, but it descends to the heirs as intestate prop- 
erty. It says that it is a family burial lot. It is that fact alone 
which gives a peculiar limitation to its tenure. The heir takes 
it subject to all the conditions for which the ancestor held it. 
A sort of trust attaches to the land for the benefit of the fam- 
ily. Neither the widow nor the child can be excluded from 
it for want of title, yet such a result might follow if the ten- 
ure were like that of other real estate. Children could ex- 
clude a widow, or a widow could exclude children, by vir- 
ture of ownership of the land. 
INVALID PROVISION FOR PERPETUAL CARE. 
A will contained a provision that certain money be left in 
bank, the interest to be used to keep the testatrix’s cemetery 
lot in good condition yearly. The court of civil appeals of 
Texas holds (Mcllvain vs. Hockaday, 81 Southwestern Re- 
porter, 54) that this provision was in violation of section 26. 
article 1, of the constitution of that state, which provides as 
follows: "Perpetuities and monopolies are contrary to the 
genius of a free government, and shall never be allowed,” etc. 
It says that said provision of said will created a perpetuity, 
and the district court did not err in holding it invalid and in- 
capable of enforcement. 3 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law (2d Ed.) 
933; Bates vs. Bates, 134 Mass., 110, 45 Am. Rep. 305. This is 
a universal rule, except where such trusts are specially legal- 
ized by statutory enactment. But the court is of the opinion 
that it is legal for a testator to provide in his will for the pur- 
chase and erection of a monument to be-placed at his grave; 
that such expense would be a proper and legitimate part of 
the funeral expenses, and that, in the absence of such a pro- 
vision in the will, the probate court would be authorized in 
making provision for the purchase and erection of a suitable 
monument at the grave of the testor, the amount or cost of 
which should be regulated by the value of the estate. 
BOULDER EFFECTS IN SWAN POINT CEMETERY. 
Editor Park and Cemetery: Most of your readers have 
doubtless heard, or read in your valuable paper, something of 
the use to which boulders have been put in Swan Point Ceme- 
tery, Providence, and some may have seen pictures of the bould- 
er wall and other prominent features of the cemetery. For sev- 
eral years extensive improvements have been in progress at 
Swan Point. A large tract of land has been annexed and laid 
out and in trenching the ground the superintendent found him- 
self confronted with the problem of disposing of vast quan- 
tities of boulders, many of which weighed several tons. The 
stone crusher and the ravines might have suggested a solu- 
tion of the problem, but the capacity of the crusher was inade- 
quate and the superintendent saw other possibilities in the 
ravines, which, by a little planting and the placing of a few 
stones by a master hand, have become an important feature of 
the landscape. 
Swan Point is an ideal spot for rustic treatment, environed 
as it is by another cemetery, boulevard, and the well wooded 
banks of the Seekonk river. Formal architecture would detract 
from the natural beauty of the place. Unlimited quantities 
of boulders have been utilized in building an artistic and ef- 
fective boundary wall. A new entrance has been built, com- 
posed mainly of huge stones piled up cyclopean fashion to 
a height of 15 to 20 ft. Any intimation of abruptness has been 
anticipated by the grouping of smaller boulders and the wind- 
ing of paths about the entrance. The whole system of boulder 
work has been judiciously planted; harsh effects are tempered 
and bold outlines modified by the kindly offices of shrubs and 
vines. Spring and summer flowers, autumn foliage and win- 
ter berry, each in season, contributes to the effect. 
Let not the reader suppose that when we have viewed and 
admired the handiwork of man we are permitteed to leave 
Swan Point. She has other treasures to reveal ; she is rich in 
riverside views, and well-wooded declivities which fortunately 
are unavailable for burial purposes and which are devoted 
to the preservation of fine hemlock and other trees. I do not 
think that the superintendent takes more pleasure in carrying 
his visitors around his stone work than he does in pointing- 
out the grand natural beauties of the cemetery and of a neigh- 
boring estate where he showed me a piece of primeval woods, 
a grand picture of nature unadorned. The alterations and im- 
provements are practically finished for the present, although 
the prospect of new offices and the remodelling or obliteration 
of the old entrance sometime in the future, will probably fur- 
nish details enough to keep the superintendent actively em- 
ployed. In conclusion I hope that the time is not far distant 
when the A. A. C. S. will be invited to partake of a Rhode 
Island clambake and incidentally to visit Swan Point ceme- 
tery. T. White. 
