PARK AND CEMETERY 
175 
Not long ago I was a delegate to a convention held in 
Buffalo. The programme was business from 9 a. m. till 1 p. m. 
The meeting adjourned till same hour next day. This gave 
the delegates a splendid opportunity to go as they pleased, and 
was appreciated. 
It is only at the morning sessions of the A. A. C. S. that 
anything like a full attendance can be expected. Therefore, 
why continue the evening sessions? A four-hour session each 
day is sufficient. An Old Member. 
* * * 
Concerning SMembership of the A. A. C . S. 
Why does not the Association of American Cemetery Su- 
perintendents grow? To answer this query of the secretary’s 
is a difficult task. As the different state organizations are 
established, they should contribute their quota to the 
National Association and no doubt will, as the members of the 
former get interested. Slow work, to be sure. But how are 
the older members to be retained ? There’s the difficulty. Mr. 
Lawson states that the gains only about balance the losses, and 
he should know. This fact is greatly to be deplored. One of 
the oldest members looking over the audience at a Chicago 
sessions remarked, “My, how the personnel of the association 
has changed.” Yet death has been very lenient with the mem- 
bers of the A. A. C. S. Less than two dozen members have 
fallen by the wayside in eighteen years. The losses are in 
resignations, and being dropped for non-payment of dues. 
This can only be attributed to lack of interest in the affairs of 
the A. A. C. S. How is that interest to be maintained? The 
late Brother Nichols advocated correspondence among the 
members. If a friendly face was missing from the last 
meeting drop a line to that member inquiring after his 
welfare and cause of absence. Let him feel that he is 
one of us. Don’t wait till the next convention, hoping that 
he will turn up. In a club the members began to “stay away.” 
One member started a sort of endless chain correspondence, 
mailing five postals, requesting that the recipients each send 
five cards to other members. Now why should not the A. A. 
C. S. do likewise, if the cards only say : Greetings. How 
about Washington in 1905? It will show a brotherly feeling, 
and will not cost much ; only a little time, brother. 
Another Member. 
Annual reports or extracts from them , historical sketches , 
descriptive circulars , photographs of improvements or dis- 
tinctive features are requested for use in this department . 
A branch of the Cremation Society of the United States has 
been established in Waterbury, Conn. 
* * * 
Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburg, Pa., is opening up a new 
addition, and is making other improvements to cost about 
$50,000. Superintendent David Woods sends a photograph show- 
ing the work in progress with the steam shovel in operation 
and teams excavating for the lake. The work was begun last 
summer and 60,000 cubic yards of earth have been moved. 
* * * 
The commissioners of Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jackson- 
ville, 111., have begun some important improvements as a part 
of their plans to modernize the cemetery. The old entrance 
will be closed and a new gateway is under construction. The 
entrance will be of stone, concrete and iron. A number of 
flower beds are to be laid out immediately within the entrance. 
Diamond Grove includes about forty acres and has been under 
the control of the present board about two and a half years. 
* * * 
The Bloomington Cemetery Association, Bloomington, 111., 
has arranged to receive funds for perpetual care of lots in 
sums of $ico and over. On lots under perpetual care grave 
mounds are limited to four inches in height, all foot stones are 
prohibited and the association reserves the right to reset all 
corner marks. Perpetual care consists in keeping lot and 
graves in good sod, and keeping the grass cut. The contract 
reads as follows : 
Received of 
the sum of dollars, to be invested, and 
income of which is to be expended in manner hereinafter 
stated for perpetual care of Lot No 
in section No in Bloomington Cemetery in McLean 
Co., 111., in doing work on said lot as follows 
It further provides that one per cent of the income shall be 
placed in the sinking fund of the cemetery. Any amount left 
unexpended may be used the next year. For care of monu- 
ments and markers a separate estimate will be made for 
each lot. The association issues a neatly printed and illus- 
trated book giving rules, regulations, information, etc. 
* * * 
FROM THE ANNUAL REPORTS. 
The annual report of Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, 
O., presents the following statistics of the year : Total re- 
ceipts, $216,352.20; including sale of lots, $41,356; interments, 
foundations, and single graves, $28,841 ; improvement of lots 
by gardener, $17,405; trust fund for perpetual care, $21,943; 
carriage fares, $991. The expenditures were $202,436.30, and 
included the following items : Labor, $36,471 ; interments and 
foundations, $9,590; salaries, $10,600. There were 101 lots 
sold during the year and 1,504 burial permits issued. The 
total number of interments is 71,049 and the number of lot 
holders 10,844. 
Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, Minn., now has a trust 
fund of $120,000. The expenditures for labor during the year 
amounted to $27,000 and for improvements $15,000. The fol- 
lowing officers have been re-elected : President, W. D. Wash- 
burn; vice-president, R. J. Mendenhall; treasurer, Charles M. 
Loring; secretary and superintendent, Arthur W. Hobart. 
The report of the New London Cemetery Association, New 
London, Conn., for the year ending October 1, 1904, covers 
the fifth summer under the present management, and the sec- 
ond season and first full year since the introduction of modern 
methods of care. The new service house, a gift of the late 
Herbert Steward, has been completed at a cost of $1,500, and 
has proven very useful. Another gift of $500 for painting the 
wire fence has been received. The cemetery is confronted with 
the serious problem of providing proper care for lots originally 
sold for very small sums, where no provision was made for fu- 
ture care. A suit has been brought to test the legality of the 
complete control of the grounds, and all work performed therein 
by the association, and it is expected to have this case tried at an 
early date. One entire section of the cemetery is cared for 
through the generosity of one of the lot owners. The asso- 
ciation suffered the loss through death of two of its most 
zealous officers, Augustus Brandegee, one of the charter mem- 
bers, and Robert Coit, for many years an active director. The 
total receipts for the year were $7,901.91 and the expenditures 
$175.81 less than this amount. 
