PARK AND CEMETERY 
7 
It illustrates the resources of taste to those wRo have 
their eyes open. Attractive in August, it must have 
been brilliant in June, and yet it was only an ola 
gravel hole. 
In the general use of plants at Swan Point, only 
the more refined of garden shrubs are chosen, and 
they mostly deciduous. Fine-leaved and twiggy 
plants only are appropriate. Pains is taken to avoid 
the monotony of conifers and cold monuments. The 
effects sought are those which will be seen only neai 
at hand. The groups, with the exception of a few 
dicker in graves at a dollar a foot is not a pleasant 
occupation to Hold out to a young man. A long step 
still remains before cemetery art fulfills its best prom- 
ises. Perhaps a cemetery grows out of its age and 
the theory of its usefulness. Ordinarily it is only a 
jumble of trees and monuments and angular avenues. 
Whether a mausoleum or a tasteless monument ob- 
structs the view, the cemetery as a seeming place ol 
rest loses its force. It becomes the gathering' place 
of coarse and costly ostentation and flaring grief. A 
vulgar ornamentation of the dead constitutes the 
THE BOUI.DErAvaI.1,, BOULEVARD AND PLANTING. 
backgrounds, are made up of plants which are small 
and dainty. Individual specimens are any of those 
kinds which make up the nurseryman’s choicer orna- 
mental department. If any tend to outgrow their 
bounds they are kept back by pruning, not by cutting 
off the ends of the twigs, but by taking out largei 
branches at a fork or at the stem. Since plants may 
be seen at Swan Point only at close proximity, the 
use of only finer plants shows a wisdom in their 
choice. 
The life of a cemetery superintendent, apart from 
horticulture and its corresponding art to give a touch 
and lend a charm, would not be a happy one. To 
tribute of the living. A larger and better view ol 
life and death remains unopened to the general 
thought. The dead still live in the lives and memo- 
ries of their friends, and only their coarser and now 
useless parts are consigned to burial. When the race 
has advanced in taste and looks with clearer and 
more hopeful eye into the beyond we may look for 
better things. With a chastened mind comes a bettei 
art. For a cemetery, we do not want a park; we 
want repose and seclusion, with refinement. Out of 
the better art may grow the restfulness of which 
Swan Point is the promise. A. Phelps Wyman. 
Brookline, Mass. 
THE FIVE BEST ROSES. 
The five best hardy roses, excluding the ordinary 
Hybrid Perpetual roses, says Meehan’s Monthly, are 
Crimson Rambler, rugosa, Wichuraina, setigera, and 
Harrison’s yellow. 
The Crimson Rambler, known to nearly every one, 
is hardy and adapted to many uses. 
Rugosa is not so well known, but has the merit 
of taking care of itself ; it requires no pruning, and 
is not troubled by insects. Its foliage is coarse, but 
neat and attractive, and lasts throughout the sum- 
mer. It is found in two varieties, the Madame 
Georges Bruant, and Comte d’Epremesnil. They 
bloom profusely and make a good hedge. 
Rosa setigera, the Prairie rose, is of semi-running 
habit, and can be grown either singly or as a hedge. 
The older flowers shade off from the natural deep rich 
color, and make a beautiful color-combination for a 
hedge. 
The Vicksburg National Park will soon be a real- 
ity. The land, comprising 1,231 acres, will shortly be 
ready for laying out. The military features of the 
place as they were in 1863 will be restored as nearly 
as possible. 
