PARK AND CKME-TE^RY 
442 
scientists, and a number of other prominent citizens 
whose suggestions outline work enough to keep the 
league busy for at least ten years, and which call for 
an expenditure of money that would appall any but the 
residents of the opulent land of the Caliphs. The 
character of the work indicated ranges from controll- 
ing municipal and government architecture to educat- 
ing the public to a toleration of trees and grass on the 
principal boulevard of the city — which, strange to say, 
seems to be without either; a boulevard in name but 
not in fact. A most astonishing state of affairs in 
what less fortunately-placed communities are wont to 
call a Paradise. Those recalcitrant San Franciscans 
would better be taught that Paradise was a garden. 
Evidently the members of the new league have need 
for all of the outdoor art enthusiasm indicated bv 
their excellent leaflet. 
PROGRESS OF CREMATION IN AMERICA, 
The New England Cremation Society recently held 
its annual meeting in Boston, where reports of officers 
were read and statistics of cremation presented. 
The society now numbers 200 members, and is 
represented in every state in New England except 
Vermont. The secretary reported that five members 
died during the past year, four of whom were cre- 
mated. The report further states that the crematory 
process is rapidly gaining ground as shown by the 
increase in the number of incinerations since 1894. 
In the Eorest Hills Crematory, built in 1894, 87 
bodies were cremated in that year. During the past 
}ear 18 1 were cremated. In the Mount Auburn 
Crematory there have been cremated this year 119. 
In the whole United States during the year 1901, 2,^91 
bodies were cremated. 
These officers were elected : Honorary president, 
John S. Cobb; president. Rev. Paul Revere Frothing- 
ham; secretary, George O. Smith ; treasurer, Albert S. 
Parsons. 
The Buffalo Crematory Temple, opposite Forest 
Lawn Cemetery, Buffalo, N. Y., the second crema- 
tory to be established in this country, has recently is- 
sued statistics of the progress made since its establish- 
ment : In 1885 there was one incineration, which 
took place as a test case. In 1886 the number was 8, 
and in 1901 it was 50. The total up to the beginning 
of this year was 534. Since January ist of this year, 
up to November 12th, there were 53 incinerations. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH CLOVER SEED. 
In co-operation with the United States Department 
of Agriculture the Maine Agricultural Experiment 
Station, at Orono, Me., has during the past season 
conducted a comparative study of red clover obtained 
from different parts of the world. The object of this 
study is to determine, if possible, the best source from 
which to obtain seed for general farm purposes. To 
this end the cptestions considered were : rate and per 
cent of germination ; date of blooming and consequent 
earliness of crop ; date of cutting ; yield per acre ; gen- 
eral condition of the stand. 
Some striking differences were noted, but of course 
no general conclusions can be drawn from one sea- 
son’s work. Seed was sown May 19 on 58 plots of 
two square rods each. The first bloom was noted 
August 2, on plots with the seed from England, Rus- 
sia, Nebraska, Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri. The 
first plots ready for harvest (cut just in bloom) were 
those from Indiana and one lot from Bohemia. The 
largest yields were obtained, in the order given, from 
plots with seed from Bohemia, Indiana, Minnesota, 
Wisconsin, Brittany, Ohio. Plants from American 
seed were invariably very hairy, while those from 
European seed were almost as invariably smooth. 
The experiment will be continued through another 
growing season and the results will be given in detail 
in a station bulletin. 
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF MAUSOLEUMS, 
We frequently note the extensive repairs required 
in numbers of mausoleums erected a few years ago, 
and wonder how it is possible that structures built of 
such permanent materials, and in so solid a manner, 
so quickly need overhauling ; and this condition is 
ver\- liable to occur in a few years to many of the 
vaults constructed at the present time. No one knows 
better than the practical granite contractor, who at- 
tempts to carry out the designs of many architects, 
how thoroughly impracticable many such designs are, 
and in fact thousands of dollars have been expended 
in tearing down imperfectly constructed mausoleums. 
Some of the essential features of design are : appro- 
priate and durable material, solidity, a minimum of 
unprotected vertical joints, no superfluous members in 
mouldings, thorough ventilation and drainage. Too 
many mausoleums are not only defective in design, 
but also in construction for which the manufacturers 
are largely responsible. None but competent work- 
men should be engaged on this class of work and 
every detail during the erection of the structure should 
be carefully attended to. The cements and mortars 
should be of the best materials and mixed and used 
under specifications as exacting as for the highest class 
of structural work, and the jointing, bedding and set- 
ting of the stones should be as perfect as modern tools, 
methods and qualified inspection can secure. An ex- 
amination of old vaults will generally show wherein 
construction is defective, and designers and manu- 
facturers of this class of buildings should study these 
tombs so as to profit by their failures and avoid such 
like mistakes in the future. 
