BEAUTIFYING THE CEMETERY. 
I T is a rare sight to find in rural cemeteries anything 
bordering on neatness even, much less floral decora¬ 
tions. Yet there is no place where flowers are more 
appropriate, or have a more beautiful significance. Those 
who have money to spend upon the last habitation of their 
friends and relatives, and who heartily desire to show their 
love and sorrow by some outward sign, will act more wisely 
by giving small sums annually to the sexton to keep the 
cemetery in order than to pay vast sums to the marble 
cutter for poorly executed monuments, that are not infre¬ 
quently neglected if not forgotten. We do not, in the 
least, object to, on the contrary most heartily approve of, 
suitable monuments in memory of loving friends; but 
we think it poor taste to pay $500 for a monument and 
allow it to be overgrown with briars and thorns, so that 
in a few years the grave cannot be approached, because of 
the brambles. If money is to be freely used in marking 
the spot where the remains of our loved ones repose, let 
a suitable amount be paid to keep it beautiful, but it is 
more fitting that the flowers around the graves of our 
friends should be planted and cared for by our own hands. 
There is, too, a symbolism in the introduction of flow¬ 
ers and plants here, which makes them specially appro¬ 
priate. The plants have come up from roots which were 
buried in the earth in order that the flowers which we 
admire might bloom. They were put into the ground in 
the form of seeds or bulbs with no beauty about them to 
win our admiration, but they came up in due time ar¬ 
rayed in such beauty and sweetness as to fill us with ad¬ 
miration. The annual death and resurrection of the flow¬ 
ers teach us a most beautiful and impressive lesson. We 
remember of visiting, years ago, an old friend, eighty- 
five years of age ; while engaged in planting tulips in his 
garden he took up one, and after looking at it with tear¬ 
ful eyes for some minutes, said, “This is a seedling of my 
own raising, one that I have cultivated and guarded ten¬ 
derly for many years ; it bears the name of my dear 
wife, long since buried; we will now bury it, and, like 
her, it will in good time arise and live again.” 
Moreover, the flowers we plant and cultivate over the 
graves of our loved ones, suggest, at least, a certain con¬ 
tinued supervision, a daily tending and care, which favors 
the idea that those to whose memory they are sacred are 
still held in recollection by their friends. 
For the benefit of those who are especially interested 
in the adornment of cemetery grounds we copy from the 
Country Gentleman the following, from the pen of our 
esteemed friend and contributor, William Falconer, Esq. 
It is a paper complete in suggestions and information : 
“ A substantial and neat fence should surround the 
whole enclosure, and it should be kept in good repair. 
The gates should be strong, ample and conveniently situ¬ 
ated. Well-made roads, wide, of easy grade and grace¬ 
ful curves, should lead as directly as possible to the sev¬ 
eral sections of the cemetery. Long straight roads, 
serpentine wiggles, meaningless curves, steep grades and 
roundabout ways should be avoided, and no more roads 
than are necessary made. Gravel roads, run wild with 
weeds, are a wretched sight; if the roads cannot be kept 
clean and in good repair, better far allow the land to stay 
in sod. Gravel pathways may lead here and there where 
avenues would be impracticable or unseemly, but have 
no more of them than can be kept in order. 
Shelter is as absolutely necessary in a cemetery as in a 
garden, if we would have happy trees or shrubs, pretty 
flowers and pleasing effects. The fence alone cannot 
afford the needed shelter which, if not given by contigu¬ 
ous higher grounds and trees, must be supplied from 
within. Therefore, places unfitted for burial lots, and 
alongside the avenues and fences, should be planted with 
trees. 
No matter how undulating the land may be, its surface 
should be smooth and even. A smooth surface is easily 
cared for; an uneven one, with difficulty. Always accus¬ 
tomed to the little mounds that designate where burials 
have been made, it may appear sacrilegious to remove or 
level them, but that is what cemetery officials recom¬ 
mend, what many lot owners do, and without doing so it 
is barely possible to keep the grass in good order. Dur¬ 
ing the summer time the grass upon the mounds “ burns ” 
out, and the plants suffer severely by drouth; whereas, 
when the surface of the plot is smooth and level, a good 
grass sod may be maintained there as easily as in our 
gardens at home. Without good soil we cannot reason¬ 
ably expect good grass. If the ground is poor it is only 
a small matter to the several lot owners to remove some 
of the poor soil and replace with six or more inches deep 
of good loam. Artificial manures are excellent in their 
way, starting the grass in spring or reinvigorating it in 
summer, but the best results are obtained from top-dress¬ 
ings of farmyard manure, or, better still, from farm ma¬ 
nure and good loam in equal parts and which had been 
composted for several months before being used. 
Preserve all natural trees which are upon the grounds 
and do not interfere with burial lots. Rocky places, 
steep declivities, ravines and such other parts as are un¬ 
fitted for burial lots, should be devoted to trees. Such 
deciduous trees as are known to thrive well in the vicinity, 
as the oak, maple, sweet gum, tulip-tree, beech and the 
like should be used in the wooded places. Elms, lindens 
and others often subject to insect ravages, should be 
be well considered before planted. Nut-trees, as hickory, 
walnut and chestnut, are an inducement to trespass. 
Handsome flowering trees, as yellow wood, catalpa, red¬ 
bud, hawthorn, flowering logwood, silver bell, magnolia 
and Kcelre?iteria, and those of graceful form like the 
birch, can be introduced in the neighborhood of lots. 
Deciduous trees are better adapted than evergreens for 
exposed places ; but where practicable evergreens should 
be used freely. Norway, white and black spruces, Scotch, 
Austrian, red and white pines are among the best of their 
kind ; and red cedar planted closely has a telling effect, 
