PART 2 0F 2
Adding fountains and maintaining the proper chemistry in your pond or lake can help put off the day you'll need to tackle the ultimate in maintenance: dredging.

In part 1, in the June issue, we talked about how to design a pond or lake to reduce plant growth problems. We also promoted stocking your lake with triploid amur carp (using the right number for the size of the lake). There are a couple of other things you can do to help keep the water in your pond or lake (we're using the terms interchangeably) cleaner and clearer.

• Add a fountain. Fountains help oxygenate the water, they create a great sound, they create a tremendous visual sense and they even create a little bit of an interesting water smell. We can't say enough good things about including some kind of fountain if you're going to have a pond or lake.

We don't care what kind of jet spray you like—use a low, small one or a great big powerful one. The point is that fountains are really important in maintaining aquatic areas. They improve the oxygen level so the fish are happier—the fish get bigger in aerated ponds.

The past couple of winters we've removed the fountains during the winter so there's no open water for any of our feathered friends to fly in and hang around. In other words, without the fountains going, the ponds freeze over and the geese who are looking for open water have to go elsewhere.

Keep that in mind. Maybe your competitor won't tend this nod will keep his fountains buzzing all winter and end up with a few hundred geese over at his place, spreading manure around his lakes. That will mean more nutrients washing into his lakes and, the following summer, the world's finest algal bloom.

• Make sure the chemistry is right. In addition to fish and fountains, one of the things we love to use is a food-grade type of dye, a bluing agent. All it does is turn the water blue, decreasing the infiltration of light, therefore interfering with photosynthesis. That will cut back on the plant material.

This product has been available for a number of years, yet it's amazing to us the number of people who don't use it, even in small ponds, small fountains. The vendors have made it so easy, with soluble packs that you can toss into the water as you walk around the edge of the bank—you don't even have to get the boat out. The packages dissolve automatically, the dye is released and the darkening occurs within 24 hours.
This is the type of maintenance that needs to be ongoing. You don't want to wait until the hottest day in August when the pond is covered with an algal bloom and say, "Oops, I better go out and darken the water." It's too late then; you've lost the race.

Of course, even if you take all these preventive measures, from time to time you may still have problems with aquatic weeds during hot weather. For algae control, we use a copper compound. The oldest known one, which is the least expensive, is copper sulfate, which is readily available. The copper is very toxic to plants, especially algae, so you have to know how many gallons or cubic feet of water the pond holds and then put the proper amount of copper sulfate in.

It's better to use copper sulfate in low dosages. If you have a lot of algae and attack it with a lot of the chemical, you'll end up with a lot of dead algae settling on the bottom of the pond and robbing the water of oxygen. While the oxygen is at work breaking down the algae, the fish can end up oxygen starved and then you've got dead fish floating on the top of the pond.

Again, a deeper pond will need less chemical treatment to keep the algae under control.

Dredging
Periodically in the life of any pond you have to consider dredging. If you've only got a few feet of water left in a pond, maintenance is going to be a constant battle. At that point, scraping out all the organic matter that has settled on the bottom over time will extend the life of the pond and will improve its appearance.

There are a number of ways you can go about dredging to remove the material in the bottom and restore the original side slopes. There is no simple fix—it's going to cost dollars no matter how you do it. But eventually you're going to have to do it, though it will be later rather than sooner if you've followed the suggestions above.

If you build a new lake today, you might need to dredge it in 50 to 75 years. If you make the pond an acre or more with very steep sides and do the things we advise, you might be able to go for 100 years before you need to dredge.

Some people try draining rather than dredging. They wait till the hottest time of the year when the pond is at a low point. To get the rest of the water out, you use what we call a trash pump, a big pump that can allow sticks and gravel and everything else to fly through the propellor of the pump without tearing it up. You can rent one.

But the pond rarely ends up completely dried out, and then you have gooey silt to deal with, which is problematic. You then have to use rubberized backhoes or extended-arm booms to scoop the material out and then haul it away using bulldozers or trucks. You can just imagine the expense. And just imagine getting a sudden summer thunderstorm that dumps a couple of inches of water into this pond where you're trying to run heavy machinery.

We have 14 lakes in a cemetery that's been around well over 100 years. We recently budgeted the money to dredge about half of them, the ones that needed it the most, over a three-year period. It was a long and pretty complicated process.
We had contractors come in from out of state. The dredges have a pipe with an impeller on it that loosens up the silt at the bottom of the lake as it goes along. We removed 12 to 14 feet of stuff from the bottom of some of our lakes.

You use a tremendous amount of water stirring up all the stuff on the bottom of the lake and then sucking it up and out through the pipe. That slurry, the water and silt, has to be pumped out to a retention pond so the silt can settle back out of the water. There was a lot of pipe that had to be laid from the lakes to the retention ponds.

To dredge, you actually need to pour more water into the lake. The slurry the dredging machine is pulling up consists of a little silt combined with a lot of water. You may have to run hoses from the fire hydrants in the cemetery into the lake.

You can use the material you dredge out, once it's settled to the bottom of the retention ponds and the excess water has been drained off. This stuff is going to be wet and gooey at first, so you have to put it somewhere where you can allow it time to dry out.

There's no real odor problem with the material at this point. It's during the early stages of decay, under anaerobic conditions, that there's going to be a stench. The further along decomposition has gone, the less odor there's going to be.

This is incredibly nutrient-laden material, very fine material. You could grow the world's biggest pumpkin in it. You'll need to add some peat or perlite to make it a bit lighter, since it's going to be very silty. Then you can top-dress a garden with it. We use it in our backfill process and on grave sites right under the sod.

PART 1 OF 2
Water features can add beauty and value to any property. Through proper planning and maintenance, you can ensure that your cemetery's water feature remains an asset.

WHAT: Water features are closely associated with cemeteries. Chinese cemeteries designed according to the ancient principles of feng shui require proper placement of water features. Ponds and lakes are part of what makes the great rural cemeteries beautiful parks. Water features are found even in areas of the country famous for their desert climate. There's something primal and soothing about the sight, sound and smell of a body of water.

WHY: Like all landscaping, ponds and lakes require attention. Over time, they silt in. An overheated pond can metamorphize into a smelly algae soup with alarming speed.

HOW: A good way to approach the subject of water feature maintenance is to talk about how to design a new pond or lake in a way that will keep future maintenance costs down.

The day a new pond or lake is built, it starts trying to silt in or fill in. There's a fancy term for it in aquatic management: eutrophication. That means filling in with dead or decaying organic matter or siltation.

The smaller the pond, the sooner the need for maintenance. Of course, that's assuming you want to try to keep it free of plant life. If you don't care, if you want the whole thing to be covered with water lilies, that's a different approach to water management.

We've gone that route—one of our lakes is named after water lilies. That results in very inexpensive maintenance.

What every pond or lake is trying to do is get shallower, so that finally after a long period of time, be it 100 years or 200 years, it's hardly there anymore. It may be more of a bog.

If a lake is covered with a scummy mass, the reaction you're going to get from visitors is, "Ewww!" Even though the process at work is a natural one, most people will find it ugly and smelly, and you're better off with no pond than with one people find disgusting. So unless bog is what you're aiming for, you need to fight the eutrophication process through proper planning of new lakes and ponds and maintenance of existing ones.

• Dig deep. Generally speaking, the deeper the pond (we'll use "pond" and "lake" interchangeably in this article) the better. If you've got a nice, deep lake, the water on the bottom will stay colder. That will keep the overall temperature in the lake lower, reducing the amount of plant life stealing oxygen from it.

A shallow pond will heat up more quickly under the sun, which encourages plant growth. You can go home Friday leaving behind a clean lake and come back on Monday to a lake that looks like someone came in over the weekend and dumped algae into it. It's what we call an algal bloom, and it's courtesy of that nice warm water.

• Make the banks steep. This reduces the growth of weeds (more unwanted plant life) around the water's edge. In a pond smaller than an acre, it's harder to get steep sides.

• Consider keeping most trees at a distance. A tree-lined pond can create a beautiful ambiance, but if the trees are deciduous their leaves are going to collect in the pond. That's more organic matter that is going to end up on the bottom of the pond, bringing on the need for dredging sooner.

• Try to reduce wind and lapping erosion. On the windward side of the pond, the erosion is going to be more noticeable. Even in small ponds, you can tell the prevailing wind direction just by going out and examining the erosion. We want to minimize erosion, since that means more siltation. You can do this either through a natural plant barrier or an artificial barrier.

If you want to use an artificial barrier, we recommend a stone edging, commonly called rip-rap.

If you want to have a more natural erosion barrier, consider bald cypress, a neat plant that can be used in about three-quarters of the country. When it's growing near water, the bald cypress will extend what are called "knees" from the root system to obtain more oxygen. These extensions stick up about 24 to 30 inches and are called knees because they look like a person lying down on the ground with his knees bent and sticking up. These knees are attractive and they reduce the wind erosion by protecting the shoreline.

If you plant a bald cypress away from water on upland soil you won't see a single knee. The tree does well in either dry or wet conditions.

• Make sure the watershed provides a good filtration system. Again, you want to try to keep nature from filling up your lake. It makes sense to locate a pond at a low point in a watershed so that water will tend to drain into it from surrounding fields, meadows and woodlots, recharging it. But you want that water to be as clear as possible when it flows into the pond.

The best filtration system is an outstanding turf. Good strong turf is going to be the best sieve you can have to keep silt out of the pond.

• Stock it with fish. You can put some bass and bluegill in there, but be sure to include some triploid amur carp. The great thing about them is if you offer them a worm they'll look the other way, but offer them a ball of grass and you'll catch one every time. They are also called grass carp, because they are vegetarians and will eat weeds. Algae isn't their favorite food, so they won't solve your algae problems, but they can be part of the solution.

They can also have some public relations value. These fish can get to be very large, 40 or 50 pounds. When you're doing a garden talk at the cemetery or you have a class of children visiting, take a bucket of grass clipping and throw them out on the surface of the water. It's a hoot to see these things come flying out to eat the grass—it looks like porpoises bobbing. From a distance, a large carp can look like a shark slicing through the water.

You must use only government-certified triploid amur carp. The triploid ones have been genetically engineered so they cannot reproduce, like mules. It used to be possible to buy amur carp that were not triploid and sometimes they would reproduce and get out of control, crowding out other species. The fish and wildlife people did not like that, and now only the triploid ones are allowed.

We've never seen it, but they say if the triploids run out of grass to eat they'll jump out of the water so they can get to the grass on the banks. In any case, you don't want to put too many in a pond. There's a formula to follow (X number of triploids per thousand acre feet of water), and if you exceed it the fish won't have enough to eat. Don't think, "Well, if three would be good, 20 would be better!" We have five or six per pond, and a lot of our ponds are 2 to 4 acres.

Next, Part 2: Fountains, chemistry and dredging.

What could be cuter than a spotted fawn, looking helpless and adorable?
Most people see deer and think "Bambi." But cemetery grounds personnel see deer and think, "No tulips this spring!" and "Oh, no, those trees are going to be stripped!" and "How are we going to keep them away from those bushes?"

WHAT: Twenty-five years ago, if we saw a deer at Spring Grove, we would get kind of excited, because they weren't common. But here in Cincinnati and in many other areas of the country, communities have developed more and more of our greenbelts, leaving the remaining greenbelts fragmented. At the same time, the number of predators has been reduced.

The result has been an exploding deer population. Deer are everywhere, destroying the landscape as they forage for food.

WHY: There's no doubt that deer and cemeteries are problematic. The deer rub against trees and they treat the landscaping like a salad bar.

A great way to bring visitors out to the cemetery is with a big show of spring color. But for 10 years, we did not plant a single tulip bulb at Spring Grove for the simple reason that tulips are the ultimate deer snack food—there's nothing they like more. They would search for them and ruin the spring plantings. It became an embarrassment and brought so much negative press we decided not to plant any more tulips until we figured out how to handle the deer.

HOW: There are plants deer especially love—like tulip bulbs—so one way to cut down on the number of deer dining at your cemetery is to avoid adding their favorite foods to your landscaping.

Consider using plants from the list below to decrease deer browsing. However, keep in mind there is no guarantee that deer won't eat plants they don't particularly like, or don't like as much as tulip bulbs. If deer are hungry enough and can't find what they love to eat, they'll eat something they don't love. Deer might turn to an alternative food source after a serious snowfall, for example.

However, when you're planting a spring bed and are afraid to use tulips, you can plant every single kind of daffodil that exists (if you're in south Florida, you need to use pre-chilled bulbs) and the deer won't touch them. Daffodil bulbs contain a deadly alkaloid; no grazing animal will eat daffodil bulbs.

Another good choice is an evergreen that was promoted by Ohio's plant selection committee. The first place they'd ever seen it was Spring Grove, so it's now known as the Spring Grove arborvitae. We've never heard of any significant damage from deer browsing anywhere in the country this plant has been used. And, since it's an evergreen, the trunk is never exposed, so there won't be any damage from deer rubbing, either.

Keep in mind that if the deer have nothing else to eat, they will eat whatever's available, including plants they would normally shun.

Exclusion—using fencing to keep the deer out of certain areas—is a wonderful method where it's practical for the cemetery. Spring Grove is divided between developed and undeveloped properties, so one step we took was to install a deer fence a mile long designed to keep the deer in the undeveloped part of the cemetery. We figured it was going to be hard to get rid of the deer entirely, but at least we could keep them out of the developed areas.

Fences cost a lot but they work well. The fencing at Spring Grove has done a great job. It's not 100 percent effective, but we don't think anything is. Deer will hop over a fence, or even crawl under it sometimes. But at least the fence has kept the deer at bay.  We also use wire mesh to keep deer from rubbing against trees.

Spraying plants can provide excellent control. We use some chemical products designed to keep the deer from consuming plants like tulips. Most of those products contain pubescent eggs or some kind of hot, bitter additives. We spray tender plants or annuals like red begonias (a super-favorite of deer), and the sprays do help.

Check with your local game warden and state authorities about other ways to control an area's deer population. Here, a big deer harvest has been conducted the past couple of years in some parks. They use high-powered rifles to hunt the deer.

When you talk about controlling the deer population through hunting, the initial reaction is often, "Oh, no—they want to shoot the little Bambis," But once you show people the statistics for how many automobile accidents are caused by deer hitting cars, the "Bambi" factor becomes almost a non-issue.

In some places, the venison is donated to soup-kitchen or food-pantry types of operations, so that provides an additional benefit.

In some cases, an increase in the number of natural predators may help control the deer population. Ohio has more deer today—more than a half million—than it did when it became a state in 1803.

Unfortunately, the number of predators has not kept up. Coyotes were abundant in Ohio 100 years ago. Today, the coyote population is lagging far behind the deer population, but it's started to increase. A lot of people get paranoid at the thought of the number of coyotes increasing, but the predator-prey equation is how the balance of nature is supposed to work.

What Could Be Worse Than Deer, Geese or Groundhogs?
You Don't Want to Know!

What's the next "big thing" on the horizon as far as cemetery nuisance animals? In preparing for a program about pests recently, we asked a state wildlife expert this question and he predicted it would be exotic pets abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

Pythons, boa constrictors, alligators, poisonous snakes, iguanas, gila monsters—you name it, somebody is keeping it as a "pet," at least until it becomes too difficult and/or dangerous to handle. Or until it manages to escape and slither or crawl away.

An alligator has been found walking along the side of the road in Ohio. It wasn't in Spring Grove, thank goodness, but it's only a matter of time. People buy them when they're small, then when they get to be 3 or 4 feet long, they decide they can't take care of them. Someone's going to think, "Heck, Spring Grove's got 14 lakes—I bet the 'gator would love it down there."

This sounds a lot worse than dealing with geese or deer, but one thing's for sure: If a dangerous animal is spotted in the cemetery, state officials will be down here in a hurry to take care of the problem.

If you spot an exotic, potentially dangerous animal, call your state wildlife division game warden. We can't overemphasize how important it is to develop good relationships with your wildlife people, who are specially educated and trained to deal with these problems.

If you have consulted the wildlife people regularly and made sure you follow all federal, state and local rules and regulations, when you have a boa constrictor on your property and you call them, they know who you are and they'll be right there to help.

FROM THE GROUNDS UP: PART 2 OF 2
As everyone who has a lawn knows, keeping it looking good is a constant battle. Fertilize it, but not too much. Mow it, but carefully. Kill the weeds—sometimes. Know when to plant more and when to just start all over.

WHAT: Grass needs proper care to thrive, but sometimes that's not enough. You need to establish a proper care routine as well as a plan for renovating turf when the weeds are starting to take over.

WHY: If you take good care of your grass, your customers probably will notice. If you don't, they definitely will notice.

HOW: Give your grass the proper care to help it stay healthy, and renovate it when the weeds start taking over.

The care and feeding of turf
If your grass is only 15-20 percent weeds, that's good, but you can improve and enhance it. Think about it: Turf is the only thing you grow at your cemetery that you cut down by a third or half more than two dozen times every year. You're basically saying, ''Take that—and still look good!" Imagine doing that to your annuals. So anything you can do to help your grass put up with the incredible amount of physical abuse it takes will help cut down on your renovation and replacement costs.

Fertilize once a year. You reduce the amount of fertilizer you have to put down by leaving the clippings when you mow. When it’s dry, mulching mowers leave cuttings that are 38 percent protein. It's high-value stuff, so use it.

In areas that the public is going to see frequently, we recommend a pound of nitrogen fertilizer per 1,000 square feet per year. That's basic.

Avoid putting down fertilizer when the grass is growing, since that will just exacerbate your mowing problems. Wait until mid-fall—late October, even mid-November, in the Midwest. Put it down before the ground is frozen, though, because you want the fertilizer to percolate into the soil.

If you're a golfer you may know that some golf courses put down a lot more fertilizer than this, but you don't need to do that in a cemetery, especially if you're letting the grass clippings do their job.

Periodically monitor your soil. At least check the acidity/alkalinity. You should be aware of your soil's PH, and all you have to do is collect 2-3 ounces of soil for your Extension agent. For probably less than $15, Extension will provide you with a good, in-depth soil analysis to tell you what the nutrients and PH of the soil are and what type of fertilization might be needed.

Control the weeds. At least monitor the competition the weeds are giving the grass. We don't believe in trying to get rid of every "weed." In fact, in our English lawn garden areas (see below), we let the "weeds" provide color and the people who own property there love it.

But in lawn-level areas where we have flush memorials we use herbicides to get rid of the dandelions and other weeds. You definitely want to keep the crabgrass out, since it tends to overtake everything and cover the markers, which means you'll be constantly string trimming.

We do a pretty thorough pre-emergent, as well as post-emergent application of Dimension or Barricade.

In the flush memorial areas and along fence lines, we're using a growth retardant called Primo. We apply it a couple of times a year. In the spring, when the grass is just starting its seasonal growth spurt, we put it just around the memorials and fences. It reduces the number of blades the plant produces and slows down the growth of the grass so we can maintain those lawn areas efficiently, especially during the heavy spring growing period.

Mow to minimize damage. We cut about 450 acres of grass in a seven-day period during the season. We have a dozen fulltime mower operators and 12-15 students who handle the string trimming.

Even though we want our grass to be thick and green, we don't want to be constantly cutting it. Our philosophy on mowing the cemetery is probably different from the philosophy of a lawn care company taking care of your lawn at home.

At the cemetery, you might mow your main entrances twice a week, but not the whole cemetery.

Here are some tips for good mowing:

• Make sure the blades are sharp. There's nothing worse you can do than cut with a dull blade; it will tear the grass instead of cutting it, putting it under stress. During heavy mowing times, we change blades twice a week, or every 24-25 hours when we're mowing on overtime. During the summer, we only have to change the blades once a week .

• Do not cut off more than one-third of the leaf at anyone mowing. If you let the grass grow to six inches and then cut it down to a half inch, that's destructive. We realize there are times in the spring when the mowing just gets away from you, but really try to follow this rule. The more frequently you mow, the better.

• How high should the grass be? For fescues and bluegrass, two and a half inches is great, and three inches might not be unacceptable. Taller grass is more self-sufficient, it's sounder. On the other hand, in this business if the grass is perceived as too high, people can read it as ''Look at the grass around Mom's grave—you guys don't care."

But do try to raise your cutting height during the summer. On the new mowers, it usually just takes the flick of a switch. A longer blade of grass will shade itself, reducing the need for irrigation and keeping the grass greener. It's just eco-sensitive. We usually keep our grass two and a half to two and three quarters inches high.

• Try to use a square rather than rounded string trimmer line. The rounded ones kind of tear the grass. At high speed, the square ones cut like a blade.

String trimming used to be considered a necessary evil, but as long as you cut it at the same level as the rest of the grass and don't scalp areas, it looks fine.

Turf renovation
If the weeds have infiltrated an area so that it's only about half grass, the other half being unacceptable competitive growth, it's easier to renovate it than try to get rid of the weeds. Renovation has gotten much easier to do, and it's cheaper than trying to battle the weeds.

During the spring and summer, we note the weak areas in our turf and make a list. The first week of August, we'll start renovating. Years ago, you had to use a nasty product that killed everything and made you wait six weeks before you could get back into the area with a big rototiller to start the renovation. Today, everybody's got their own method of doing things, but this is what works for us:

• Use Round Up or a similar product to kill the greenery, both weeds and turf.

• Within a couple of days, you can return to the area. You might want to mow closely and get rid of the existing thatch.

The key in turf renovation is making sure the seed will be in perfect contact with the soil. Ninety-five percent of the failures take place because people don't get rid of the organic matter such as old grass. If the seed ends up landing on organic matter instead of soil, it can't germinate—it's simply impossible. So use a dethatching instrument to lift out the old organic matter.

• We don't just use a spreader or broadcast the seed; we use a slit seeder and a small Mantis tiller, about 13-14 inches wide.

The slit seeder has little rows or furrows several inches apart that distribute the seed. It scratches the surface and allows the seed to drop into the soil, giving that perfect contact you need. Where we can't use the slit seeder, around markers and corner posts, we use the tiller to rough up the ground and then hand seed those areas.

• You can use Round Up again after seeding to control the growth of any weeds you've stirred up while digging around in the dirt. It won't affect the seed.

• Another benefit of using a slit seeder is that you don't have to cover the area with straw. All you have to do is mist the area twice a day, religiously, and you'll be incredibly successful.

Don't apply too much water. Remember, all you're trying to do is dampen the upper quarter-inch of soil where that seed is imbedded, so you certainly don't need to run a sprinkler all day. In a small area, just go out with a hose and a spray wand. If you can mist it in the morning and the evening, that's ideal.

Germination is going to take place quickly, and once it does, you should decrease the amount of misting.

If you follow this procedure to renovate the turf in an area, you won't even have a brown patch for very long. We have a dye in the Round Up we use in that first step so that we know exactly where we're going to be seeding, and we start to work even before the turf is dead.
 
Establishing new turf in a large area
If you have a large area you need to cover quickly, hydroseeding is the way to go. In hydroseeding, they combine seed and a mulching agent and spray it onto an area as a kind of slurry.

If we're going to develop a new section or regrade an area, say around a new mausoleum or lawn crypt section, we plan ahead to have an outside vendor do some hydroseeding. The cost is figured on a square-footage basis, so it's easy for these companies to give you a quote.

Even when hydroseeding, you have to till the soil first; you can't just blow the seed and mulch mixture on top of a bunch of weedy ground. If you don't have a tractor and discs, ask the hydroseeding firms for a bid doing that for you, as well.

FROM THE GROUNDS UP: PART 1 OF 2
From Bermuda to fescue to zoysia, there's an awful lot of grass in the world.
How do you choose what's right for your cemetery?

WHAT: Watching grass grow has an undeserved reputation as being boring. To a cemeterian, it's exciting to see a nice thick green carpet come up. Whether your cemetery is a traditional upright, a memorial park or a combination of both, maintaining the grass is the biggest part of your operation.

WHY: People may not notice if a bush isn't pruned, but they'll notice if the grass isn't cut, so it's important to have grass you're proud of.

HOW: First of all, if you are in charge of the grounds and you don't have a strong background in turf get to know your local Extension Service. This is a terrific resource; they can steer you to information that will get you up to speed.

Turf is a huge industry, there are changes on the horizon and of course what's best for your cemetery depends on whether you're in Alaska or Hawaii or the Midwest or New York.

Selecting seeds
There are so many different grasses to choose from, it can be confusing, especially since trends change and grasses that were once hailed as the latest and greatest have fallen out of favor. Billions of dollars are spent in this country on seed and turf research. After all, grass is the universal cover.

Selecting seed for your grass cover is like selecting paint for your house. You don't want to run down to the discount mart and pick up the cheapest bargain, you want to choose good quality that will last. You don't want to have to repaint your house every two years, and you certainly don't want to have to replant all those acres of grass at your cemetery, Tap into the turf gurus for your area.

Before contacting the Extension Service for information about what will work best on your property, you need to map out areas with special needs, such as grassy areas by roads where salt may be applied during the winter and hills where extreme slopes make mowing difficult. You're probably going to want to try several different types of grass.

Qualities to look for.  It's unrealistic to say you want your grass to look like a perfect carpet that's ready for a game of lawn bowling. In general, what you want is something with the following characteristics:
•    is low-maintenance,
•    has a nice green color,
•    grows well but not too quickly,
•    does a decent job of covering the soil,
•    has a deep root system so that it will need less water and
•    is competitive so that it won't be easily crowded out by weeds.

There's research going on now on slower-growing grasses, which cuts down on mowing, as well as grasses designed to have resistance to insects built in, cutting down on the need for pesticides. Again, this is a reason to stay in touch with your local grass gurus so you know what's available.

We'll use Spring Grove as an example to demonstrate grass selection. When you look at turf there are two broad zones—North and South. Cincinnati falls in the transition zone, so we've done some experimenting over the years to see what works best.

Tall fescues are a typical cemetery grass. We used to use Kentucky bluegrass, which is a very common grass, but over the years we've decided that it requires too much TLC for one area. We don't know why they even call it "Kentucky” bluegrass, because it's more of a Northern grass. In northern Ohio, it works great, but where we are—and in any warmer climate—it requires too much work and too much money.

A variation, a cultivar called Kentucky 31, was a mainstay for decades, but because it's very coarse looking—it has a wide blade and doesn't feel good when you walk on it—and has poor growth habits, most turf managers decided it's OK for planting along a highway, but otherwise it's garbage.

This spurred research that resulted in a lot of fabulous cultivars called the improved tall fescues. This is exciting stuff, grasses that are adaptable to many parts of the country. A lot of the research in this area is going on in Oregon, but you need to contact your local Extension office to find out what mix of three or four of these tall fescues is right for your cemetery. There could be a list of a couple hundred you could choose from, so you have to do your research.

The reason you plant three or four varieties is so that if one is attacked by disease the others may be OK. Most seed will come as a premixed variety for this reason. You don't want to plant 100 percent of anything.

Consider fults alkali grass for areas that will be exposed to winter salts. This grass seed is used along highways. The package even has a picture of a salt shaker on it to emphasis how it thrives on salt.

We tried it a few years ago along one of our avenues where the grass would die out every year because of the road salting, and we found that the fults grass looked unbelievable. We planted it 10 years ago, with a mix of a few other grasses, and we've still got a lot of grass there. We would recommend fults grass for seeding near any roads.

Zoysia and the "grass should be green" issue. Spring Grove used to be big on zoysia. Back in the 1950s, we had a cemetery manager who was a Mr. Turf Extraordinaire, and he thought zoysia was going to be a panacea for the Midwest. It's tough and competitive and drought resistant and slow-growing. He brought in a lot of zoysia and we still have a lot of it.

Like buffalo grass, zoysia is brown part of the year. Zoysia is really a Southern grass, and it browns out very early. Back when we started here, we used to have to mix up a high-quality green latex paint and water and spray the brown zoysia areas. In Cincinnati, people wanted their grass green, and they were having fits over the zoysia—“It's ugly; we can't stand it."

Today, we still have zoysia and we've added buffalo grass, but we don't do any painting, and people don't complain. People might notice, on a horticultural tour during the colder weather, that some of the grass looks different. They'll ask about it and it's kind of fun to explain about the different grasses we use and why.

People are more environmentally aware today, and they realize that seasons bring color changes. We have plenty of ornamental grasses that change in color, too. Colder weather brings in browns and rusts and tans, more subtle colors, to the landscape. It's the variety in the colors that makes a landscape a mecca for artists. So why did we go over it with green paint? It wasn't unsafe—it was latex paint—but it was goofy.

People today are more in tune with "reduce, reuse and recycle," with natural environmental stewardship.

Buffalo grass is a great alternative to zoysia. It has some of the same characteristics as zoysia but it's not quite as thick and it doesn't take over areas the way zoysia does, so you don't have to worry about it becoming the next kudzu vine.

We started experimenting with buffalo grass a few years back when it was getting a big push, and we like it as a product to use on hillsides where you don't want to do a lot of mowing. It's slow-growing, provides good cover, has a good root system and takes less maintenance than your fescues. Some are so slow-growing you can mow it once a year—or not at all.

Buffalo grass is native to Plains states, so it tolerates very low temperatures and high winds. In order to do that, it goes into a brownout stage early in the fall, like zoysia, so it's not going to look green like the rest of your cemetery. But it's going to be green during the growing season, and it's going to do what you want a ground cover to do, which is control erosion.

It's also tough as nails and needs no irrigation at all, so during August if there's no rain it stays green and lush with no irrigation.

Recycling the yard waste from your memorial park saves money on disposal, provides you with mulch and can lead to positive publicity.
Being a good neighbor and a good steward of your land is just good business.

Gardeners everywhere are aware of the value of good mulch. Mulch is the organic top-dressing applied to planting beds and gardens. It provides nitrogen, holds water, prevents erosion and reduces weeds, to name a few benefits.

What goes into good mulch is as important as what comes out. With the seasons' cycle, leaves fall, storms pass through and renewed growth begins. By working with these cycles, cemeteries can benefit and even flourish in the wake of seasonal storms.

Let's face it, storms happen. Cemeteries hit by severe weather can sustain excessive landscape damage. These parks, with their mature and manicured landscapes, can end up having to deal with large amounts of plant debris.

Many cemeteries still place seasonal leaves, storm debris and pruning leavings in the trash. At the cost per load, plus the cost of using precious landfill space, this is an expensive solution that can create poor public relations.

Mulching for dollars
Mulch is any product applied to the top layer of the soil to prevent erosion and reduce weeds. Topsoil is what plants prefer to grow in.  We make our plant beds with topsoil exclusively or by mixing topsoil with the existing soil to add nutrients.

With a good mulching program:
• leaves are collected seasonally and turned into a rich topsoil for the next year's planting and construction projects.
• pruned branches, fallen trees and woody debris are chipped and turned into bark mulch as a top dressing for the plant beds.
• grass clippings are left on the ground to provide nitrogen and reduce fertilizer needed in the lawn beds.

Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park, in Seattle, Washington, which encompasses 140-plus acres, used to annually fill 35 to 45 waste containers, each holding 30 yards, with the leaves, pruning and fallen limbs generated within the park. Now a small portion of the park is set aside so that we can keep this material and render it for use within the cemetery.

The approximately 500 cubic yards of fresh leaves produced every year at the cemetery is turned into about 160 cubic yards of good rich topsoil, which is used on the grounds.

The cost of topsoil in our region—not including delivery—is about $25 per yard, so that 160 cubic yards we make ourselves is worth $4,000, plus delivery charges. This is money saved—on top of not having to pay for disposing of 35 to 45 loads of material. The value of a recycling program is easy to see.

Mulching is one of the ways the cemetery maintains its grounds. Each year, Evergreen-Washelli uses 150-200 cubic yards of bark mulch. The majority of this comes from trees, tree limbs and other woody debris from seasonal storms. In our region, bark mulch runs about $30 per cubic yard, so making our own saves up to $6,000 right there, in addition to saving us the cost of having the debris hauled away.

Setting up the work area
At Evergreen-Washelli, the recycle area is laid out to process and render down large quantities of leaf and wood debris. The key to making this work is to separate out the individual products into their piles:
• Separate the leaves from the branches and wood for chipping.
• Place products that cannot be chipped or mulched efficiently (such as pine needles and noxious weeds) in a pile to be hauled away.
• Pull out stones and boulders to be used for other projects.
• Set aside firewood for employees and neighbors to use.

Evergreen-Washelli mulches its landscape debris in three ways:
1. Lawn clippings are left where they fall. The grounds crew uses mulching mowers, and leaves the grass clippings where they fall. Grass clippings left on the lawn help replace nitrogen, reduce water evaporation and reduce the amount of fertilizer required.

Excluding grass clippings from the mulch piles means that herbicides used on the lawn areas do not get transferred to the mulch material. Herbicides, especially those used in lawns to kill dichotomous weeds (plants other than grass), can be a serious problem. Mulch contaminated by herbicide may, in fact, poison the very plantings it is intended to help.

2. Leaves are collected in the fall and placed in a pile that's turned and pushed throughout the winter to mix and break down the leaves. Depending on the weather, the pile is turned once every four to eight weeks. Warm, dry weather aids the decomposition process and cold, wet weather slows it down. In very cold and wet areas, cover mulch piles with tarps to help retain heat.

As the leaves age and decompose, the rich final product used for topsoil is pushed toward the loading area. The topsoil is used to build new plant beds and improve poor soil in existing ones.

3. Wood debris such as branches, logs and shrubs is collected in an area adjacent to the chip pile. Sometimes it's easier to chip the branches in the field and dump them in the chipping pile later, and sometimes it's easier to haul the branches to the pile and chip them there.

Either way, the chipped and rendered product gets collected in one area and pushed and turned. Eventually it is pushed around toward the loading area for final use as a top dressing for plant beds (mulch).

It is important to turn the chips on a regular schedule (every six to eight weeks). In the center of the pile, the temperature is high enough to cook and kill the seeds and break down the material, resulting in clean, well decomposed mulch.

The importance of turning the piles of mulch and topsoil-in-the-making cannot be emphasized enough. For large applications, a small bulldozer is best. For smaller areas, a front loader is sufficient.

Turning the piles frequently speeds up the decomposition process and keeps odors under control. Noxious smells can become a problem with mulch piles that are not turned frequently enough. It's amazing that a pile of fresh leaves can smell like fresh manure when decomposing.

When dealing with serious storm damage, entire trees can be destroyed.  The first order of business is to ask an arborist to determine whether any of the seriously damaged trees can be saved. Where landscapes have been uprooted, entire sections of mature plantings may need to be chipped up and disposed of and new trees planted. Unless the damage is where you want the recycle area to be, you will want to chip the material into trucks and move the chips to your recycle area to be processed later.

It is best to use commercial equipment and professional arborists for this type of cleanup and chipping. Since much of the cost savings is due to eliminating hauling and dump fees, using professional arborists is the most efficient way to clean up after major storm damage.
 
Plan for it!
Bad weather, dead trees, annual pruning and autumn are unavoidable. Set aside an area where you can dump leaves and chips. Provide enough room so you'll be able to move the individual piles around.

In smaller areas such as work yards, bins work efficiently. Typically bins 10 feet wide and 20 feet deep are set side by side. When the first bin is full, the material is dumped into the next bin, where it's turned, and finally into a third bin, where the final product is produced for pickup.
If you are fortunate enough to have a large area available within your cemetery or memorial park, your recycle area can handle a large amount of storm debris on site.

If by adopting a recycling program you end up with more mulch than you need, share it. Gardeners everywhere know the value of good mulch. One of Evergreen-Washelli's good-neighbor policies is to make leftover mulch available in the fall to their neighbors for pickup. Just think, you could take the damage from a serious storm and turn it into a useable and valuable product, one with many good customer relation opportunities.

So stop throwing your money away. Recycle the yard waste from your property. Collect your leaves and mulch them into good topsoil. Collect your trees, branches and shrub waste and chip them into mulch. What you don't use, sell or give away as a community service. All it takes is a little planning.

Sometimes people put a $10 plant in a $1 hole. What we say out here is you should put a $1 plant in a $10 hole. You need to create a hole; it needs to be much wider than the root ball.

It's sometimes good to enrich the soil. Whenever you plant a tree, or any plant, you're damaging some of its roots, and you're going to have to give it a little TLC. You want to have a healthy root system that will expand. You want to provide some kind of inducement so that it will expand. Roots are stupid, they're lazy, they'll take the path of least resistance. So if you have a tiny little hole, what are they going to do? They aren't going to try to push through hard dirt. They're just going to travel around and around, and around—until they stop working.

If a plant is in a stress situation, it can take nutrients from its old growth and bring them to the new part. So if there's a nutrient deficiency, where you'll see it is in the older leaves, because the plant is kind of feeding on itself. If you see new green growth and old yellow growth, it's more than likely due to a nutrient deficiency.

There are also a host of minor nutrients. If you're in a place that has high rainfall, molybdenum and sulphur can become deficient—they literally get washed out of the soil. Molybdenum is necessary for plants to be able to use nitrogen. Places in the Southeast often have a molybdinum deficiency. You can replace nitrogen, but if you don't replace the micronutrients, you're not going to get full use of the fertilizer.

Ninety five percent or more of the problems you have in your landscape are going to be cultural. If you have good cultural practices you're not going to have these problems.

Trees: Never be afraid to reject trees that come in. If you order them, you're the customer and you don't have to accept them. They grow a lot of junk out there.

If the tree has a stake next to the trunk, get it off immediately. It's bad for the tree; it's tree abuse.

Cutting off branches: Unfortunately, in years past, we told people to cut them off against the trunk and we did it so well that now we're having a problem trying to let people know that we told you wrong. So don't cut a limb flush. And don't paint the spot afterward, because then you seal in moisture and you can get rot.

Pruning pines: I know it's really hard, especially where you have a lot of mowing, but trees are big shrubs until they become mature. And so often when you buy plants from nurseries, they're what we call "lollipops" a shape that will cause problems in the future.

You need the limb structure to be all the way down the trunk. If you trim the branches all the way up to make it look like what we think a tree should look like, then it becomes a sail—it catches the wind and doesn't distribute it all the way through—and then you have a problem.

This article compiled from an address presented by the authors at the 2006 ICFA Annual Convention

Of all the work pertaining to horticulture there is none so difficult to write about as the planting and pruning of trees and it is almost impossible for one to learn how to do the work by reading for the fact that no two trees are alike.

Whoever studies the varied beauties of trees will find that they possess almost a human interest, and their features will reveal varieties of expression, and charms of character, that dull observers cannot imagine.

No tree has the highest beauty of its type without the appearance, in its whole bearing, of robust vigor. There may be peculiar charms in the decay of an old trunk, or the eccentric habit of some stunted specimen which ministers to the love of the picturesque; but tree beauty and health are as inseparable in trees as in humanity. Luxuriant vigor is, then, the essential condition of all beautiful trees but thriftiness cannot make an elm look like an oak, but rather brings into higher relief the distinguishing marks of each, making the elm more graceful and the oak more majestic.

It is always profitable to give time to intelligent preparation of the soil to receive the trees and to be sure that the roots are kept in a moist condition until established in the new ground, Excavate the soil from a space wide and deep enough to provide for the root growth, throw back the soil so that your trees when planted in the middle of the prepared space will have a deep, mellow bed in which to extend their roots.

In planting, the tree should be set in the ground no deeper than it grew in the nursery, which depth may be determined by discoloration of the bark at the base. More trees die from this one cause than from any other. Any broken or injured roots should be pruned so that the ends be smooth.

It transplanting trees I would advise liberal doses of old manure or wood ashes. It is surprising how the roots revel in ground containing such ingredients. Another important factor for quick and luxurious growth is to form basins around the trees in order to catch the water. It is, besides that, a safeguard against the lawn mower. Never allow any grass to grow near your young trees; keep the basins always free of weeds and have the soil stirred up two or three times during the summer and in winter put some short manure on to keep out the cold, and also to serve as a mulch. Be sure to have the basins large enough, never less than one foot in diameter; two feet is much better.

You ask--When is the best time to plant trees and my answer is: plant whenever the weather conditions are favorable. There are so many conditions that may work out all right for the grower in a certain locality, but would be the wrong procedure in another locality. And again, one season may call for a slight modification of the work done the previous year. Thus you can easily see that it is impossible for anyone to lay down a fixed set of rules and follow them, in reference to each particular case. All well regulated cemeteries should have their own nursery so you could plant just whenever you have a favorable day. I have planted trees from our own nursery row as late as the third week in May, out in full leaf and without a single loss. This, of course, would be impossible if you had to buy your trees at some distance from home; hence the double advantage.

It is common to note how little attention most people pay to the trees after they are once planted. Is it any wonder one sees so few really beautiful specimens? This is apparently due to the fact that they do not require his constant care, and usually seem to thrive without his aid; yet what a vast difference between a well trained, properly cared for tree and the one that has to take care of itself. A tree demands very little care and attention if it be done annually, but that it must have to develop properly.

How to save our trees? That is the problem; to prevent them from dying; to keep them in good health, strong and beautiful; to keep them with us. Surely these are admirable endeavors and worthy of much thought and attention.

I cannot emphasize enough the necessity of removing the old bark of the trees once every two years just before spring opens. This should be gathered carefully and burned. It is not only of the greatest benefit to the growth and appearance of the tree, but it also destroys thousands of insects, larva and pupa in them, which have their winter quarters under the loose pieces of bark, just getting ready for their destructive work as soon as spring opens. "One ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" and the removal of the old bark is just such an ounce of prevention against the ravages of caterpillars and scale in summer.

PRUNING

I was taught some years ago by our local nurserymen, to do all tree pruning when the trees were dormant, or when the sap was down; but from my own experience, and observation of late years, I do all my pruning when the sap is up and I recommend same to all my friends. In our own locality, the center of Ohio, I find the month of June and usually the first two weeks of July (if the weather conditions are right) is the best season of year to do this work.

One should always use a sharp, fine-tooth saw, and as soon as the trees are pruned paint the cuts with one coat of thin paint. Never leave any stubs when pruning, but cut always just as close as possible to the trunk of the tree, so that the cambium gets a chance to close the wound, and the sap must be up in the tree in order to promote this growth. Cambium is the white and softer part of wood between the inner bark and the wood. It is popularly called the sap-wood. This is annually acquiring firmness and thus becoming hard wood.

If a limb is cut when the sap is down, and has to stand several months, before the sap rises up again this cut becomes hard and dry, and in most cases the cambium never starts to grow and in a few years the cut is rotten and makes a home for insects and we all know that where we have insects we cannot have a healthy tree.

I think the secret of fine exterior foliage is mostly due to a good, clear, healthy interior, entirely free from suckers, dead wood and all small branches that do not help to make up a pleasing exterior.

The sunlight and air should reach every part of the tree.

Do not prune simply because you see your neighbor pruning, but start about your work with the aim of accomplishing a certain fixed purpose, and never cut a branch from your tree unless you have a reason for so doing.

The tree may be spread, or it may be contracted, by cutting to a bud that point outward for the former or to a bud that inclines inward for the later. If this be done intelligently it will prove of great value in the training of your trees. As a rule, the weaker the growth the harder it should be pruned back. This will encourage a heavier wood growth the following season.

By this article it can be seen that growing fine trees is not a sinecure, but still it is a glorious work, demanding a man's whole energy and unfailing love for Nature, and one of her most beautiful creations--the tree.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Convention
Held at New York City, NY
September 14, 15 and 16, 1909

I regard it as an honor and a privilege, to stand here. At the same time I realize the fact that my place ought to be out there and some of you should be up here and I ought to be listening to you. I am only distantly related to you. My work is landscape gardening and park work. Your work is very important and is coming close to us and I think it is a very good thing it is. I remember when I was a boy in Scotland. In my early life I can remember the old church yards and having a feeling of sadness and melancholy. A melancholy feeling would come over me. It was inevitable. Those were really cities, of the dead and apparently only for the dead. We are more progressive, and we are making a cemetery now a place for the living. We are adding to the cemeteries landscape ornamentation and making them now very attractive indeed. I learn many lessons when I go to some of your cemeteries. Some of your superintendents have excellent ideas and much skill and knowledge in landscape work. You have undoubtedly difficulties that I do not understand and cannot comprehend. Those difficulties are not insurmountable, however, because you have already overcome many of them. One difficulty I suppose you have which I am not familiar with and that is the ownership of your lots and sites. They must want, I suppose, some direction of the improvement of their several parcels and bodies of land in the cemeteries. It is difficult really under circumstances of that kind to have much landscape effect. I think that our finest cemeteries of the future will be those that have been well planned before any lots are sold and certain portions of the boundary, certain small pieces intersecting the sections and roads, etc., had better be set aside for ornamental planting. To the landscape gardener there are few, if any, cemeteries where things are not incongruous and where things do not seem to him to be very much out of place. I think that must arise from the individual taste of the lot owners, which compels the superintendent to follow their plan.

I think there are in most cemeteries too many trees. There are not enough flowering shrubs. There are not enough herbaceous plants. Mr. Falconer, a most excellent authority in our profession, wanted me to say something about having a cemetery attractive every day in the year. I think you should commence with early flowering plants. We all know visitors to cemeteries in the early spring are delighted with flowers. We find in our Washington parks that our spring flowers bring out more notice than later flowers in the summer or autumn. The early flowers are harbingers of spring.

I will tell you what we do in our public grounds. Our first planting for spring begins in October. We dig up our geraniums and many of those plants we want to propagate and plant those places with pansies. You can not all do that. We put out every year about thirty thousand pansies. We cover those beds with a slight coating of horse manure and leave that until they have done flowering in the spring. After our pansy planting we plant, our bulbs, hyacinths, tulips, narcissuses, crocuses, etc. We plant about thirty thousand of those. After that we take up our cannas, which make a very nice effect and we plant evergreens in some of the most important places. If it can be done, it would be well to plant evergreens just as we plant flowers--have dwarf varieties if you can. If not, plant our native evergreens, planting them flat in little groups, so as to remove the bareness of our parks and the same in cemeteries.

Now, my idea in planting parks or cemeteries would be to plant boundaries. Not plant a row of trees--I do not believe in that. I do not believe we ought to have fences. You will observe that we have removed the fences from our parks. We think it a good plan. We find no necessity for them, and it improves the appearance of the grounds very much. Plant around the boundaries groups of trees which would be suitable and which would grow well and which would produce satisfactory effects. I would not plant foreign trees largely--would plant native trees. Throughout the cemetery at the intersections have little plots of ground reserved where you can have flowering shrubs and plants. Then if I could have my way, I would have a parkway on each side of the roadways. I would not sell within perhaps fifteen feet. I would have a parking which would belong to the cemetery and which could be used for decoration with herbaceous plants and flowering shrubs, which would make it attractive.

Now, of course, I know that there is not an abundance of money in all cases to perform the finest landscape work and to carry out the landscape effects that are perhaps most beautiful, but there are certain things that are very essential. The most attractive thing in parks and cemeteries are roads and lawns. The roads should be hard surfaces that would be pleasant to walk on. I believe macadam roads are the best. Gravel roads are good, but they want constant attention. The lawns should be kept up.

In some cemeteries you have rules or regulations that are peculiar. That is, you care for certain special parts of the grounds. There are such things as special care. I think you ought to charge enough for your lots to enable you to keep your roads and lots always in perfect condition. If your roads and lots are in perfect condition, it will add very much to the beauty of the cemetery.

I really cannot say very much to you. I do not know just what to talk about. We have here in Washington many advantages. I came here half a century ago, lacking one year. When I came here I was perhaps one of the most disgusted men you could meet. It was a very unsightly, straggling village at that time. It was called in those days a city of magnificent distances. There was then La Fayette Park, the Capitol Grounds and Franklin Park, I believe that was about all. The major portion of the parks you see now were simply dumping grounds. They have all been created since that time. We have one thing here which is greatly in our favor. We have a very desirable climate. We can grow many things here that many of you gentlemen cannot grow. We are on the border line between the North and the South. We are rich in oaks and maples and many flowering trees and flowering shrubs. There is .another thing that we are not rich in, but I hope to be some time and that is the berry-bearing shrubs. They add very much to the decoration of the grounds in the winter months. What I would advise is very much fewer trees and very many more shrubs. That is what impresses me in cemeteries.
 
In regard to the parks, if you are so kind as to compliment them, I want to say I do not think they are at all what we hope to have them. We expect to have much higher improvement in many ways in the future. We are constantly improving and laying out grounds. We are taking in now about 150 acres of land reclaimed from the river front and we have now over 400 acres of reservation. One difficulty is they are so widely scattered. I cannot start out in the morning with my horse and buggy and visit each reservation. But it is a good thing. They are good and they are a good plan and I hope other cities will adopt this plan of leaving little spaces in the city. They are restful and in sanitary ways they are a very great advantage indeed.
 
From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 19th Annual Convention
Held at Washington, DC
September 19, 20, 21 and 22, 1905

In the popular mind evergreens are usually associated with pines, spruces, firs and the like. In this brief paper we will call attention to some hardy ornamental evergreens other than the coniferous forms.

There is undoubtedly a particular value in any shrub or tree that will maintain a good normal green appearance in its leaves throughout the entire year in this latitude. The British Islands and some parts of Continental Europe, on account of the cool moist atmosphere that prevails, are admirably adapted to the cultivation and high development of many beautiful "flowering evergreens" that we cannot think of cultivating throughout the northeastern United States. We are, however, more than compensated by the abundant wealth of many deciduous trees and shrubs, which on account of our hot, almost tropical summers, abundant rainfall and cold winters which give a long period of rest, attain to a much greater floral perfection here than, they do in Europe. It may seem strange, however, that although numerous parts of the North American continent are the homes of many beautiful evergreens, that their successful cultivation is frequently attended with much difficulty under ornamental conditions. We will first consider the coniferous evergreens. Their cheerfulness throughout the dull winter months and the handsome comely forms of many of them, so strikingly apparent in the summer time, particularly in their youthful days and their general desirability at all times of the year, commend them to all planters wherever conditions are known to be favorable for their healthy growth and development, in parks, cemeteries and private grounds. They do not impoverish the soil around them nearly to the same extent as deciduous trees, their leaves are not troublesome in creating litter and they rarely are injured by violent storms. They can easily be restricted in growth and area if so desired, without much trouble, by disbudding and pinching, and this can be done so intelligently that the means employed to accomplish this end can hardly be detected.

Rochester being such a prominent nursery center for a great many years, coniferous evergreens among other things, have been more or less largely cultivated, handled and sold. The well known firm of Ellwanger & Barry during their long career have tested a large number of different kinds, from an experimental point of view and obtained much valuable information as to the most satisfactory species and varieties for planting in conditions of soil, temperature and moisture that obtain elsewhere similar to Rochester. For example, on the south side of their vineyard on Highland Ave. the Nordman and Cephalonian firs, over fifty feet in height and Lawson's Cypress nearly forty feet, are in good health, and planted nearly fifty years since, are among some of the important evergreens to be seen in their grounds.

Highland Park, which forms a part of the park system of the city of Rochester, contains an extensive pinetum covering an area of 20 acres. The soil is a very light sandy loam, on porous, gravelly subsoil. The nucleus of this collection was planted in the spring of 1896 and numerous accessions have been made since. No particular plan of planting in generic sequence has been adopted. The more rare and known tender kinds are planted in different situations and exposures to find out what suits them best. As every experienced planter knows, some evergreens are exceedingly capricious and what might strike a planter as an ideal "spot" for these particular subjects may subsequently show by their behavior to be unfitted for them, so we have adopted the plan of not having all our "eggs in one basket." Some species of doubtful hardiness such as Pinus Sabiniana, Libocedrus decurrens, Cedrus Deodara and C. Libanii have been under trial since 1898 and so far have behaved splendidly, but we cannot tell how soon a severe winter may occur and injure them severely. Pinus insignis, P. Pinea and Cupressus MacNabiana have been winter, killed.

The soil best adapted for almost all coniferous evergreens is a light sandy loam with good porous subsoil, which must be naturally or artificially well drained. It must not of course be understood that we recommend a poor soil, but whilst it should be light in texture, it should be rich enough to grow good wheat or potatoes. The best season for planting coniferous evergreens is a much discussed question. I have planted them at all seasons of the year, except when in full growth, with more or less success. In the months of August and September is a good time for planting, providing the ground has been well saturated with rains. I think on the whole I have had the best results by spring planting, just about the time when the buds begin to perceptibly swell. It is needless to say before a body of practical men such as we have here, that coniferous evergreens are much less tenacious of life than deciduous trees, and therefore the most scrupulous care should invariably be exercised in planting or transplanting to preserve the roots from exposure to the air. This gospel has been preached time and again, and no heterodox heresy will ever affect its validity. The different pines, spruces and firs perhaps show their greatest beauty in their youthful days. I mean by that before they attain anything like maturity. Therefore the preservation and retaining of the lower branches should be encouraged by all possible cultural means, This can be aided by an occasional stopping of the leader by cutting back to a bud in firs and spruces and allowing it only so much growth in a season, and disbudding the points of branches in May and June that extend too far beyond the general pyramidal outline. Under conditions where a highly gardenesque effect is desired the most dense pyramidal outlines can be produced in many firs and spruces by systematic judicious disbudding, and still look wonderfully naturalistic. It must be clearly understood that I do not here in any way allude to the topiary art of shearing or trimming with shears into any form whatever, for unless for hedge purposes, that is something to be despised.

In the Highland Park Pinetum very little disbudding has been done, as it is desirable in a collection of this kind to leave them as much as possible to natural development. The main attention has been given towards the preservation of the leaders and occasionally central buds have been repressed in branches of pines, spruces and firs where they extend too far.

Mulching is excellent treatment for young evergreens where it is practicable and I have elsewhere seen splendid results from it. With us this is impracticable, but we do the next best thing. The soil is kept thoroughly cultivated and stirred from eighteen inches to two feet from the extremities of the branches and this also saves them from possible damage from fires, which are sometimes liable to occur in the dry grass in early spring. Among the various insect pests that attack evergreens the two worst with us are Red Spider, and the Pine-Tree Blight, Eriosoma strobi. The red spider in a dry season will attack some of the spruces so badly as to seriously disfigure them. With an abundant supply of water under pressure applied frequently, Red Spider can be controlled, but that is seldom under command. The Pine-Tree Blight has a particular liking for the white pine and will cover the branches thickly, producing a white, downy like appearance.

It can be destroyed by any of the soap insecticides. Sometimes the white pine when apparently in the best of health and vigor will die with what seems like mysterious suddenness. This usually occurs, however, when it has been planted in a heavy, damp soil and is making a rank growth. In a light, well drained soil the causes that produce this sudden demise are rarely operative.

Among the different species of pines that are the most useful for ornamental and decorative planting, the white pine undoubtedly comes first. Our native red pine is excellent. The Bhotan, Corean, Thunbergs, Swiss Stone, densiflora and ponderosa pines we believe can be depended upon in sheltered situations. The dwarf Mugho pine and the variety known as rotundata are extremely useful and serviceable in many situations. The Austrian and Scotch pines are not generally long lived but they grow easily, are very accommodating, and we confess to having a tender regard for them.

The spruces are very attractive and among some of the best are our native white spruce and its blue form. The Oriental, Engelmans’, Douglas', Alcock's and of course the popular blue spruce, are all excellent. A spruce introduced fifteen or twenty years since from Southeast Europe, Picea Omorika, has great promise.

Our native hemlock spruce and its weeping form are indispensable, but although a native, do not plant it in bleak, cold situations or it will look forlorn. The Carolina and Patton's hemlock spruces are very promising. Albert's hemlock spruce from British Columbia and the Japanese species do not look very happy with us so far. Among the firs I have no hesitation in placing Abies con color from Colorado as one of the most decorative in these parts. Nordman's, Cephalonian (the latter will sometimes get scorched in a young stale by the winter's suns but it will soon outgrow it) and the Japanese brachyphylla and Veitch's firs, will, if planted in sheltered spots, be satisfactory. The balsam fir in Western New York looks wretched after fifteen or twenty years. The numerous forms of the native Arbor Vitae such as Hovey's, Siberian, compacta, Vervaeneana, Tom Thumb, globosa and minima, with their prim and stiff forms are useful in many situations.

The two best yews are the Japanese and the Canadian. The English Yew, with its numerous forms, is liable to get badly scorched in a severe winter.

The Nootka Sound Cypress, Cupressus Nutkaensis, appears to do well with us and is very ornamental. The Japanese Retinosporas are very unsatisfactory in Western New York

In the junipers we have some excellent evergreens. The red cedar or Virginia juniper is one of the most virile and hardy evergreens in existence. It will grow and look happy in the poorest soils and bleak exposures, and we have some pretty forms of it such as venusta, elegantissima and the glaucous variety is exceedingly handsome. The Savin juniper and its varieties tamariscifolia and alpina can be used with excellent results on banks and slopes, and in connection with rocky formations. The carpet juniper J. prost rata, and the Himalayan species J. squamata are perfectly hardy, and also excellently adapted for draping slopes and rocky banks.

The common juniper, J. communis, in its procumbent forms is very useful. The so called Irish juniper with us is useless, but the Swedish form we believe can be depended upon and the Japanese and Chinese junipers appear to be satisfactory.

In flowering and other evergreens that can be depended upon to be satisfactory in Western New York the list is small. Among the "flowering" evergreens no plants can compare to the chaste beauty of the Rhododendrons wherever they prove to be happy and healthy. In Western New York the cultivation of Rhododendrons cannot be said to have been successful, but this is more due to soil conditions than anything else. The soil is mainly limestone and it is well known that they will not thrive in soil containing lime. In limestone soil they will make a fairly good growth, but they seem to lack the necessary vigor to pass through the winter, as even when protected closely, they look unhappy when spring comes. Their cultivation, however, in Highland Park in excavated beds filled with humus or soil of a peaty nature has so far given excellent results. They grow freely, flower abundantly, pass through the winter without any scorching, and they are not coddled by close protection, other than that afforded naturally from the prevailing winds, and from the direct rays of the late winter's sun.

What is known as the Hunnewell list, which contains about twenty-five varieties, with Catawbiense blood, are all that can be used here.

The mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia an excellent shrub, should always be used wherever it can be coaxed to grow but it will not thrive in lime. The narrow leafed form K. angustifolia is useful and the early flowering hardy species K. glauca is pretty in early spring.

Leucothoe Cateslxei, with its beautiful glossy leaves, is excellent for planting in quantity in sheltered situations.

Among the Andromedas, A. floribunda and the common A. polifolia are very satisfactory. The latter used in large quantities around the margins of ponds and lakes can be easily made to produce denser effects than it does in its native sphagnum bogs.

The native leather leaf, Cassandra calyculata can be coaxed to grow without much trouble, but it is not very decorative. The pretty little Labrador-Tea is difficult to handle. The Barberry, Arctostaphylos, when seen covering the ground with a dense carpet of green in a wild state in parts of Long Island and about the Atlantic Coast, is very attractive, but in our experience it takes unkindly to cultivation, and it is moreover hard to propagate.

Among the heaths Erica carnea, E. vagans and the Scotch heather in several forms, take kindly to cultivation and form real pretty clumps. The evergreen Euouymuses are very useful farther south, but the climbing radicans form is the only one of any account here. In the evergreen barberries aquifolium, fasicularis and the low growing repens are perfectly hardy, but they need to have natural protection from the late winter sunshine or they will get badly scorched. These evergreen barberries are very ornamental and cheerful in the winter months.

This is about the northern limit of the American holly Ilex opaca and it needs good natural shelter to look at all pleasing. The beautiful crenate holly from Japan grows slowly with us, but it is healthy enough and may form good bushes some day. The gorse or whin from Europe is useless.

Daphne cneornm under sheltered conditions forms a real pretty clump and the dwarf little sun rose, Helianthemum vulgare, is perfectly hardy and forms dense masses.

There are some pretty and useful forms of the common box (Buxus) such as naviculatis, Handsworthi and microphylla, which are quite hardy under partial shade.

A recently introduced form of the laurel from the Balkan Mountains, said to be very hardy, has been under trial in the Ellwanger & Barry nursery for some years and is reported by them to be very satisfactory. As a broad-leaved evergreen this should be very important.

In conclusion, outside the coniferous evergreens the number of flowering and other evergreens suitable for planting in ornamental grounds in this latitude is really not large and not sufficiently extensive, or of that nature so as to produce any marked or broad effect on our landscapes in this climate.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 17th Annual Convention
Held at Rochester, NY
September 8, 9 and 10, 1903

It is obvious to all of you that any exhaustive treatment that might be given the subject of "Nursery Materials for Cemeteries and How to Plant Them" would soon assume the proportions of an encyclopedia of horticulture. And since I am aware that many of your members are recognized authorities on plant materials, it would be useless to run through long lists of the more common varieties with which you are all familiar. In fact, I often envy the cemetery management the opportunity to observe plants as they progress from small seedlings, rooted cuttings, or grafts, up through their growth to maturity. It is an opportunity to study and learn which the Nurseryman does not have, since due to the very nature of his business, "the scientific production of young plants for transplanting elsewhere to grow into maturity," he knows them only in their younger stages.

The conditions for growth in a cemetery are nearly ideal. Most of the newer tracts are located far from the congested districts. Their size is such that the contamination of the atmosphere by poisonous gases is negligible. They are invariably well guarded against the malicious destruction of property by trespassers. They are by the very nature of their purpose designed and executed as to contour, drainage and ground covering and are maintained in every way as an ideal spot in which plant life may thrive. A cemetery is frequently spoken of as "the last resting place," and it serves mankind best when it is so in fact, because some day it must naturally take on a park-like effect and become still more of a community asset. Their long, yes, virtually perpetual, lives of usefulness make the effort to plant for permanency seem worthwhile. It is all these attributes of the scene of your activities that give you gentlemen the unsurpassed opportunity for study and observation that so few professional or business men enjoy. Consequently, you can understand and appreciate plant life and so perform a service in your community in furthering this interest among others less fortunately situated.

You have heard endless references to "the landscape lawn plan," the "park plan of cemetery," the "memorial park," the injection of the "landscape idea" into, cemetery design, how the memory of past generations is sweeter if it is associated with trees than if it is connected with tombs, catacombs and pyramids. This is not idle patter. Our cemeteries should keep pace with the best thought of the times. It is only natural that humanity should seek as their "last sleeping place," as the name implies, a spot of rest and freedom from intrusion. A beautiful park, a real picture, grounds that are the embodiment of all the best practices of landscape art; such places may seem to exist more for the living than for the dead, but the living are the ones that need them, and incidentally the folks with whom you men do business. Scenery should solace those that are bereft.

It is not the purpose of this discourse to enter into the subject of landscape design which is so largely responsible for the proper development of your grounds. Other speakers on the program will do credit to this phase. Still, the freedom in design is limited by the requirements of modern cemetery practice and the interest very often must lie in the variety of the plant material itself, This does not mean that the cemetery should be an arboretum as far as the number of varieties are concerned, but certainly it is an arboretum so far as it pertains to the intensive study of the subjects at hand. The more modern types of design require a greater variety of plants than ever before. Certain effects of seclusion to the larger lots, which are so desirable, necessitate the use of much shrubby material not formerly used. The larger sizes of the newer cemeteries warrant the appropriation of larger tracts for beautification exclusively. It also makes a more elaborate entrance treatment desirable. Screen and border plantings are needed here, shady retreats there, and bright flowering, happy-looking plants elsewhere. The nurseryman means to supply you with the best plant for the purpose for which it is to be used. (It is not necessary to use Norway Spruces entirely, as is still seen in certain sections.)

Long life is a requisite that any plant material chosen for cemetery work should have. There are already too many places where the immediate effect is the only consideration. Let your grounds be unique in that respect, that permanency and the qualities that come only with old age are the things most desired. There are many plants that are only common place and ordinary-looking until the subduing influence of old age shows up their real natures. This should encourage the more extensive use of the very dwarf and prostrate forms of shrubs and evergreens. I should prefer to mention this group first as it is probably the least well known and next most useful to the intensely valuable group of dwarf and generally slow growing trees.

Some of the evergreens which are quite dwarf in character, and yet sturdy and very tenacious of habit, would be far more desirable covering steep slopes or stony outcroppings than the barren surface often found in the cemeteries of steep contours. These are not paraded before you as new varieties, but suggested as being useful for purposes of which you may not have thought before.

Let me mention first then, Chamaecyparis Obtusa Nana (Hinoki Cypress). This is the variety made famous by its use as a miniature tree in pots by the Japanese. This, to me, is only an example of the punishment which it will stand and still look fresh and vigorous. The annular growth is quite short but it is attractive when small and still more so as it grows older.  I have seen it push aside much larger growing forms like the common American Arbor Vitae, and even Spruces and Pines. Its tenacity for life is marvelous. It will stand up bright and shining against a spider-infested Arbor Vitae or Juniper and come through unscathed. Its only drawback is that it always has been and will continue to be costly, due to its difficulty of propagation.

Juniperus Communis Depressa rarely exceeds two feet in height, good form of Juniper for ground cover. It is at home on sandy or gravelly hillsides fully exposed to the sun, where single plants often reach fifteen feet or more in diameter. It is sometimes catalogued Juniperus Communis, which is erroneous. The name Juniperus Canadensis is also applied, which is a synonym. It grows native in various sections of the country.

Juniperus Horizontalis Douglassi (Waukegan Juniper) is an interesting new creeping Juniper, which is very low and compact, making a dense mat. In spring and summer it is of a soft blue color, changing to a rich purple color in late fall. It grows close to the ground, not over six to eight inches high, but spreads out a dozen feet or more, depending upon soil and planting conditions.

Juniperus Horizontalis Glauca, by some called Sabina Horizontalis, or The Coast of Maine Juniper, grows native along the bleak, rockbound coast of Maine where it is exposed to the most severe weather conditions. It is usually vigorous and dependable creeping Evergreen of a distinctive and attractive bluish-green color.

Juniperus Sabina Tamariscifolia (Tamarix Savin Juniper) is an excellent creeping dwarf variety. The foliage is fine in texture; average height is one foot, with a spread of six to eight feet when full grown. Sometimes it is called Gray Carpet Juniper, and the name Tamarish leaved Juniper is also applied to it. It is said to occur wild in Sicily, Greece, and other places. A very vigorous grower; forming a compact and perfect mat of bluish or gray green; it grows very dense and never changes in color.

Juniperus Chinensis Sargenti (Sargent Juniper) was first collected by Professor Sargent in Japan in the autumn of 1892. This Juniper forms a low dense mat of wide-spreading branches covered with small dark green scale-like leaves, mixed with pointed ones. In the Arboretum it is now the handsomest of the Prostrate Junipers.

Juniperus Communis Depressa Plumosa is a rare Evergreen of distinctive beauty. It is silvery green in Spring and the mountains purple in Autumn. In habit it is low-growing and spreading, and it adapts itself admirably to many, uses. Being very hardy, it will grow under conditions that many Evergreens find unfavorable. For use in rock gardens or filling-in at the base of taller growing Evergreens, it is extremely adaptable and in groups with other species it contrasts with pleasing effect. Its prostrate branches seldom lift themselves more than eighteen inches from the ground.

Taxus Baccata Repandens is one of the few varieties of the English Yew that is hardy in the northern part of our country. Its rich, dark green foliage and low, nearly prostrate, but bunchy growth, makes it wonderfully useful for cemetery planting. Like our native Texas canadensis, it prefers semi-shade and some moisture. The latter should be used more under the shady and often sloping conditions found in the angles of walks along drives, etc.
 
The greatest acquisition and the most valuable gift Japan has contributed to the gardens of the colder parts of North America, is the Japanese Yew, Taxus Cuspidata and its dwarf form, Taxus cuspidata var. nana. Only these and the two above mentioned are hardy enough to be recommended for general planting in this country. These Yews are especially valuable because of their endurance of shade, their shiny, green foliage and bright scarlet berries.
 
The Mugho Pine (Pinus Montana Mughus) is a dwarf variety recognized everywhere as one of the most useful Evergreens, with its many stems, compact form and dark green color which it retains throughout the winter. It does not do well south of the Ohio River, but for northern plantings it is invaluable. All of the pines prefer a clay soil and need to be well compacted when planting.

Mahonia Repens is the low growing form of the Oregon grape and should find a place in moist shaded conditions where Vinca Minor has been used too extensively.

Pachysandra Terminalis is a splendid evergreen ground cover with thick, glossy foliage. It forms a dense mat, but to be successful must be planted closely together. It thrives well only whim the roots have, the benefit of its own shade.

Euonymous Radicans Vegetus is popularly known as the Evergreen Bittersweet and is an accommodating sort of plant. It may be grown as a vine against masonry walls, over rocks, or can be sheared into, a hedge, or grown as specimen plants. Although introduced from Japan in 1876, it is only in recent years that its good qualities have become well enough known to make its use extensive.

Of a more shrubby nature are the low spreading Cotoneaster. C. horizontalis Wilsoni is very similar with slightly longer leaves. A hardier variety than either of these is C. apiculata, and it should replace the two former ones in colder parts of the country. C. microphylla is likewise a prostrate variety with evergreen foliage and quite hardy at the Arnold Arboretum.

Of the taller growing Evergreens, some old reliable ones as well as newer varieties are:

Juniperus Chinensis Pfitzeriana. This remarkable tree is today in the front rank of ornamental conifers. Its popularity is well earned. This is a Juniper that thrives in the hot climate of the South and still comes through the cold northern winters without a scratch. Nothing bothers it as it seems to be practically immune from plant pests of all kinds. If left alone it assumes an attractive, low, broad, irregular form. It was originated in Pfitzer's Nursery in Germany. Ludwig Spaeth, famous German nurseryman horticulturist, introduced it into general cultivation.

Juniperus Chinensis Columnaris was introduced to cultivation by the United States Department of Agriculture, through the late F. N. Meyer. It forms a distinct, narrow pyramid with all the leaves circular or needle-shaped. The foliage is remarkably decorative. Like other forms of J. Chinensis, it is very hardy and also retains its desirable color effect during the winter. The habit of growth resembles the well-known Italian Cypress. This tree offers to planters in colder climates the extreme narrow growing form of evergreen heretofore so much desired but unfortunately not obtainable in a dependable tree.

Juniperus Chinensis Mas is a non-fruiting form of the Chinese Juniper and when better known, will be used quite extensively, as its winter color is greener and brighter than any other variety of the tall-growing ones.

Juniperus Squamata Meyeri, brought from Thibet by the late Frank N. Meyer, is the rarest and most sought-after of evergreen plants. Its rich, steel-blue color, even brighter, if possible than the Kosters Spruce, seems to assure for it a place in the newer plantings where accents of color are wanted. Its common name may work against it—The Fish Tail Juniper.

Juniperus Virginiana Cannarti is one of the foremost among the interesting group of Junipers that have been developed from the Red Cedar (J. Virginiana). It has rich green, heavy-tufted foliage, of medium height, and compact, pyramidal growth. Three newer sorts of Virginiana origin are Keteleri, Smithi and Burki. They certainly appear promising in the young plants, and will, no doubt, help to supply the always increasing demand for tall growing columnar Junipers.

A tall slender variety of Yew, developed from Taxus Cuspidata., has recently been put on the market by a prominent eastern nurseryman. It should fill the same place in northern plantings that the Irish Yew and Italian Cypress does in warmer climates.

Most of the Pines and Spruces are better known and although always important in cemetery plantings, they are so familiar to most of you that they require no comment.

There is no need or burdening you with a long list of shrubs suitable for cemetery planting. Anyone might be used to advantage, but too many of them lose their effectiveness after too few years. I do want to describe a few which might not be familiar to all of you as well as calling your attention to some old ones not used nearly as much as they warrant.

Kolkwitzia Amabilis (Beauty Bush). This is one of the rarest and most beautiful of the recent introductions of the Arnold Arboretum. It is a hardy shrub, closely related to the Lonicera.  Fruits are covered with long brown bristles. It seems to grow in any ordinary garden soil.

Pryacantha Coccinea Lalandi (Firethorn) is a thorny, half evergreen Hawthorn from the Himalayas, and rarely reaches a height of more than six feet. The leaves are small and narrow, with white flowers followed by bright orange colored fruits. These remain on the branches all winter, if not eaten by birds, which, by the way, consider them quite a delicacy. It is well adapted for planting on stony slopes, or sunny rockeries. It may also he used for a low ornamental hedge, as it stands trimming well, and is easily trained into any desired shape. Certainly it is a plant that is not yet well enough known, nor extensively used.  Due to its, evergreen nature, it ought always to be moved with a ball of earth attached.

The Cotoneasters are ornamental shrubs with decorative, bright, red or black berries. They thrive in any well drained soil, but dislike very modest and shady positions. C. dielsiana is one of the best, with a height of not over six feet. It has slender spreading and arching branches. The coral red fruits are very attractive. Several more widely advertised forms have the habit of losing their leaves earlier at the base. A few have the habit of contracting San Jose scale, so should be avoided. The more prostrate forms have already been described. 

The Viburnums rank among the most valuable ornamental shrubs. Possibly too much stress has been placed upon the native forms, prunifolium, lentago, dentatum, acerifolium, nudum, and others. These are all excellent foliage and berried plants for large mass planting, but they seem to lack the popular appeal. Try Viburnum americanum in place of V. opulus, and you will avoid trouble from aphids, Virburnum carlesi, on account of its rather large pink and white, delightfully fragrant flowers, which appear in dense clusters early in the spring, before or with the first leaves, is one of the most charming of the family. It enjoys some shade and could add untold glory to somber plantings which come with less interesting varieties. Viburnum dilitatum is bushy than many of the other viburnums and certainly cannot be surpassed for richness of foliage and a gorgeous showing of red berries, when it is happily situated.
 
Aesculus Parviflora, one of the dwarf horse-chestnuts, is certainly one of the handsomest plants for a lawn group. It is not a shrub that will ever reach any degree of popularity for foundation planting, as it grows rather slowly and does not transplant any too easily. It has slender pinnacles of white flowers and grows best in loamy moist soil. Once established, it takes on a rounded, massive but low effect that is a relief among so many tall, slender growing plants.

One of the newer privets which has been named Ligustrum Ibolium because it is a hybrid between ovalifolium and obtusifolium or ibota, should receive some attention if a formal hedge, is desired. It has all tile attractiveness of foliage that you find in California privet, but apparently it is much hardier. There have been reports of slight winter injury at the Morton Arboretum, but this variety certainly does place the line of winter injury much farther north than can be said of
ovalifolium.

Philadelphus Virginal and others of the now hybrid Philadelphus seem to have gained considerable popularity as of particular value in cemetery plantings. Mr. Roy, of the Mt. Royal Cemetery at Montreal, finds it quite hardy and a great acquisition. Their time of bloom, so near Memorial Day, should add to your appreciation of them.

Among the dwarf growing trees are many varieties which I believe are the most valuable nursery material for cemetery use. There are many that are showy in bloom, others have brilliant fruits, little pruning is necessary, generally have healthy, bright foliage, and in open spaces away from buildings develop into beautiful low growing masses. Used in groups, they are more nearly in scale with the size of cemetery grounds than most shrubs. Their robust, hard, woody growth makes them resistant to injury by storm, winds and trespassers. There are hundreds of species and thousands of horticultural varieties that come in this group. The Flowering Crab Apples, Hawthornes, Dogwoods, Flowering Cherries, Dwarf Maples, Flowering Plums and Peaches, are all families that contribute heavily to the list of the finest ornamental material known in the landscape practice.

The Flowering Crabs of both American and Asiatic origin have few rivals among gorgeous spring flowering trees and shrubs. At the Arnold Arboretum one of the important events of the year is the blooming of the Crabs. In order to still further glorify themselves, the bloom is followed by the fruit—the size, color and time or ripening varying greatly with the variety. It will suffice to name a dozen or the better varieties. Malus floribunda is probably the best known. Others attracting the attention of plants men over the country are the "Tea Leafed Crab" (Malus theifera), micromalus, sargenti, scheideckeri, arnoldiana, Zumi Crab, spectabilis, atrosanguinea, niedzwetzkyana, prunifolia, rinki, rinki-sublobata, and others. These may be planted in the Fall or Spring, pruned severely, and well watered, as they do not transplant as easily as shrubs.

The depredations or tourists and picknickers are going to make the countryside so barren of our native dogwood, Cornus florida, that it will be up to institutions like yours to perpetuate the most beautiful native flowering tree we have. You can't overdo the planting of this handsome dwarf tree. The pink flowering variety, Cornus florida rubra, is a gorgeous sight in bloom. At Woodland cemetery in Dayton, fifty dollars invested twenty years ago by Mr. Kline in this plant has attracted more favorable comment than thousands of dollars spent in other adornment.

I've often wondered why each of you does not let some one flowering tree of this art dominate in your plantings. In Japan they declare a holiday when the cherries are in bloom. Lilac time at Arnold Arboretum attracts thousands of visitors from all over the country. The Japanese cherries at Washington when in bloom are a national institution. Such a planting of Crab Apples, Hawthornes, Dogwoods or other such dominant notes in your planting give character and style to your landscape obtainable in no other way. Time will not permit further details concerning the Hawthornes, Cherries, Maples, etc. but they are equally delightful.

With larger growing members of the plant world, the trees, you are more familiar. I only want to mention some new elms which have come into prominence recently. One, the vase-shaped elm, Ulmus urni, is a fast growing large leafed American white elm, which must be budded or grafted and is destined to fill a long felt want for uniform growing elms. Its rapidity of growth, cleanliness of foliage and bark and general good appearance will make it of much demand in the coming years.

The Moline Elm likewise originated from the American elm. However, its shape, a round-headed form, its dark, heavy foliage and smooth bark makes it resemble the English Elm. Its comparative resistance to the Elm Leaf Beetle, and the European Elm Scale should make its use preferable to the English varieties.

The small leaf elms, Ulmus parvifilia and Ulmus pumilla, though not new are gaining widespread popularity on account of their excellent foliage throughout the summer and their resistance to dry weather.

Now this has been a scattered, disconnected, rambling sort of treatment without doing justice to any one of the noble plants, nor without any attempt to cover completely any part of the excellent stock scientifically grown and prepared for you in the up-to-date nursery. However, the effort to apprise you of some of the noteworthy plants that might have escaped your attention will have been well repaid if that great institution so ably managed and conducted for the public, the American Cemetery will profit thereby.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 41st Annual Convention
Cleveland, OH
August 22, 23, 24 and 25, 1927

This forest preserve that we have around Chicago is one of the greatest outdoor playgrounds in the world. It is one of the most popular movements that ever came to Chicago. It is the first thing of its kind in the United States, a large municipal forest, and its popularity is increasing so rapidly that we have trouble in keeping up with our visitors and giving them what they need in this great outdoor park.

To the East we have Lake Michigan, which is not a forest preserve, but is a great opportunity for recreation. On the North and the West and the South we have thirty thousand acres and more of this forest preserve, which is an outdoor park. The idea is to save the forests and to provide the people with the outdoor playground preserving as nearly as it may be done these forests in their natural state.

When this movement was started twenty years ago, no one supposed that they would be used as they are being used now. Eleven years ago when we bought our first acre of land we figured people would go out into the woods and picnic and camp, that our Boy Scouts would use it, but no one knew how many automobiles would travel on our roads. We didn't know that we would have more visitors to this forest preserve district than any two parks in the world. One reason for this is that you cannot leave Chicago by any of the very many splendid hard roads or street cars or railroads without passing through or alongside of some of these parks and the people appreciate their opportunities.

After working for eleven years on this proposition, we still find new uses for the preserve and we find that we are obliged to modify to a certain extent our original ideas. It will still be a natural forest surrounding this city, just as nearly as may be, but we must provide playground opportunities. You have to have roads leading through the preserves; you have to have large parking spaces for the picnics that go there, and you have to have drinking water for the millions of visitors and you have to have toilet facilities. Then, they are demanding playgrounds, and we are putting in playgrounds; in those places that the natural forests will not be ruined, we are putting in baseball diamonds. We have twenty odd baseball diamonds. We are putting in tennis courts, and we have four golf courses on the preserve, which are public courses, and which are very much used.

In our sweep through the county along the Des Plaines River from the North end of the county down to the Southwest corner and down the Chicago River from the North border of Cook County into the heart of Chicago and on the South along Thorn Creek, we are trying to have a continuous holding of forest preserves, so that we can have a continuous drive, so that the people needn't leave our preserve at all to travel fifty, sixty or seventy miles. And there is only one thing that is stopping us. We have the right of eminent domain and it doesn't make any difference how much some farmer wants to hold his farm or how much some private citizen wants to hold his house, if it is considered best for the greatest number of people, we go ahead and condemn the land and take it, and the only thing that does stop us are the cemeteries. We find that they make a dead line.  That doesn't bother me, personally, so much, because with all due respect to our dead, with all due respect to this group of people who are interested in that particular thing, I believe that one hundred years from now our cemeteries in Cook County will all be parks, anyway. I would be very glad to know that a lot of Boy Scouts would tramp over my grave, and I think that one hundred years from now maybe our ideas of cemeteries will change and that we will all be glad to have them used as parks.

I think that cemetery superintendents have a very great field along the line of landscape work and development. Right in Cook County, in the heart of some of the forest preserves, we have a few cemeteries that are treated in more or less of a natural condition, and they are things of beauty, they add to rather than detract from the scenery.

Of course, if you could put building restrictions and decide what kind of tombstones would be put up there, it would help a lot. We have to depend on individual taste very largely for that. But in the laying out and the caring for your cemeteries it is easy to make them a thing of beauty that will fit in with the forest preserve parks or any other parks adjoining.

I am not going to try to give you a lecture on landscape work in connection with cemeteries, because you probably all know more about that than I do, though I have done a good deal of landscape work. Personally, in buying up these forests I have found a little piece of land that has large trees on it, and when we bought it, I got the forest preserve to set aside this quarter of an acre for my burying ground, so lam not worrying. There it will be in the natural forest, and if there are any tombstones marking my family's grave, they will be boulders with perhaps a bronze tablet on. That is what we are doing now in the forest preserve. We have these memorial trees which are in memory of departed soldiers or others, and they a re marked with a boulder and a bronze tablet. The first Gold Star Tree was right west of here just a few miles, in Thatcher's Woods. The Gold Star Mothers selected a fine, young hard maple tree that may live for a thousand years and marked that as their tree. If that tree dies, still the seed of it in that wood will come up and you will have an everlasting green, living memorial, and I think that that is better than the finest marble shaft that any of you have in your cemeteries. So it is all along the same idea.

Our forest preserves,—I suppose you want to hear more about these forest preserves around Chicago than you do any technical thing that could come through forestry or landscape work to you. I hope that you will see much of these preserves. I see that you are going to catch a few glimpses of them this afternoon on your drive, but I want to say that even knowing every acre of the preserves, as I do, for I was here when they bought the first acre and we are not through buying yet,—I can only give a man a glimpse of the different points of interest in the forest preserves if we take three or four days for it, one North, one West and one South; so in the little time that you have, you will get only a few glimpses of our preserve.

You would be surprised—people from out of town, people from Chicago who don't know our county, to know what a diversity we have in the topography of Cook County. Up in the Northwest corner we have some gently rolling hills, nicely wooded. Down in Palos we have some quite decided hills and ravines and things of beauty down through there. We have put in a very pretty little lake that you would never guess was artificial. We put in one up in Deer Grove, in the Northwest, and we expect to put in more, because in any form of recreation or scenic beauty water plays a large part. In order to have it ideal, you must have hills, water and woods. We have woods; we have in some places the virgin timber, some of as fine trees as there are in the State of Illinois or almost anywhere in the central West. We have hard maples and oaks that are five or six hundred years old, that are four and five feet through, beautiful trees. In other places we have some fine second growth, and up on the Des Plaines River north of Des Plaines we have a splendid little nursery, I think for its size it is the most successful nursery in the United States and we are going to re-forest those parts of our forest preserve that have been cut for farms and we are going to reforest those places where for fifty years the cattle have been feeding so closely that there are no young trees coming on to take the place of the old ones that are about ready for their cemetery.

And in re-foresting we are going to choose the finest variety of trees that we can, and we are going to plant them in such a way that it will appear as if nature had done the work and when our children go there to see it and our grand children fifty or seventy-five years from now, they will never suspect which part was planted artificially and which are the native trees that have been there ever since the Indians roamed through these woods.

We find that the people of Chicago are becoming more intelligent in the use of these forests. There is really less vandalism now, with seven million visitors that we will have this year, as closely as it can be estimated and I know that is a moderate estimate, there is less vandalism than there was five years ago, when we had a quarter that number of visitors, which simply shows that we are learning to take care of our own.

On this thirty thousand acres scattered over seventy miles North and South, from clear to the County line East and West, we have very few men to look after it, and we have to depend on our civic organizations to help us, the women's clubs and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts and organizations of that kind, to help us in the work of conservation, for this thirty thousand acres is a bird sanctuary, this thirty thousand acres is a wild flower sanctuary. In talking to bird people you can take for an hour on that one feature of the forest preserves and explain that all the money that has been spent to purchase these forests and maintain them would be well spent from a commercial point of view if it were for nothing more than to afford a harbor and a breeding place for birds, because your farmers and your truck farmers and your foresters and nurserymen would be unable to raise crops at all if it were not for the help of the birds in subduing the insect enemies of the growing things.

I could talk to the horseback riders for an hour, and I have entertained them in telling them of the wonderful bridle paths, about one hundred miles of bridle paths, that wind through the forest preserves. In most cases we don't have a cinder path that is clearly outlined, but we have a marked trail where the horseback rider goes through the forests, riding up and down hills, sometimes single file, between the trees and in a clearing spreading out and having a fine place for a canter. The horseback riders who were lawless and careless at first, are becoming more careful and considering the feelings and the rights of the people on foot, so we are having less trouble with them. As time goes on I don't believe we will have to have any wardens in the forest preserves and I hope that we will not have to have one sign in a very few years, that we won't have to have a single sign that says "Do Not" or "You Must Not." I think that we can do away with our "No Shooting" signs and our "Do Not Pick Flowers" signs, because we will have all the people so educated that we will simply be able to say, "You May Camp Here." You can't camp everywhere in the forest preserve; it is necessary to zone it and have those camps in places that the picnics don't want to go, because a very few campers can spoil a very beautiful site for a great many people to picnic.

You would be surprised at the number of people that gather at one spot for some of these picnics. A little while ago we had about twenty-five thousand people here at Northwestern Park at one picnic grove. Yesterday, I was over looking over the ground and preparing for the Illinois Automobile Club, who expect thirty-five thousand people in one spot in the forest preserve. In other places where there are not permits given for large picnics, like up here at the dams across the Des Plaines River and I hope you will be able to visit that dam that is North of Des Plaines, where our nursery is and where there are a good many improvements and some things that I don't much care about in the way of concessions, but they are only temporary, if you can visit that place, you will see even during the week how the crowds go in there by single cars, single families. They go out there and cook their meals in the forests, at the side of the river and beside the road, groups and Sunday school picnics and small organizations go out and take advantage of it. And on Sunday those woods are just as crowded with the individual cars and individual small groups as they would be if there was a thirty-five thousand picnic being held in the same woods.

A very short time ago when we had fifteen or sixteen thousand acres people said, "Why do you want any more land? You will never use what you have now."

At that time I didn't realize that we would use it to the extent that we are using it now, but I had a vague idea they would. And there are a lot of men like myself, who don't want to go to a crowded grove like that. Some of us do. Some of us have our pleasure with the crowd around us, all of them having a good time, listening to loud shouts and laughter and gaiety. I like to take my family and go back where we can be almost alone and have our dinner in privacy. There are a very few places left now and if we didn't have the additional fifteen thousand acres, there wouldn't be any place of that character. You know, there are lots of people who want to go back, even on Sunday, and study the flowers and the birds, quietly and peacefully. My playground was way up in Northern Michigan when I had time to play I don't any more, but when I did I went up where you could get twenty miles from the nearest house and not see or hear anything but your own family or your own little camp. We cannot have that in the forest preserve, but we can come close to it, we can have the next best thing, as we have in some of these preserves, a trial leading in and little trails leading to little clearings and there will be fifty or sixty spots where there is a little place and a little table and a chance for one family to have their camp. In the other places the tables are all grouped together and we have the big crowds.

We try to bring everybody as nearly as possible what they want. You cannot do that, of course, there are too many people and too many diversified tastes to give them all exactly what they want, but we are making the most careful study to give them as nearly as possible each man what he wants in the forest preserve and we are trying to make the feeling through all the citizens of Cook County that this is theirs, this is their estate and their playground and we ask them to treat it as if it were their front lawn and not build a fire in the middle of a beautiful grass plot or under a beautiful tree, where it will scorch the tree in the top or scorch the roots, which is a great deal worse.

We have provisions made for you people from out of town who come here to visit Chicago. We have 12 tourists camps where there are dinking water and toilet facilities and the opportunity to gather wood and build your fire and in three places, one North, one South and one West, we have tourists camps that are equipped with a fine shelter, with shower baths, with an opportunity for washing your clothes, stationary tubs and there you are expected to pay 50¢ a day for the time you are there. It isn't that we want the income, but we find that a visitor avoids free camps and by making that charge it pays for the expense of having a man in charge of the camp and giving you the things that you want. And we are going to put in the gas plates in this shelter, so that those of you who don't have your own cooking facilities can find this opportunity to cook.

We are, as far as we are able, building all our shelters, all our log cabins for the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts and these tourists camps, we are building them from logs from the dead trees in the forests. Whether it is a park or a forest, I think it a crime to let any tree go to waste after it has grown for 100 years. If I can, I catch that tree the year before it is finally dead, because the timber is much better than if it actually dies standing and you can tell the next year or the year after that tree is going to lose all its sap and be dead and it is a great economic gain to the, County, the fact that we are producing the timber that we need to build these structures.

One of the uses that we have for this forest preserve is for family camps. We have a number of places owned where people can go and stay all summer. The permit is only issued for 30 days, but it is easily renewable and families go out there and camp in tents and spend the summer, the wife and children staying out there and the man coming downtown to his work. Perhaps he has a flivver, perhaps lie catches an elevated train, perhaps he catches a railroad and comes to town and tends to his business and goes out there again. And you would be astonished to see the condition of those youngsters that run wild in the woods and eat and sleep in the outdoors. The change in those people is remarkable and it has had this good effect on many of those families who have gone out to camp in the preserve. They have decided they didn't want to live in the city, they wanted to get out in the country and they have bought country homes or homes in the suburbs. I believe that 50 percent of our campers don't go back to life in the congested districts.

One of our activities is taking care of the poor children of Chicago. We have a camp up at Deer Grove that win accommodate about 600 women, sometimes with little babies, but mostly the boys and girls who would never have a vacation if it were not for this. And they are selected by various municipal organizations and sent out there. They are given the best of care. Their spare time is taken care of by men and women trained in that work, similar to the Boy Scout Training.
We have a good doctor and nurse in charge and their food is wholesome and plenty. Every day they are taken down to the Lake and given a swim, down to this little Lake up in Deer Grove where this camp is.

This was so popular that we are establishing another camp. We have one out West here near Western Springs that is just starting, only been opened now for a couple of weeks, where any outside organization that wants to do the work that the County is doing can take it and rent this place. It is provided with shelter and cots and cooking utensils, all but the individual dishes and the individual bedding. Whatever organization takes it either provides that or the children bring their own and if it were a YMCA or a church or a mercantile establishment, like Marshall Field's, any of those that wanted to provide children with summer outings, they can have this camp.

We are starting another in the North, and we will start more as the demand increases and I know that it will.

That is a very beautiful part of our work in the forest preserves. We have the Des Plaines River, which used to be considered one of the beautiful rivers of the United States. The early explorers who came down in their canoes spoke of this particularly in writing back to France after they had come through Quebec, through Canada, starting from Quebec, they still mentioned this Des Plaines River as a beautiful river. Unfortunately, from the many cattle that have been feeding on the banks and cutting off so much timber on the headwaters, in the summertime the supply of water in that river is very low.

Now we have started a series of dams in the river that are interesting. I hope you will see some of them. We have four now and the dam is about four feet high, four or five, and it backs the water for 6 to 8 miles up the river, giving us a canoe way, giving us fishing, water for swimming when you get far enough up so there is no sewage. These lower towns are very lax about letting their sewage go into the River and spoiling it, but in the upper reaches of the river there is no sewage.

Then these dams drop onto a 20 foot road bed. They drop again to the original lever of the river and the water goes over there so fast that it makes a very nice and a very popular bridge across the River. We expect to have them from one end of the river to the other and the canoeists take advantage of that. It is going to be one of the finest canoe .ways in all the United States. The water is deep enough to paddle and the boys appreciate that. I love canoeing and I would like to have no other boats on the waters of the forest preserve. When you once know a little about handling a canoe it is safer than the row boat and it goes along with that idea of preserving your forests in the natural state. You can pick your canoe up on your back and carry it off half a mile. If it is in the water you know that it can be carried off, whereas a row boat is a permanent thing. You have to have a stake to tie it to and you know that it is permanent.

If I could have all my buildings log buildings and if I could have all the forest transportation by canoe and if the only way of going out of the forest preserves was on horseback, that would be getting back to what our forefathers did originally and it would be the ideal thing for such a park as our forest preserve.

We find there is a great uplift in this forest preserve movement. We find that the people who play there and who work there are made better men and better women by doing it. We feel that if we had spent the fifteen or sixteen million dollars that this land has cost for no other purpose than to provide a proper home for our Boy Scouts, it would be worthwhile, because there is no movement in the United States that is going to mean so much for the future citizenship of the United States as that Boy Scout and Girl Scout and Camp Fire Girl Movement and without such an opportunity for the outdoors as this provides, your Boy Scout movement would fall flat. They go through the rest of the year for the sake of their camping in the woods and down South here, Southwest, we built three cabins and furnished some tents so that they have three camps for the three districts of Chicago that go out there, not only during the summer for their camp, but in the winter time when it is ten below zero the boys go out and sleep in these log cabins, and unless it is too terrifically cold in the tents banked up.

I feel that our forest preserve is going to be a wonderful education always. I think that it will be more of an education than the best college in the United States. I believe it will be as uplifting, and more perhaps, than anyone church in the United States. And I think that it will do more towards the health and happiness of the people than any hospital in the United States. It is something that is going to grow here and it is something that is going to spread all over the United States.

This year Illinois has passed a law creating state forests, a State Forestry Department and your State Forests will be used for recreation and will be valuable for recreation more than they will for the growing of timber, much as that is necessary. Foresters know that it is really a critical situation in the United States, this timber question, and we must grow timber in all the waste lands of the United States. Illinois has 5,000,000 acres whose greatest use would be for the growing of timber. We have started a little in that direction. But the value of that and the value of our forest preserves is for the conservation of man, which is the greatest conservation there is in the world.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Convention
Chicago, Illinois
August 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1925

Of all the characteristics of a cemetery, which is the most desirable? A cemetery should first of all be comforting. This means that it must be beautiful, restful, secluded. To attain these characteristics it must include within its boundary much of nature.

What is nature? In its broadest significance it includes almost the universe. Some persons use this term as if it were synonymous with the Deity, saying, Nature does this, nature does that, nature's laws are the laws of God. Although we sometimes speak of inanimate nature, it is often personified. Often we hear the expression "Mother Earth", perhaps less frequently nature is referred to as "mother". Mother most endearing of all words. The poet says:

“Nature forever consoling and kind; pours her wine and her oil on the smarts of the mind."

She is represented as soothing and comforting and especially as healing the mind, the part that is in greatest need of healing when a dear friend is left to the permanent care of a cemetery.

Nature, therefore, is the most important feature to have in mind in designing a cemetery. For the purpose of this paper, nature will be considered as that manifestation of the out of doors that is independent of man. We find it in its most attractive and familiar shape in the woods, the borders of lakes and rivers, the hills and valleys, ravines and sky and in the clouds. Nature has infinite variety. When we detect the work of man, as in an orchard, a field of corn; or a row of trees along an avenue, we cease to think of what we see as the work of nature, out rather look at it as man's creation. We see nature when we look at the wooded margin of an open field with its skyline of oaks, its thicket of wild crab apples blooming in the full sun, its viburnums and elderberries. We see her along the rights of way of railroads as we journey from one place to another. In spring or early summer, when we look from a car window, we are greeted with large beds of iris, lupines, shooting stars, spiderworts, butterfly weeds, black-eyed susans, ferns, or a little later, with the flowers or Joe Pye Wood, wild roses, lilies, cardinal flowers, goldenrod, asters and hundreds of others of nature's planting. If the train passes through woods, we may see here and there, as we look from the car window, masses of sassafras, filled with yellow flowers in spring, rich with foliage throughout the summer and gloriously colored with yellows and reds in autumn. We may also see oaks, maples, hawthorns, dogwoods, elderberries, prairie roses, wild grapes clematis, bittersweet and a host of other woody plants all beautiful and all helping to give what we call "the charm of nature." What is this charm which we feel when we go to the woods, when we go to pine forests, when we so to uncultivated prairies which glow with wild sunflowers, asters and goldenrod and when we wander along the wooded banks of lakes and rivers and through wooded ravines? It is difficult to analyze and define, hut it is due to nature's perfect freedom, to beauty of outline and color, to deep shadows and bright lights, to many things being hidden by foliage or inequalities of ground, to the air of mystery that pervades things in which man has no hand.

It is this charm of nature which we should try to introduce into cemeteries. It is this that makes her "consoling and kind". Many cemeteries do not have this charm. Often one sees from the train cemeteries fully exposed to view on all sides and containing only monuments, headstones and a few forlorn trees. Even some pretentious cemeteries with very costly monuments and perfectly kept lawns lack this charm which soothes and comforts.

Are there any cemeteries in which this comforting characteristic can be found? Mr. Strauch introduced it into Spring Grove Cemetery in the naturalistic /borders of the lakes and in the preservation of the wooded ravines. Recently a cemetery has been established on Long Island which bids fair to contain the charm of which I speak. This cemetery, designed by the Olmsteds, is to have no stonework above the ground. A family name may appear on a stone tablet set even with the turf. There is a plentiful supply of shrubbery to separate one lot from another. When nature has had time to correct the inevitable imperfections and rawness of new plantings, this may become one of her most charming retreats. Many cemeteries contain touches of the charm of nature, but I know of none really perfect.

It is true that people's tastes differ and we have different points of view. One telephone man said that to his eye a line of straight telephone poles on each side of a road with arms carrying a plentiful supply of wires was the most beautiful decoration a thoroughfare could have, but I think even he would have hesitated about putting such a decoration in a cemetery. These opinions, however, are evidently somewhat biased. A lover of nature has nothing to sell, no ax to grind. He is merely anxious to have people enjoy with him the beauty that he sees. The appreciation of this beauty is something that must be cultivated in order to be fully enjoyed. Some do not even see a sunset until their attention is called to it. Some see no beauty in winter, while others experience great enjoyment at that season in the branching of trees, the twiggery of shrubs, the snow and the glistening ice-covered branches. There are two or three things which seem desirable in order to secure that beauty of nature which is so comforting. The first is to reduce the amount of stonework either by planting out most of the monuments and headstones, or by reducing them to inconspicuous dimensions. Some of the money that is spent for monuments should be spent in securing more land so that there will be room for shrubs and flowers. We should appreciate the fact that while a perfect lawn is most desirable in some places, there are other places where the ground cover should include other things. Where height is not objectionable, lilacs will often spread out and make a beautiful ground cover when left undisturbed. The same is true of many other shrubs. Where land is poor and sandy perhaps nothing in the shrub line is better for a ground cover than the aromatic sumach, which is beautiful at all seasons, and especially attractive in the fall with its rich coloring. For a still low covering, there are many vines that are suitable. In the deep Shade of woods the Virginia creeper often makes a beautiful cover, hiding the entire ground with a layer of leaves of a delightful green in summer and often richly colored in autumn. Wild violets, myrtle, Japanese spurge, moneywort, ground ivy and carpet bugle are a few of the many beautiful ground covering plants.

In a neglected country cemetery a large area became covered with cypress spurge. This is a beautiful little Euphorbia and while it is often called a weed, it was the most attractive thing in the cemetery being green arid fresh-looking while the grass everywhere else was brown. The neighboring farmer called it cemetery grass and the first question he asked was how to get rid of it. Often, too many so-called bedding plants are used in a cemetery. These bring in revenue and are showy in summer, but they leave the ground bare from October until May. To bring in the charm of nature we should use more hardy perennials. These often beautify waste places in a most satisfactory way. They are on hand from early in the spring until snow comes and even their dead stems and seed vessels are often graceful and beautiful throughout the winter.

Many city dwellers are in the habit of going to northern Wisconsin or northern Michigan for rest and recreation during the summer. Some of these have asked "Why can't I have my cemetery lot like the northern woods which I love 80 much?" These persons certainly feel the charm of nature and would like to have this charm about their final resting place.

The longer we live and the more we observe, the more shall we be convinced of the truth of that oft-repeated saying, "Nature is the best teacher". The superintendent who can introduce foliage and flowers as nature uses them everywhere in covering waste places, creating forests, developing secluded beauty spots and doing all this while concealing his own part in the work will be the most successful in the development of a really worthy cemetery.

In a cemetery well endowed with the charms of nature, one cannot see from end to end and from side to side and on beyond to surrounding buildings or farms. From every point there will be views, some wide, some narrow, and these will be bounded at the sides and terminated by foliage. The side boundaries will not be straight but will recede here and there into bays, tempting one on to see into their depths. Against the foliage will be seen, from time to time, quantities of flowers, wild crab apple blossoms, lilacs, flowers of hawthorn, forsythia and a hundred others. Here and there at the base of the foliage there may at times be the blossoms of iris, peonies, goldenrod, coreopsis and other flowers too numerous to mention or if it is in the fall, there will be attractive fruits, foliage and the blossoms of witch hazel. If there is a hill or ridge, it will be masked at the top with the foliage of trees reaching from the ground to the skyline so that one can easily imagine in looking at the upward slope that it extends on indefinitely to a great height. If there is a valley, the views into its depths will be preserved. There will be extended openings showing at the bottom a green turf or the foliage of low growing plants like moneywort, myrtle or partridge berry, or perhaps, there will be a stream or lake or little pools reflecting the sky and forming jewels in the landscape. If there is a good view outside of the cemetery to a distant hill, lake or river, or to a sunset, this view will, of course, be preserved.

In such a cemetery the stone monuments will be inconspicuous, but the cemetery as a whole will be a memorial park, a fitting monument for all buried within its enclosure where

"Nature forever consoling and kind; pours her wine and her oil on the smarts of the mind."

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 39th Annual Convention
Chicago, Illinois
August 24, 25, 26 and 27, 1925

I chose the subject, "The Influence of Landscape Gardening on International Relationship" because landscape gardening is a work in which you are vitally interested and because no phase of human endeavor yields more attractive results nor appeals more to the finer susceptibilities of the human heart. The apparent result of the practice is the transformation of unsightly places in all communities of note, into spots upon which the eye delights to rest. Cemeteries today—these sacred spots, the laying out of which it is your duty to superintend—are no longer called places of the dead, places shunned by the public, but have become through your zeal gardens of living beauty—a tribute to the intelligence of man and a sign that civilization is advancing.

It should not be assumed that a beautifully laid out and planted cemetery or a beautiful park, are assets only to the community in which located. The influence of beautifully landscaped areas extends far beyond their own environs. The passing tourist notes them; he speaks about them. They thus become an example to be emulated. Many towns and cities are known throughout the length and breadth of North America by reason of their beautiful parks and cemeteries. In the hearts of all civilized people is a love for the Beautiful things of the Creation—flowers and trees and shrubs—and so, in life, as if drawn by an invisible magnet, we find ourselves attracted to these places of beauty and in the end we have so ordained that when the soul hath left its tenement our bodies shall repose unforgotten in areas where each succeeding year the opening buds and leaves and flowers proclaim "There is no Death". Such, Mr. President and members of the American Association of Cemetery Superintendents, is your work and mission. You build a rampart of living beauty around the places where our dust shall lie and which, as a result, are no longer referred to as "places of the dead."

You hold this convention in Canada because you are attracted; you are interested in our cemeteries and parks and by the beauty of our home surroundings and landscapes. Millions of your people visit Canada for the same reason, and I may add, because you like us, and Canada is rapidly becoming the summer playground of North America. Thus the work of man in his efforts to supplement nature in planting to hide the unsightly and to enhance the already beautiful is having a great effect in bringing together our peoples and in strengthening and cementing the bonds of good-will and friendship which for more than a century have been the talk and wonder of the world.

You may be surprised to know that in Ontario, of which Toronto is the capital city, there is an organization known as the Ontario Horticultural Association which has a membership of 80,000 and comprises 285 societies. (It is purely amateur and is the largest of its kind. As you drive along the roads and through the municipalities you observe the gardens, the plantings of shrubs, the flowers of all kinds. To this organization should largely, go the credit for this desirable condition. Our people are influenced by a desire to have beautiful homes and also that the sight of them should give pleasure to visitors from the states. They are interested in them. They desire their friendship rather than their money, and they find that the influence of the beauty they have created coupled with the beauty of park and cemetery and street within our municipalities is doing more to bring about a closer feeling of friendship than any other single factor. Through this attraction the people of the United States and Canada are getting together in a way previously undreamed of and as a result a full and proper understanding will inevitably accrue.

It has been claimed that good roads are the attraction. No, not solely. Were these roads to run hundreds of miles through a wilderness, through a desert, they would be deserted except by the adventurer. Good roads are but one factor. There are two others—beauty and friendship—and of the latter, the most important, we offer you good measure, pressed down and running over.

By reason of this understanding, this closer friendship, your country and mine, two great English speaking nations, have found a common ground upon which can be expressed this great love and regard for each other in a way that will be the admiration and envy of the world. We are going to establish the world's most beautiful peace memorial at a point upon our border—an International Peace Garden. In this great garden, one half in the United States, the other in Canada, the landscape architects craft will find its greatest expression, and the influence of the resultant beauty coupled with its great sentiment, will be such as to draw all peoples—and it will become the world's greatest shrine.

What will the influence of this garden be on international relationships? Within its vast area will be trees and shrubs and flowers from all parts of the earth, Gardens beautifully landscaped to represent the national style of various countries, The governments of both countries will be asked to neutralize the area and to it will come the people of the hundred nations which compose the population of the United States and Canada and people from overseas and from the Latin countries to the south and all will be citizens of this great and beautiful area.

Nothing can be so beautiful as a garden, nothing more attractive, and it will belong to the people themselves, and the names of all subscribers will be kept for the eyes of future generations to scan; the adults in one set of volumes, the children in another, for all are to be given an opportunity to subscribe to raise the endowment of five million dollars.

Nothing appeals to the human heart more than beauty. This garden will be not merely a beautiful expression of the love of each nation for the other, but a living and enduring one. It will not crumble nor decay like a shaft of granite. The dust of centuries shall not bury it. Each circling spring will see it renewed as a mountain stream is renewed in power and beauty, and a thousand years hence it will, in its majestic grandeur, still be the greatest symbol of international friendship and goodwill.

The first International Peace Garden will be the world's strongest fortress, stronger than loop holed battlement or dugout of concrete and steel, for these cannot, stand the brunt of modern warfare. It will be the fortress of friendship built upon the rock of Christianity as expressed through the love of each nation; and in its shadow we may each forever crest secure. In friendship alone is there security, is there real happiness. Your act in coming to Canada is an act of friendship. Last year to this city came the National Association of Gardeners. That was an act of friendship. They have the same ideals and aims and are engaged in the same great work. They sponsor the International Peace Garden project.
I wonder if you realize how much your lives and work influence the thoughts of the masses toward life's better things. Your work is not a job; it is an influence. The burial of the dead is a job. The beautification of God's acre is an influence. The poet says:

"Tis all a checkerboard of nights and days
Where destiny with men for pieces plays,
Hither and thither moves and mates and slays
And one by one back in the closet lays".

But that is not true. The influence of a life is not lost for it pertains to the soul.

Your great national organization exerts an influence. It is devoted to the beautification not only of your cemeteries but of your country. You convene today to discuss your problems, to tell each other of the things you have accomplished and of the things projected and so your influence extends more rapidly than otherwise and will continue until it reaches from coast to coast and to result in a blessing to every community.

This influence is not only a national influence but an international one. The standards you set in the laying out and maintaining of your cemeteries are emulated by Canada. Your cemetery practices are very advanced. You have made a special study of the problems pertaining thereto. So in this respect we learn something from you. In certain other fields you learn from us which goes to prove that friendly international intercourse is a great medium of education as well as being the greatest factor in the maintenance of goodwill and understanding between nations. Men, and women who think only of their own immediate interests, and there are millions, lack vision. Their souls never find expression and are stifled. Men and women who think nationally have a broader, yet not the broadest, outlook. They who think internationally think of all men. To think internationally is to think like God.

You and I in our own way and through the instrumentality of our chosen and common profession are today together. Americans and Canadians bound by the ties of relationship, in, that we speak a common language and in that our traditions, honorable in the extreme can be traced back to a common ancestry, and you are not ashamed of the old mother that gave you birth. I am speaking now of your nation. We call you cousins but let me say that when the International Peace Garden is established, as it surely will, and when the international line is removed from its centre and when our governments neutralize it, we will be able to call you brothers and sisters, for all who visit this great neutral area, peoples of all nations of the world, will be citizens of that land.

Today, according to our laws, you are aliens and foreigners. Recently I visited the United States and I belonged to the foreign class, but I see the day approaching when by reason of our getting together through the building of our great Fortress of Friendship, the Peace Garden, the word "alien" will be removed from the statute books of both countries and as long as Americans and Canadians are law-abiding it will not matter under which flag they sojourn.

In conclusion will you permit me to say, and in this may there be inspiration. Your work is immortal, if anything on earth is immortal. If the painted canvas shall be treasured and so endure so shall those beauty spots you create be preserved and treasured. The results of your work are like the friendships you make today. Time shall not efface them; a century hence their verdure shall be as green, the trees as beautiful, and the ties of friendship the stronger, for such things are handed down from generation to generation. Beauty, friendship and love are all akin and in and through and round about them is God—and so they shall endure.

In that great spirit of everlasting friendship Canada welcomes you. A spirit that will not tolerate any cloud to darken the international horizon; a spirit that long ago leveled the mountains of prejudice and has done so much to bring about such meetings as these where international friendships find their greatest expression and are cemented in indissoluble bonds. In the Spirit of God—inspired friendship—which is the spirit of Canada and of the Peace Garden, you are welcomed. One day your people and ours and all peoples will throng the portals of a magnificent garden. Eyes will feast upon its beauty and be illumined with a new light. Hearts will be uplifted with a new hope and songs will rise to tongues which never sang.  Children will join the chorus and the whole world will become akin. On that day will come the realization that the two great English speaking nations have set up an unparalleled and unprecedented example of love to the world. With it will also comes the realization that the hope of peace on earth and goodwill between nations as exemplified by ours, may forever endure. Hope that hellish war may forever be banished.

So will the men and women who love beauty and the boys and girls born of these with the wisdom of years and the towering faith and vision of youth remove the mountains of hatred, of prejudice, and of envy and build an insurmountable barrier in the way of those who foment war—a barrier of love and create and leave to the world its most beautiful and significant memorial. Can the members of any organization have a greater influence than that?  Is any work more conducive to friendly international relationship than yours?

"There is no death—what seems so is transition". May this address be vibrant with life. May it convey the thought that good work well done, the beautiful thing created, will never be laid aside, but will continue through the years an example to those who follow and as a memorial to the integrity of those of your profession who went before.

Now may I welcome you from the depth of my own in the words of an original poem!

A LAND WITHOUT A LINE

You came to the land of the Maple Leaf
And we met you with a smile,
We took your hands in a friendly grasp
And hoped you'd stay a while.
Though you live 'neath the Stars and Stripes
And we 'neath the Union Jack,
We speak the same old mother tongue—
Uncle Sam and Jack Canuck.

Between us runs three thousand miles,
A line from coast to coast,
Where never a fort and never a gun
Is seen, we proudly boast.
No bayonet with its murderous steel,
No sentry anywhere,
And we live in peace on either side
As though no line were there.

Side by side for a hundred years,
May it be a thousand more!
With never a word to cause us grief
Nor any to make us sore.
We have lived, and still the Union Jack
And stars and Stripes unfurled
Have flown together on the line
The wonder of the world.

Please God, till earth's last sun shall set
And earth's last tear be shed,
May we two nations still be friends
When to heaven Thou call’st Thy dead.
Until on that eternal morn
As its glorious sun shall shine,
Thy nations meet around Thy throne
In a land without a line.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 44th Annual Convention
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
September 8, 9, 10 and 11, 1930

This subject suggested itself to me, while attending some of the most profitable meetings held by our society in the principal eastern cities and when brought into full view of the magnificent specimens of trees, which have been used to so good advantage, in the embellishment of public parks and cemeteries.

Having followed landscape gardening to some extent in the states of Virginia and Maryland, previous to 1876, and being familiar with most of the trees used for decorative purposes, one naturally will become appreciative of the jewels in vegetable Kingdom, when after an absence of 18 years one comes in view of the noble specimens of the Conifers, Abies, Biota, Pines, Retinespora, Taxus, Thuja, Laxodinnes, Picea, Juniperus and the many noble specimens of deciduous trees and shrubs of innumerable varieties. Then to be situated in a climate that makes the cultivation of such trees and shrubs impracticable, the impression for the time being is not one of homesickness.

We have to contend with many disadvantages on our western prairies. This is not a timber country naturally. The only natural timber being distributed along the banks of creeks and rivers; the cause of this I attribute to our extreme dry climate, during the later part of summer and autumn, with a light snowfall during the winter.

This being the case, a cemetery on the western prairies must look somewhat deficient in varieties of trees and shrubs, at least; but the object of this article is to encourage those similarly situated to further effort. The great opportunities laid before us to inform the coming cemeteries of note in the future in this country, are ours. If your general plans are lacking in any particular, first have them corrected either by some landscape architect or cemetery superintendent of experience.

Now is the time to correct any errors that have been made. The longer this is delayed the more there is to change.

The most important feature in all cemetery work is a start in the right direction.

First - We have the finest soil of any country in the world, a deep rich, sandy loam, no stones or other obstructions to interfere with any operations.

Second - The inhabitants of the Western states on account of their varied nationalities are a people always alive to any improvement that is to be of any importance to the human race.

I therefore appreciate many advantages that we enjoy over our brother superintendent in the East.

Here is the great opening for the lawn system of cemetery in the full sense of the word, the system which we all concede to be the best and only one to recommend where any new work is to be executed either in part or in whole.
Our facilities for gaining any knowledge in regard to cemeteries are complete and any questions sent to "Park and Cemetery;" will be promptly answered by the ablest talent in the cemetery profession.

While it is of vital importance to thoroughly prepare the soil in any locality, it is absolutely necessary here. A thorough sub-soiling to a depth of two feet or more will enable the soil to receive and retain what moisture we do have. The average rainfall of the Western country is not more than two-thirds of the rainfall of the Eastern states.

My catalogue of trees and shrubs to be used in the decoration of parks and cemeteries has become somewhat shortened from that of former years. I have made many mistakes and see many every year made by others, which it seems to me ought to be avoided as far as possible.

Deciduous trees for shade and other purposes:

Acer or Maple: Sugar Maple, very slow in growth for first few years but very satisfactory and rapid growers after being established.

Dasycarpum or Silver Leaf Maple: very rapid grower and for immediate effect indispensable.

Negundo: rapid grower.

Platanoides, Norway: one of the most symmetrical and valuable trees.

Tilla Americana or Linden: in moist situations is a noble tree.

Ulmas Americana, or Elm: of noble spreading habit; the most reliable shade tree of the West.

Fulva or Slippery Elm

Betula, Birch, Papeyracea or Canor Birch: in moist situation handsome trees.

Fraxinus Americana or White Ash: a handsome tree; stands the drought well.

Gymnocladus Canadensis, Kentucky Coffee tree

Juglans Nigra or Walnut

Larix, Europoea: this is especially adapted for a dry situation; a very graceful tree in its young state.     It will succeed when most coniferous trees will fail.

Morus Rubra Mulberry: rapid grower.

Populus or Poplar:  of very rapid growth and desirable sometimes for present effect, but of short life.

Quercus or Oak: Coccinea, Scarlet Oak; in moist valleys, noble tree.  Macrocarpa, Mossy Cup Oak: one of the most unique and handsome, medium sized trees in cultivation. Will grow on the peak of the driest bluff; invaluable.

Conifera: This not being a congenial climate for this family of trees, the number of those found successful is very limited. I have found from experience that I had to reverse the general order of things, and commence at the west and go east. I find the varieties that are natives of the Rocky Mountains, the most successful.  Abies: Douglasis; this can be recommended when all others fail.  Picea, Pungen, Engelmann: very reliable, while they do not make the growth they do in moist climates, they are invaluable here.

Pines: Austriaca, Sylvestris, Scotch Pine, Ponderosa, Mughus, Dwarf Pine.  These are fairly successful and handsome in the young state.

Juniperus, Virginiana: this is a native of this state and although attaining a somber brown color in the winter, it is beautiful during summer.  Sabin or Trailing Savin. Glauca; a beautiful variety from the Rocky Mountains; a good substitute for Cupressus Lawsoniana.

Thuja Siberica: This is much hardier and of a more compact habit than Americana, but the latter named variety where partial shelter can be afforded, will succeed fairly well.

Flowering Shrubbery: I find only a very few that are perfectly hardy. Viburmum or Snow Ball: Opulus and Oscycoccos. Syringa of varieties; Weigela, Rosea, Spiraea of varieties; Rhus Cotinus, Ribes Aureum, Hydrangea Grandiflora, Berberis Vulgaris and Purpurea.

This forms a small collection that is in every way reliable for general purposes. There are many others that with a slight protection are fairly satisfactory. I find that many of our native small trees and shrubs for massing are very effective.  Prunus Americana; Rhus or Sumach; Cory Ius or Hazel and many other natives.

It is of great importance to plant all trees and shrubs, deciduous and coniferas from 4 to 6 inches deeper in the soil than is usual for such trees in a moist climate. The soil ought to be thoroughly packed round the roots. A nursery set apart for the cultivation and experimenting with trees and shrubs is an indispensable feature in all new parks and cemeteries. After a few years cultivation, many trees which we deem not hardy will become acclimated.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 9th Annual Convention
Richmond, VA
September 18, 19 and 20, 1895

We always base much importance on preparatory work, especially the lawn, hence the importance of the care taken in starting a new lawn. The formation of the lawn is often hastily and imperfectly done. Mode of preparing is often controlled by the position and location of the ground, also the season. Excellent results are obtained by preparing and seeding in September, south of northern New York, and from September 15th to October 15th south of Maryland; but in the majority of cases this work is done in early spring in every locality as soon as the frost has come out of the ground sufficient to allow working, which should in all events be dry.

Any piece of ground to be put down in lawn, whatever condition it may be in, requires plowing, deep harrowing and equalizing; deep, harrowing is important where the soil should form into hard lumps after plowing. This method lifts out the clods, allows the fine soil to fill in the crevices which would otherwise fill after heavy rains when the seed is sown and lawn finished. The above will apply to any location of a slope, even slight, but should the location be flat and level, draining is a requisite; this can be done even by rubble or tile. An undulation or a gravelly subsoil will alone insure sufficient drainage. The depth of soil is an undecided point. It is believed and wisely too, that on high points and knolls the soil should have a depth of at least 12 to 15 inches to endure drought, whereas on a level it will sustain its requirements at a depth of 8 inches.

During preparation the question of fertilizing is the next consideration.  Should the ground be in a fair condition, through previous fertilizers applied, a coating of pure ground bone (600 pounds per acre) will suffice. We believe pure ground bone to be the best constant feeder-this to be applied at the time of seeding.

The ground having been plowed, harrowed, leveled and raked into a smooth, even surface, is now ready for the seed. The fertilizer having been applied and thoroughly incorporated prior to the finishing, the seed is sown at the rate of 3½ to 4½ bushels per acre; (this means 20 lb. bushels) the sowing to be done by hand, all grasses thoroughly mixed before sowing. Should it be required to sow wheat, oats, or rye with the grass, this should be sown at the rate of one bushel per acre, broadcast, and harrowed in lightly, then the grass seed sown. It is not claimed for the wheat, rye or oats to protect the grass during winter or shade it during summer, but to help in building the sod and keep the surface in a condition to absorb all of the nutriment of the decomposing fertilizer, as well as absorbing the nitrogen from the atmosphere. After the seed is sown, a careful raking with a wooden hand rake lightly drawn over the surface evenly distributes the seed and lightly covers it. Now must be done the most important of all the work and that is the rolling.

The condition of the surface at this time is just what it will be as a finished lawn; all alterations after this are tasks with poor results. If the lawn is sown in the fall, a covering of tobacco stems will prove a great benefit, especially if the soil has not had a coating of hard wood ashes, the tobacco stems will supply the amount of potash and ammonia, which will give the lawn new life. If sown in spring, a covering of well rotted manure finely sprinkled all over about March 15th and allowed to remain a month will give the needed food and shading. In raking off the covering, use a coarse wooden rake thus allowing a fine mulch to remain.

What seed to sow: There are many confusing suggestions regarding this. Some advocate annual types, and seed each year; but it is conceded by all experts and authority that perennials of tried sorts are the best. Avoid all Canadian grasses; they are coarse and not very carefully harvested, but excellent for pasture.

In our Fairmount Park we have some of the finest plateaus of grasses which have endured droughts and have been cut every week. These mixtures contain perennial rye, Kentucky blue, sweet vernal, extra cleaned red top, natural green and white or Dutch clover. Italian rye is also frequently used, being a very free grower, somewhat coarser blade, but constant mowing keeps it in condition to present the appearance of a finer grass.

It is customary to use sad on all borders and on terraces. The sod should be laid at the borders so as to be about half an inch below the surface of the soil; this is to be done before seeding. After a thorough rolling the soil is brought to a level with the sad surface. The manner of laying sod is left to the judgment of the experienced. The bevel system, having been practiced along time is a good one, provided it is laid in the fall or early spring; but after April 1st, it is better to cut it square and thick and lay very closely, fill the remaining crevices with good soil, and give a light sprinkling of grass seed, this will prevent burning the edges. Laying sod on steep terraces is successfully done by using pins eight to ten inches long, (two to each piece of sod.) and driving through, this will necessitate a thorough beating down of the soil before laying the sod hard enough to guard against washing and loosening.

Mowing should be done at least once a week in favorable growing weather, and even in dry, warm weather it should be cut twice a month. If the lawn has been properly made in the first place, and top dressed, the weather will have to be very dry to prevent its growth. The best mode of maintaining is the care given at proper times. In the fall it is necessary to give a good scarifying; this is done with a sharp toothed rake made for that purpose. The operation is called cultivating. If the grass shows thin in some places, another light sowing should be made, then cover with tobacco stems if the space is not very extensive, or give a coat of Kainit; this should be applied in December. The scarifying process may be done again in the spring, but not very heavy, merely enough to give a good combing all over. If top dressing can be done, good rotted manure may be used, allowing to lay from March to May and then raked off with a coarse rake.

Weeds are offensive and unsightly; cutting out of the large ones is sufficient, as the smaller ones are choked out by constant mowing. The means of perpetuating and caring for a lawn is open for improvement, also varies in different localities. Where fertilizers containing pure bone in majority can be secured at small expense it is advisable to use and avoid manure from the stable because of its weed producing.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 8th Annual Convention
Philadelphia, PA
September 11, 12 and 13, 1894

In most cemeteries of large acreage, some unavailable land is found, such as swamps and wet clay land, and the question often arises what to do with such land. 

There are but two ways to treat or improve such land either use it for lake purposes or make it available for burial by a system of deep drainage. If the land should be practicable for a lake and expense no object, certainly a fine outlined lake with a clear sheet of silvery water, and surroundings handsomely ornamented with trees and shrubs, would be a great ornament to a cemetery, provided sufficient supply of fresh water is available to feed such lake, thereby keeping the water at all times pure and fresh; but should there be an insufficient supply of fresh water to feed a lake, it would be folly to undertake such an improvement, especially in the event of a dry season, as the result would be to show nothing but a stagnant frog pond.

When the latter condition prevails, it would be decidedly preferable to drain such land and make it useful for burials.

The writer speaks of his own experience on drainage, having made swamps and wet clay land perfectly dry from seven to nine feet deep by a system of drainage. In constructing a system of drainage great care should be taken to locate the main or outlet drains at its proper place so that branch or lateral drains can empty into it.

The main drain should have pipe amply large enough to be able to carry the water from the laterals freely at all seasons.

As to the quality of pipe to use, I should recommend the salt glazed vitrified sewer pipe of two-foot lengths, in preference to the agricultural drain tile. The former being very hard and smooth will not decay and resists a large amount of pressure.

The drainage capabilities will be through the joints of each pipe, by having the pipe laid loose in their collars.

In constructing the ditch for the pipe it is very important that the bottom should be made on a perfectly even grade, especially where there is a long distance to drain and but very little fall to be had, say four inches in one hundred feet. If the bottom of the ditch should be found soft and springy in some places, it is advisable to dig such parts below grade and refill with gravel, so that the pipe may rest firmly and not be liable to settle. In laying pipe for main drain insert every thirty feet Y branches for lateral connections; do not use T branches.

When the pipe is properly laid, cover it with three or four inches of small broken stone or coarse clean gravel to keep the joints open. Cover the stone with a layer of sod, grass side down. This is to prevent the earth, when filling up the ditch, coming directly in contact with the stone covering, thereby keeping the joints of the pipe at all times open, and the water has free entrance into it.
In filling up the ditch the earth should be rammed hard to the surface, so that hereafter no settlement will occur.

I have located such main drains under roads and put four feet thick Telford macadam over it.

In the course of draining, should there be found strata of sticky blue clay, these strata should be noted and broken up by trenching, so that the surface water can pass freely down to the drain.

It must be kept in mind that deep drainage should be made perfect, so that roads, foundations for monuments can be built over them, and graves dug without injury to the system.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 7th Annual Convention
Minneapolis, MN
August 22, 23 and 24, 1893

Once more we are assembled; once more we meet to discuss questions of vital importance to us.

We, who have charge of grounds wherein rest the remains of so many loved ones, have an honored and sacred duty, and it behooves us to perform that duty as near perfect as possible. We are public servants and should have the fullest confidence of those we serve. Without that confidence we are useless.

We are to comfort the afflicted by caring for the dead with tender hands, and complying with their requests in a gentlemanly and courteous manner. We are to meet the rich and the poor. Their family ties are the same. Death brings the mortal remains to the same level. As man stands in the presence of his Maker there is no distinction in regard to his worldly possessions. We brought nothing into the world; neither can we carry anything away. In the course of human events it is impossible for everyone to own a burial place, and consequently in cemeteries owned and controlled by the city or town in which they are located, a portion of ground is set aside for public or free lots. Such is the case in the cemetery of which I have charge. The name of Potter's Field, Pauper Lot and other discourteous names attached to that part of a cemetery I do not like. A man may be poor and yet support his family comfortably and not be able to purchase a lot. True, we may bury some who are called paupers in a worldly sense, but when life departs they cease to be paupers, and are no doubt wealthy in a spiritual sense. A short time ago I was accosted by a stranger who wanted to know where our Potter's Field was. I answered him that we had no such place, but if he was looking for the Public Lots I would direct him. Another asks where is your Pauper Lots? and received the same answer. In regard to these lots I simply wish to state my experience in the way of improvement. I have visited cemeteries where the Public Lots were very unsightly and in obscure places and concealed by hedges, with but very little care. I do not mean that they should be in the most prominent places, but wherever they are they should not wear that neglected look. Properly cared for by the superintendent will do much towards removing the stigma attached to them.

For many years, and in fact since the commencement of the cemetery, people have been allowed to exercise their individual taste in decorating these graves, and the result was several hundred of these graves were enclosed by fences of all designs imaginable. One grave was a flower bed, the next the sod taken off and the soil exposed; one mounded and another flat, a shrub here and a shrub there; nothing in harmony and on the whole anything but agreeable to the eye. Our public lots are located in different parts of the cemetery, and are designated by numbers. Each lot is divided by sections and designated by figures or alphabetically. Each grave is marked by a marble slab 6 inches in width and numbered, which is furnished by the city, and when any particular grave is wanted it is only necessary to turn to the records and find the number of the lot, section and grave. Three years ago I graded a new Public Lot called the 5th, with the intention of carrying out my ideas of what a public lot should be. Rules were posted and were cheerfully complied with. No structures of any kind allowed around the graves. The grass not to be disturbed, no shrub or bush allowed. Parties were allowed to set stones of their liking, if they so desired, not to measure over 2 feet in height or 16 inches in width. Two or three plants were allowed to be set near the headstone. Bouquets were, of course, allowed. Three purple-leaf beeches were set in the center of each section at equal distances. A gravel walk 4 feet in width divides the sections with 2 feet of grass in front of the stones, making 8 feet from stone to stone across the walk. I can now point with pride to my new Public Lot, a level carpet of green enshrouding those who sleep. Lawn mowers can now be used, where it was impossible on the old lots, and of course making the cost for care much less and with better results.

I have since removed the various structures from the old lots, and more or less of the shrubs, and am busily putting them in a presentable condition. In many cases an explanation was necessary, some thinking it a hardship not to allow them the privilege of enclosing the grave of some dear one. But when they were invited to look at the new lot they readily saw that a change had been made for the better. Many are so anxious to decorate a grave that they know not where to stop, and carry it far beyond good taste. As large a percentage of the public graves are watched over and furnished with bouquets as those on private lots They are visited more by children than the private graves, and are adorned by childish hands with many a flower. Bodies are constantly being removed from these lots, as many purchase lots as soon as their financial condition will admit. A body must remain in the ground at least one year before removal. Last year 330 were interred in these lots, the regular interment fee being charged. The care and appearance of the public lots should go as far towards establishing the reputation of a cemetery for neatness as the appearance of private lots.

The dead must be cared for by the living and as far as the cemetery is concerned, the care of the public lots should be watched over as carefully as the private lots. Feeling an interest in the public lots from the day I took charge of the grounds, and feeling that they should be looked on with the same degree of respect as other parts; of the grounds, prompted me to prepare this paper.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 6th Annual Convention
Baltimore, MD
September 27, 28 and 29, 1892

When I was asked by your President to write a paper for this meeting, it seemed to me that so many subjects have been covered in the past that there is comparatively little new to be said, unless one considered the cemeteries from a new angle.

In thinking over Cemetery problems for the last few years the great changes which have come about in cemetery methods and ideals have been subjects to which I have given a great deal of thought and the paper which I am presenting to you to day is along these lines. Sometimes I think I am dreaming and if I am I want you to dream along with me and look into the future of Cemetery development.

As we compare the earlier Cemeteries with those of today we find many changes have come about. These have been due partly to economic conditions, but also very largely to the taste and ideas of the lot owners and while many Cemetery men have been leaders in these ideas it is also true that the public are demanding even greater changes, and that there are many forces at work which I believe will result in more beautiful cemeteries. As Cemetery men we cannot shut our eyes to these changes in public sentiment or we will be carried off our feet by forces which we cannot control anymore than the winds and the tides.

Economic conditions are making for simpler tastes in Cemetery Memorials and our public is demanding, not merely submitting, to regulations in regard to memorial stones. This will gradually result in fewer stones and in far better stones, each a work of art in a beautiful location.  Here is a problem of cooperation with designers of memorials which must be worked out carefully.

When all is said and done I believe their business will improve rather than otherwise and they will have less competition and greater opportunity to study their work and make finer memorials.

Cremation means easy burial and should be looked upon as merely a preparation of the body for interment. When looked upon that way the sentiment remains, only the body is in a different form while neither earth burial or ashes are pleasant the public seem to be tending toward cremation which will I believe, especially in the East, simplify the Cemetery problem. Trenching will not be necessary and the natural landscape can be preserved.

So much then for a glimpse of some of the things I have been thinking about and which I hope you will take home with you for serious consideration.

What are some of the practical cemetery problems of today and how do they compare with those ten or twenty years ago? Working conditions have changed materially in the last ten years, probably more so than at any previous period in the life of the ordinary cemetery unless possibly during and after the Civil War period.

What of labor costs? Ten years ago for the week ending August 1, there were on our payroll 118 men working 54 hours per week. In 1924 there were 96 men working 47½ hours per week, or a loss of 1822 working hours. Is this because the men work harder and it requires fewer working hours to keep up a constantly increasing area? I hardly think so! Our Cemeteries are growing larger and we all know men do not work any harder than they used to.

Now let us look further into the problem. Since August 1, 1914 we have sold nearly 1,000 new lots besides hundreds of single graves and there have been erected in the cemetery several thousand additional monuments and headstones, everyone of which has added to the labor of maintaining our grounds. With the great reduction in working hours our payroll is over nine hundred dollars more for the week and yet our income for perpetual care on the old lots has not increased. We have accomplished more in fewer working hours.

I have pictured a condition no worse than that in which the average cemetery find's itself and what future labor charges will be few would care to predict. Now what have we done to balance these increased costs? Do we keep our Cemeteries looking as well as ten years ago? And what of the future?

The average Cemetery probably is as well kept as ever and many improvements have been forced upon us which have made work easier and made it possible to keep a pace with the new working conditions.

We have substituted modern equipment in the way of trucks, automobiles and motor lawnmowers and the following table shows the effect upon the cost of perpetual care of the grass.

Cost Per Square Foot
1914……….……. .0126
1915…..……..…. .0121
1916…....………. .0121
1917…..…..……. .0157
1918…..……..…. .0177
1919…....………. .01765
1920…..…..……. .02493
1921…..……..…. .0248
1922…....………. .02315
1923…....………. .02016
1924…..…..……. .022549

The result of these improvements with us has meant that while it averaged .0126 per square foot to give a lot perpetual care in 1913, in 1923 with labor 150% it should have cost .0315 while it actually cost only .0225 or a saving of nearly one cent per square foot and I can definitely say that the Cemetery is kept as well or better today than ever.

We have also eliminated many unnecessary Cemetery groups of summer bedding plants substituting for them hardy shrubs, trees and grass. We are eliminating bothersome terraces or planting them with hardy plants which are easy to care for and we have done away with useless grave walks, substituting grass which greatly improves the appearance of the grounds. We have improved our roads so they require less care and are adapted to automobile traffic and altogether made many improvements which have resulted in the double satisfaction to us, saving work and beautifying the grounds. What is there left to do to these older parts of the grounds? I am afraid not much. Our hope then is that conditions shall not become worse, but better.

What of the future. This opens up many avenues of thought and leads us to think of the past, the present and the future. A class of students in Landscape Gardening recently visited our Cemetery and was told that it was a fine example of a Cemetery, but in a few years would be out-of-date, or words to that effect, because the Cemetery of the future would have only ground markers.

Our old Cemeteries had terraced lots, gravel paths, poor avenues, granite curbs, iron fences, monuments and headstones galore until you get the incongruous mass stone work seen in some of the old Cemeteries in the large cities. Then came the lawn plan, with a reduction in many things, but still too much grading, too many monuments and too much show, not enough of quiet, peace and harmony.

Is it going too far to say the Park Plan is appearing in the horizon and that such a Cemetery will really 'be the most perfect of all? Not a park in the ordinary sense of the word, or a play ground, but a memorial plot of sacred ground where all who enter may be quiet, mediate and think of the lost ones. The memorials here shall be simple, natural boulders, covered with vines and bushes, with plates recording the names of those buried there, grade markers wherever desired and beautiful memorials, erected by contributions from lot holders and in suitable locations to commemorate the dead in that portion of the Cemetery. Such memorials would be carefully designed by the most famous artists and sculptors of the day-each one a gem in itself in a beautiful setting and erected of the finest suitable material, regardless of cost. What an opportunity to design special sections; the whole a harmonious pot with a definite theme beautifully carried out.

Would not such a Cemetery be far more beautiful than the battlefield at Gettysburg, which we saw last year, where the monumental work is often too thick and ugly even though the area is large and the landscape beautiful. Natural landscape will be retained and possibly the day will come when the earth burial is as uncommon as the cremation is today and the necessity of digging graves in difficult ground will be eliminated.

Are we dreamers when we talk of such things? I don't think so. I think we must get this idea into our heads or a new group of Cemetery men, under the direction of the best landscape architects, will come along and build these Cemeteries while we are worrying about it. This is the Cemetery beautiful and we must study the idea and show our public how such a Cemetery may be made possible. How much more satisfactory such a Cemetery will be, nothing depressing but only sacred ground, quiet, peaceful and altogether lovely.

We have all of us studied the difficult problems of laying out Cemeteries to make them beautiful with rolling lawns, trees, shrubs and graceful avenues only to have them ruined with the laying out of lots and erection of memorial work and all our efforts seem to be in vain.

In the old days Cemetery Superintendents always laid out the Cemetery in squares, now we try to do better, but our problem is difficult and the results often discouraging. The park Cemetery will solve many of these problems and we all know the fewer lots in a section the better it looks. We have discarded curbing and fences soon we will discard other useless decorations and gradually approach the ideal.

We must study these problems seriously, intently and practically and develop our various cemeteries along the ideal which we have in mind, ever remembering that we are but servants of the public and that our duty is to crystallize and develop the highest ideals in our Cemeteries.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 38th Annual Convention
Portland, Maine
August 18, 19, 20 and 21, 1924

When the officials of your society asked me to address this convention; I was reluctant to accept the honor because I keenly realize how little qualified I am to contribute any information of consequence to such a gathering of experts. And I was more sensible to the contrast that has in the past existed between the idealism that actuates you in your profession, and the commercialism that has wrought such havoc in the art I follow-a contrast that led me to feel I might be a stranger within the gates!

While many of you realize that my personal views and opinions coincide with the most advanced and progressive ideals and objectives of your association, nevertheless I cannot escape the fact that among my several vocations, I am a "stone-man" and that you cannot but invest that term with some bitter reflections. I very much hope, however, that you, will not feel as Emerson did, when he said to some unfortunate victim of his displeasure, '''What you are thunders so loud in my ears that I cannot hear what you say!"

I can perhaps best express my frame of mind in approaching my subject by reciting a little incident I witnessed in Washington a short time ago I went for the first time to the United States Supreme Court. And I heard there a young lawyer who had come out of the West with the absurd notion in his mind that he would show the court how much of the law he knew. In the sublime confidence of his conceit, he plunged into an abstract and involved dissertation on the law. About the time he reached his climax, the late Mr. Justice White leaned over, and rapping his gavel impatiently exclaimed: "Counsel will confine his remarks to a statement of the FACTS, the Court knows the LAW!”  And so I want to assure you, my friends, that I have not come here with the absurd notion that I can teach this court the law! (There are some people you know who think you know enough about the law anyhow!) Indeed I feel that I have been asked to bring the proverbial coals to New Castle and it isn't going to take you long to find out that I am not a lecturer even if I confine my remarks to a statement of the fact.

It may be true that I have written thousands of columns in magazines, newspapers and in some books on art in general and the art of the cemetery and the monument in particular; but that is no evidence that I am an authority, because like a great many writers I have lived in safety behind a barrage of words while the editors were out on the firing line catching all the bullets. Lecturing is quite another proposition. You've got to come out in the open and go over the top with real ideas, not mere language. And so I feel that Mr. Dooley was a great philosopher when he said, "It's not so bad, Hinnisi, to have people size ye' up wrong, it's whin they git yer noomber that yer in dainger, me bye!" (Laughter)

Now, I have been asked to talk about "Individual Lot Planting as Related to Memorials and the Trend in Cemetery Art." I am sure you do not expect me to essay an abstract or technical discussion of planting and horticulture, to dwell upon the elements of effect and their application because the technique of planting is part of your profession. I will approach that phase of the subject purely as a layman, an artist layman perhaps. And so far as the art of the monument is concerned, let me assure you that I am not going to inflict upon you one of those cut and dried histories of Memorial Art that start with Cleopatra and wind up somewhere around Theda Bara! (Laughter)

No, I want to reach out and beyond that sort of thing, if I can. I want to talk to you a little while about the mission of beauty in our cemeteries. I want to start with the fundamental idea that the cemetery is a vital civic institution with a vital mission of the LIVING, not alone the dead! That the cemetery is not a mere utility, that beauty is not the mere adornment of a utility; and that the monument is something infinitely more than a mere vehicle of commerce!

I want to put over one dominant thought, that it is our mission and the mission of beauty in our cemeteries to so fuse and direct art sentiment and reverence that our cemeteries will not only reflect, but that they will play a part in shaping the moral and spiritual aspirations of the community! I want to do this because I believe that it is through beauty and beauty alone, whether it be in art or religion that man will ever penetrate the veil of that eternal mystery "where God in Man is one with Man in God!"

And so my theme is the quest of beauty; my text is more art and less stone; and my topics will be the function of planting the function of regulations governing stone-work and the function of architectural design in the achievement of our objective. My arguments will be built on the one premise that the great and only obstacle to the quest of beauty in our cemeteries is the congestion of stone-work and that the congestion of stone-work is not only a detriment to the cemetery beautiful but that it is a menace to the art of the monument as well. In my helpless way, I will try to draw my arguments from the slides.

(At this point the lights were extinguished and Mr. Leland's discussion of the slides could not be recorded by the convention stenographer. The lecturer spoke extemporaneously throughout his address and no notes being available, a digest of the topics covered is here given.)

DIGEST OF SLIDE DISCUSSION

The sixty or more views were grouped into three divisions,-General Planting for the Cemetery, Individual Lot Planting, and slides illustrating Current Tendencies in the Art of the Monument.

In the first group Mr. Leland showed several views illustrating vistas in the Harrisburg Cemetery. Describing the roadway of wildwood that leads to one entrance of the cemetery he made an appeal for more natural beauty and less man-made art, for "more God and less Man in our cemeteries”.  By way of contrast, he followed this appeal with a slide showing an old section of the Harrisburg Cemetery immediately beyond the wild-wooded road. Complimenting Mr. Barnes for his remarkable achievements in relieving the congestion of stonework in this older part of the grounds, Mr. Leland said that the natural beauty of the Harrisburg cemetery had gained for the superintendent. Mr. Barnes, a well earned reputation as a naturalist and nature lover and that the congestion of stone which he inherited from a previous generation had given him also somewhat of a reputation as an "anti-stoneman" contrasting the old sections of the grounds with the new lawn-plan areas.
 

Mr. Leland touched upon the elements of effect in cemetery landscapes, attributing the major principles to the constructive work of the Association of American Cemetery Superintendents. Contrasting the European and American cemeteries, with a series of slides, he extolled the achievements of the American lawn plan, closing this phase of his discussion with a slide which paid tribute to the memory of Adolph Strauch, the centennial of whose birth had just passed:

In Memoriam
Adolph Strauch
August 30, 1822
April 25, 1883

Father of the American Lawn Plan Cemetery; his vision, ideals and achievements have exercised an international influence and his life will ever be a source of inspiration to all men in his field who sense the larger mission of their calling.

The second group of slides, on Individual Lot Planting, opened with a series of views selected to illustrate the point that the lawn-plan alone was not sufficient to insure a beautiful cemetery and to relieve inevitable stone-work, that the lawn-plan was a means and not an end The views contrasted lawn-plan sections in which the monuments were relieved and un-relieved by individual lot plantings. Mr. Leland supplemented his argument with a slide quoting the late James Currie as follows:

“. . . .Deciduous and evergreen shrubs; dwarf conifers liberally and judiciously interspersed, and artistically arranged are invaluable accessories in disguising or softening the bald and often harsh effect of obtrusive stone structures, and enhancing the beauty and harmony of some beautiful and artistically designed monument."
The late James Currie
Courtesy of "Park & Cemetery"

Followed then a series of slides illustrating the efficacy of individual lot planting in relieving congestion of stone-work and in beautifying plots.  The subjects ranged from simple headstones to imposing mausoleums.  The symbolism of planting and examples of good composition in harmonizing the planting with the memorial were shown. Before and after effects were illustrated by numerous slides. Mr. Leland appealed for the adequate endowment of planting on individual lots maintaining that foresighted designers of memorials today were advising their clients to include proper planting and endowment in the total appropriation for a memorial.  With the beautiful Olmstead plot in Harrisburg Cemetery as an example, he showed how the resourceful designer and architect can cooperate with the cemetery authorities in reclaiming and utilizing steep embankments for burial plots of singular beauty, a far more intelligent expenditure of money and labor than applies to the average mausoleum, he said. Mr. Leland advocated a movement to demand much larger plots surrounding mausoleums, maintaining that it was poor taste and poor judgment for lot owners to expend large sums for stone and little or nothing for plots, and that the results were no less harmful to the cemetery than they are to the builders of mausoleums.  He illustrated the unhappy effects resulting from the "tenement row" placing of such structures, arguing for more isolation and the placing of such buildings against natural screens such as bills and mass plantings.  Among the many other topics included in this group of slides Mr. Leland considered several methods by which the designer of memorials can save a beautiful vista in the cemetery.

Coming to the third and last group, the lecturer showed slides illustrating the consequences of laxity in the regulation of stone-work and their effect upon both the cemetery and the art of the monument. He showed a slide quoting the following opinion from the writings of the late James Scorgie.
 
"Forty years ago, it looked like an endless conflict between the forces of selfishness, ignorance and prejudice, and those of culture and regulation. I can see not only a vast improvement, but a public opinion behind that improvement that insures for permanence."
-The late James C. Scorgie
Courtesy of "Cemetery Handbook"

With logical arguments he appealed for more and better regulations governing stone-work,-not less, and he illustrated the desirability of such rules from the designer's point of view. Briefly touching upon the controversial "grass-marker" Mr. Leland maintained that the objective of the grade marker was beyond all criticism and that the only objection was one of personal taste. He expressed preference for the marker p1aced not more than four inches above grade, explaining that his criticism of the grade-marker was that it lacked definition around the edges in consequence of overgrowing grass. He illustrated his argument with slides but qualified his opinion by observing that the subordination of the marker was so vital that either method had much in its favor. By means of numerous slides he showed the efficacy of certain rules and regulations restricting stone-work notably in the area of monuments, the use of ledgers and kindred subjects. He explained a new rule that Woodlawn Cemetery in New York has recently adopted, one that regulated the superficial area of a monument. This rule is to be considered in a special article in PARK & CEMETERY. Mr. Leland also showed various methods employed by designer in attaining individuality of design through adaptation. He closed his forty minutes of discussion with a review of current tendencies in design, placing emphasis upon the so-called formal garden themes.  (Lights turned on)

I am afraid that I have rather superficially covered the subject. In conclusion I would like to suggest just one more thought. People often say to me. "Leland, I don’t see how you can like your business, this business of designing tombstones all the time!" And I daresay in your work you frequently hear similar facetious remarks of this kind. Now I am frank to tell you I do not like the "monument business", the "business" of selling monuments. I do not love a work that brings me in constant association with sorrow and suffering. No, I do not like the "monument business!"  But thank God in common with a great many of my contemporaries, I can and I do love the ART that makes it possible for me to transform a rough hewn block of stone into a thing of significance, soul and beauty! I do love the Art of the Monument!

And you men and you women - you cannot love the funeral aspects of your profession,-however little contact many of you may have with this phase of your work, - you cannot love this association with grief, sorrow and suffering. But you can and you do love the larger mission of your cal1ing!  -The service that makes it possible for you to create beauty and tranquility out of chaos and despair!  -You can and you do love the work, the service that through the inspiration of your great association makes it possible, in the words of Mr. Currie, not only to reflect but to shape the moral and spiritual aspirations of the community. You CAN LOVE this, the larger mission of your calling!

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 37th Annual Convention
Harrisburg, PA
August 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1923

This is a paper on Cemetery management prepared and read by me at a meeting of the New England Cemetery Association in Boston, Mass., in 1912 which I have been asked to revise and present to this convention and which in an unguarded moment I consented to do, gratified and pleased, of course, that my thoughts then expressed were considered worthy of repetition. But when I looked it over with a view to making any desirable changes applicable to a National gathering of men engaged in the same work which occupied most of my time and thought for many years, and in the light of eleven years of further experience and observation I find little that I care to revise; rather would I speak more emphatically concerning the somewhat radical methods then advocated and executed by me in the matter of restoration and after care of neglected lot areas. I would ask you however to bear in mind that the conditions and methods indicated are based upon New England conditions and may not prove adaptable in our more southern latitudes, realizing as I do that each and every part of our great country has its own problems which can only be solved by a knowledge and study of local conditions.

The Century Dictionary says that a Cemetery is "A place set apart for interments; a graveyard; specifically, a burial ground not attached to any church; a necropolis." Without doubt a satisfactory definition to the average mind, but who of us, engaged in the active and practical care and administration of Cemeteries will say that the real effort required of us in the discharge of our duties consists in any considerable degree in directing the actual excavation of the ground and the placing therein of the remains of a deceased person; or even the physical preparation, care and adornment of areas in question, necessary and important though this be. Not one of us, I venture to say.

But rather will you, I think, agree with me that our deepest thought and greatest anxieties are given to the financial and managerial questions. While the family affairs, characteristics and conditions of mind of our lot owners require a degree of skill, thought, energy and diplomacy, which exhausts our bodies and minds, whitens our hair and furrows our brow.

Some one has irreverently said that we have much to do with skeletons; Yes indeed we have, the skeleton of the family, many first brought to the light of day while endeavoring to determine who owns or who shall "boss" the Cemetery Lot; who shall, or who shall not, be buried therein, or removed there from, after the death of the original owner.

We must also sometimes explain why it is that each and every lot cannot have the grass cut and all other necessary care work done on the day before the family happens to visit the cemetery, accompanied by relatives from a distance who have been led to suppose that their particular lot was always in perfect condition, even though they had neglected to give the order for its care, and of course, you must not say this in the presence of "Auntie" (who, by the way, is advancing in years and has most of the available cash in the family.) Why, in midsummer, the grass is not green, although we have not been favored with a particle of atmospheric moisture for many weeks. Why the grass does not show a luxurious growth under the trees. Why you permitted the erection on an adjoining lot of such a monumental monstrosity and you listen to an outpouring of words in ecstatic praise of their own "Rock Face" creation.

You are finally enlightened by the information that "out West where I live they do things better," and through it all you are supposed to give your whole attention to the cultivation of a smile upon your face which can be classed as "Cherubic" and "Apologetic," otherwise you are informed that "I shall certainly write to the Mayor" or to the Chairman of your Board of Trustees, as the case may be, or it may be that they will decide that it is best to call attention to the alleged condition of affairs through the medium of the newspapers.

At this point your foreman gives you the delightful information that one of the pair of new horses you purchased, and in which you feel such pride, "will not pull the hat off your head," and that the driver is “no good anyhow”.  Never mind; you must lie calm, so over to the new work mount the seat, take the reins, talk to the horses and enjoy the sensation which comes of seeing them pull out the load in good shape, only to be met a few minutes later by your Supervisor of Interments who informs you that some undertaker has forgotten to bring the burial permit (which he has probably not yet asked the Board of Health to issue) but promises to send it out in the morning, "Shall I let him by?" he asks. After an investigation of the facts you wearily answer, "Yes, but don't do it again."

The bell in the tower signals that you are wanted at the office. On reaching it you find a bereaved widower who wishes to purchase a two-grave lot, no more, "just a place to lay her, and another for me when I am called." You complete the sale, and if he is a young man you withdraw from sale the adjoining lot, well knowing that within a year or so he will, while on a visit to the cemetery, express his regret that he did not get a larger lot. You suddenly discover that the adjoining one is still unsold. He is greatly pleased and buys it, soon after he will be accompanied on his periodical visits, which become less and less frequent, by another lady. Again the cherubic smile appears upon your face and you are so glad that the adjoining lot remained unsold for nearly two years.

You are pleased with yourself and fall to studying out some new improvement and estimating its cost, your door opens and you are confronted by a large, red-necked "Manufacturer of Artistic Memorials," who bluntly asks why it is that he can't do more business at your cemetery, and tells you that "so and so" are getting most of the orders for new work. He accuses you of giving the, other fellow the tips, and intimates that he can pay as large a commission for business sent his way as the other fellow is paying you. You indignantly deny the allegation and inform him that his presence and language are obtrusive and objectionable. Out he goes in a "huff" and you hear him mutter through his teeth that he will "see about this." “I will have your scalp yet.”

A few days later your Chairman of Trustees very quietly asks you about it. You explain the matter fully, and he says, "All right but be careful, you must keep these fellows quiet, for some day some one will believe what these fellows say about you."

I am sure, however, that you will agree with me that a good Cemetery Superintendent needs to know more things than does a man engaged in any other line of activity with which we are familiar, and that while it has its troubles and annoyances, it also has many compensations and rewards, furnishing as the position does so many opportunities to render a service and to do a kindness to our fellow beings, and at a time when such service is highly appreciated, and bring to us many life long friends, which after all is the greatest reward to get in this life.

And then you think of the satisfaction derived from the effort expended as we take hold of a block of land in its crude state, hostile and rebellious and watch it yielding day by day to our well directed labors until it finally lies before us a beautiful area of undulating lawn, subdivided into lots; and we complete the picture by adding at suitable places the choice bits of trees and plants, and enjoy that greatest of life's pleasures, the delight of seeing things grow, and then the more sordid, material side as we figure the amount of money our corporation receives from its sale, many times the cost of purchase and development.

Suppose you are called upon to take charge of a cemetery, or several of them, in which there exists, as is frequently the case, a considerable area of "old part" and you start in to clean it up and put it in shape. My experience is that there is but one right way to go about it, and that is to make a clean, through job of it. If you cannot do it all the first season, do what you can in a complete manner. Pull out all surplus granite posts; that is, all but the four corner bounds; and store them away for some future use, pull up the corner ones and with a heavy breaking hammer break off about one foot of the bottom end and reset them flush with the surface of the ground so that the lawn mowers may be run over them without striking; straighten and clean monuments, tablets and grave markets. Remove surplus trees and over-grown shrubs, prune those left, dig or trench over the entire surface to the full loam depth, re-grade, working out all possible terraces, sod edges and around monuments and trees, fertilize with any good commercial fertilizer. If the loam is poor and hungry, work in a good liberal quantity of well rotted manure. Clean up, re-grade and resurface your avenues and paths and provide for surface drainage when necessary, then seed the whole with such grasses as you have found by experience to be best adapted to the specific situation. The cost of such work is not great when compared to the results obtained.

I am sure that some of you will ask, "What will you do with lots in such an area for which no care provision has been made?" My answer is, "Do them just the same, because if you don't, you will find that, left as they are now, they will seriously interfere not only with the proper grading of the whole tract, but if left uncared for they invariably produce weed seed which will inoculate those adjoining and eventually cause you as much or more work as will be found necessary to put and keep them in order, in addition to the nullification of your efforts to keep the others in good order.

Then again, are we not under a moral obligation to give a reasonable amount of care to any lot sold?  Assuming that lots are now sold only with a Perpetual Care provision, the entire process of which is under our control, and we adjust it by investing a certain part of the purchase money in interest bearing securities, the income of which bears the expense of the care of the particular lot in question, are those people who purchased their lots before we made such provision and conditions in any way to be blamed because the care of theirs has not been provided for? Would they not have been willing, yes glad to have had us lay aside a part of their purchase money for this purpose? Would they not have peen willing to have paid more, than they did for their lots if the purchase contract had carried with it a care provision? I feel sure they would. When you sum it all up the situation as I see it is this:

Relatively a few years ago we learned from our experience that we ought to get more money for our lots and that we ought to lay aside a certain part of it for Perpetual Care. And ever since that time we have been trying to induce the owners of lots purchased prior to that time to endow their lots by the payment of a certain amount of money mutually agreed upon, varying in volume according to the opinion of the officials of the various cemeteries and in this commendable effort we have generally met with success, which success in itself proves to my mind that they would have made this provision at the time of the original purchase had we asked it. Understand me, I would not abate this effort in any degree but we still have those with us who cannot now make this provision. In many instances the family has become extinct; in others, reverses have come and they cannot procure the money. It is true that in most cases they have only paid a fraction of the price we would now ask for the same lot but they paid us all we asked and would have paid us more if we had demanded it. Hence, if we used bad judgment and made a poor bargain for ourselves; I think we should take our medicine.

Whence originated this whole subject of Perpetual Care? Not with the owners of lots, neither was it brought about by legislative requirements subsequent to an aroused public opinion which has been the cause of many public improvements. No! We did it and I am convinced that it is one of the best things we have ever done.

Let me ask. What will you do with these lots ultimately care for them or not? They are on your hands and will never be moved away. That they are a burden to us and a menace to the welfare of our cemeteries and our lot owners, I think you will admit. Being a menace, I am sure that you will eventually care for them. My advice is DO IT NOW. May I not borrow a well known advertising slogan "Eventually, Why not now?" The satisfaction of pleasing those who are too poor to pay for it is great, and this is the class of people who most frequently visit the cemetery and who feel the loss of their dead most keenly. We have upon a large monument this sentiment engraved upon a polished granite surface," The best part of the record of every man's life is what he has done for others." The thought thus expressed is one we should cultivate and keep before us constantly while engaged in our work. Our doing for those who cannot do for themselves will bring to us our greatest reward. And besides, I firmly believe that if we remove from our cemeteries every foot of neglected, uncared for land we will make them so much more attractive than they would be if these areas were left undone that we will be able to sell our new land for a much higher price, so much higher that we will make money out of our efforts. I believe it because that has been the result of my own experience and observation.

With advancing years of experience and observation I am becoming more and more convinced that the most attractive and desirable cemetery is the one that consists largely of well-made and well-kept lawns, avenues, paths and trees with most if not all of t he ornamental plantings placed in the public or administrative areas, that is, do not yourself, or permit or encourage in your lot owners the planting of beds, graves or borders of lots or lot sections more than compelled to do. The old custom of weeping willows or syringas on the lots with two beds of scarlet geraniums in the front border is a thing of the past. Few if any now want such plantings.

You will in any section find angles and spaces of unsold land into which you may properly and effective plant hardy growths of flowering shrubs or herbaceous plants, as well as the dwarf and slow growing broad leaf and coniferous evergreens. By all means, however, avoid an epidemic of “shrub fever”. Often have we been advised to "make judicious plantings of flowering shrubs?”  I would advise a careful attention to the meaning of the word "judicious" to the end that it may not be interpreted as meaning "promiscuous," as I fear has too often been the case.

On the deciduous shrub proposition we really have two flowering seasons here in New England: Spring and Fall. It is useless in a cemetery to try to make more out of it. We have read and been told much about the desirable effects of foliage all summer and colored bark and fruit effects all winter. These are all very well in large group plantings in parks, and for some large border plantings on the boundaries of cemeteries but I do not approve their use in internal cemetery areas or between or near lots. They are overgrown and cumbersome in a very few years and provide an attractive place for harboring injurious insects as well as for the depositing of rubbish of all kinds.

I like a freer use of the spring flowering bulbs those that will live on and increase and thrive for years. How the crocus, scillas narcissus von sion, poeticus and trumpets in their several varieties do brighten things up and with so little thought and care and don't forget the hardly lilies and peonies.
 
You can always find desirable locations of them especially along the outer edges of group or border plantings of deciduous and broad leaved rhododendrons and azaleas.  They furnish a most attractive display and at a season when they will be abundantly appreciated.  I also find great satisfaction in plantings of our native ferns in shady, moist places. Their cost is trifling, as they can generally be had for the labor of collecting.

Yes, we surely have abundant cause to be grateful for the opportunity which our occupation and position in life have given to us.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 37th Annual Convention
Harrisburg, PA
August 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1923

I never was very much interested in cemeteries.  I remember as a small boy I tried to avoid them.  We used to hear a good many stories about cemeteries and some of them were not just the most pleasing to a small boy, so I never had very much interest in a cemetery.  I am not like the colored fellow who got up in an experience meeting and said: “Brudders and sisters, you know and I know I have not been what I ought to be.  I have robbed smoke houses and stile chickens; I have played cards and crushed and swore; but, thank the Lord one thing I have never done I have never lost my religion.”  I have never had much interest in cemeteries to lose and the interest I have is only surface deep.

I am very glad. However, to be here today and talk to you a little while on lawns and lawn grasses.  There is no cemetery superintendent who does not have a great deal of interest in the turf in that cemetery and I know that most of you have some trouble – I am sure that what I have to say will not relieve you of all the trouble that you may have.

I cannot go into the preparation of the seed bed and the lawn soil in detail, much of which depends upon the actual condition and location of the cemetery.  You all know in making a lawn of any kind, whether it is large or small, that the main thing is the preparation of a good seed bed.  Grass seeds are small and unless the seed bed is well prepared and rather fine in texture there will be some difficulty in getting the grass started.  The first consideration, therefore, in trying to get a good turf in any cemetery is to prepare the soil well.  No seed bed should be less than six inches deep and a little deeper would be still better.  It should be made fine, well drained and well fertilized and I believe there is nothing better in the way of fertilizer than a good well rotted manure, manure that has been composted so as to get rid of the weed seed.

The next thing for consideration is the seed, keeping in mind the kind and quality.  We have had some experience in the Department of Agriculture in analyzing and testing for germination the different grasses that are used in lawn mixtures and I am sorry to say that the result of our experience has not been the most satisfactory.  We have found some of the lawn grass mixtures that are on sale to be very bad.  They do not contain the kind of grass seed they should have for a lawn and they frequently have a great many weed seeds.  Very recently we had occasion to analyze a lawn grass mixture that was sold for a first class mixture. We found that it contained almost five percent weed seed. We happened to know where this seed was used.  We visited the lawn and found that the weeds were very abundant, in fact, so abundant that the owner said he was going to dig it up and re-seed it.  Of course, the seeds-man who sold the grass seed said the seeds of these weeds were in the soil.  That might be true; many of the same kind probably were there, but when a grass mixture that has pretty nearly five percent weed seeds is sowed one can be pretty sure of a weed crop.

Many of you are from other states and my experience with lawns outside of Pennsylvania has been quite limited—I cannot talk to any great extent on the kind of grass seed to be used in other places. In the southern part of the United States (if anybody is here from that section) I presume that you use what is called the Bermuda grass to a great extent. The Bermuda grass is adapted pretty well, climatically, to the southern third of the United States-Pennsylvania, however, is out of the limit of the Bermuda grass. We can use it here as an annual--by sowing it in the spring we can get a growth of Bermuda grass but our winters are too severe and it freezes out. In the extreme southeastern corner of the United States carpet grass is used to a great extent, being adapted to the sandy soil condition in that section. In Pennsylvania and in most of the northern parts of the United States I shall recommend more particularly the use of Kentucky blue grass and Redtop. I have in my paper a formula which reads as follows: Kentucky blue grass, four parts; Redtop, two parts; Red fescue, one part; Creeping bent, one part; Perennial rye grass, one part and White clover, one part. Some of you may not advocate the use of a mixture at all, sowing only an unmixed seed. This particularly applies to greens of golf courses in which you, I presume, are not so much interested. On the putting greens a single grass which gives a fine and uniform texture is usually wanted. I do not know whether you will agree with me in the proportions I have given in, the above mixture. In most mixtures there is a greater amount of Kentucky blue grass and a less amount of the Redtop used than I have recommended, I have recommended a greater amount of Redtop because it is quick growing. In Pennsylvania it takes Kentucky blue grass some time to become established but when once established it makes a splendid turf-the Redtop germinates quickly and soon makes a good showing. The Red fescue is very good, particularly in shaded spots and on our poor soils-it, too, grows rather quickly and does not need the lime requirements that the Kentucky blue grass needs in our section.

The Creeping bent grass I believe is a coming lawn glass. In Washington, on the Arlington farms some experiments with Creeping bend grass have been made and with very good results. The Harrisburg Country Club has been following out some of the instructions given by the people who have made those experiments in Washington. I visited the country club yesterday to see what their Creeping bent grass was doing and I find that the superintendent of the grounds is pleased with results. This Creeping bent grass (Agrostis stolonifera) must be propagated by cuttings as it is hardly possible to get the seed. The Superintendent of the Harrisburg Country Club went to Washington and brought back by automobile fourteen sacks-I believe that is the number-of this Creeping bent grass. From this several greens were established and the remainder was planted in what they called a nursery. (They have established a nursery and I believe it would be a good thing for every cemetery to set aside a portion for a grass nursery.) In planting it the pieces of grass were laid in very shallow trenches across the nursery in rows six feet apart and slightly covered and watered. They did that a year ago, I believe in October. Those rows have pretty nearly grown together; that is, it has branched out and crept around until the rows have almost covered the ground and now they have a beautiful start of this Creeping bent grass. When they want to make a green-and by the way, this has been used chiefly on the putting greens-they take some of this grass, chop it with a hatchet or run it through some kind of mangler and sow it or scatter it evenly over the surface, cover it with a shallow layer of soil and then keep it moist. The keeper of the golf course told me yesterday that in six or eight weeks after he had started one of his greens by that method they were playing on it. If any of you have the opportunity I wish you might go up to the Harrisburg Country Club, which is only about ten miles above Harrisburg, and see those greens. They certainly are beautiful and they have been playing on them all summer. The other greens were seeded. These contain many kinds of grasses and weeds. They tell me that these will be dug up as soon as possible and put to Creeping Bent grass. You may say that this cannot be done in a cemetery. I do not see why it cannot. I believe that it can be, and I believe it can be done economically. This year they bought no lawn grass seed at the Harrisburg Country Club-they are depending upon the Creeping bent grass nursery to supply them with grass for their greens.

After the seed has been sowed a lawn does not need a great deal of attention for a little while, particularly if the sowing has been done with great care. In Pennsylvania we start lawns in the fall or in the spring. There are some advantages in starting in the fall, and there are some disadvantages. In our region one of the great advantages in starting a lawn in the fall is that the grass becomes established and the next year it stands the dry weather well. In Pennsylvania we nearly always have a drought during July and August sometimes sooner and sometimes later, and unless the young, tender grass is pretty well rooted it is burnt out. By starting the grass in the fall of the year it develops a better root system by the next summer. A disadvantage with the lawn started in the fall is that we have more trouble with weeds because the weeds cannot be cultivated out in the spring. By preparing the seed bed in the fall of the year and letting it lie fallow until the next spring the cultivation done in the early spring before sowing the seed will destroy the weeds which have started. The seeds of many bad weeds will start growing very early in the spring-this is a splendid time to, destroy the weeds because they are young and tender and not hard to kill.  I believe this is one of the chief advantages in starting a lawn in the spring of the year in this region; and as I said, the advantage of the fall sowing is that the grass develops a better root system before the dry season of the next summer.

I know of no way that the weeds can be controlled by herbicides.   There are some weeds that will be eradicated by spraying with iron sulfate, copper sulfate or arsenite of soda, but most weeds will not be injured by these sprays.  From the very nature of the weed it is more likely to withstand these herbicides better than the grass which you want to grow.  Some weeds like dandelion and buckhorn may be controlled by injecting into the crown a few drops of gasoline, kerosene, sulfuric acid or carbolic acid.  A sharp instrument like an ice pick dipped into sulfuric acid and then injected into the crown of the growing weed has successfully killed the weed with no damage to the surrounding turf. A few weeds can be controlled in this way, but many of the weeds that are giving us trouble cannot, such for instance as the crab grass. I do not know whether you object to it very much in your cemetery but it certainly is unwelcome in our section of the country. About this time Crab grass is coming on. At first it does not look bad on the lawn but with the first frost and a little cold weather it turns brown or red and by winter it dies and the places are left bare for next spring. A great many spraying experiments have been performed but nothing has been found that will control Crab grass, Yarrow and many other weedy plants. The only way known to get rid of Crab grass, Yarrow and most weeds is some method of hand labor which will assist nature in her struggle for existence against the pests.

Our winters in Pennsylvania, especially in the northern part of the state, are very severe on grasses. The grass itself may not be killed by the cold weather but the alternate freezing and thawing cause it to be uprooted, and unless it is pressed back into the soil by some method it will not start to grow the next spring. Therefore, in the spring of the year, very early, when the lawn is still moist it should be rolled so as to replace the grass that has been raised out by the roots. All places where the grass has been killed out during the winter should be reseeded by a quick-growing grass such as Redtop, Creeping bent, Fescue, and White clover.

Terraces are an abomination. They are, of course, often unavoidable and must have attention, particularly during the dry weather. A terrace will dry out more quickly than any other part of the lawn because of the quick drainage, and because there is more surface exposed to evaporation. In dry weather the terrace should receive first attention.

Sometimes the watering of lawns begins too soon. Roots grow toward the moisture. There is a movement of the root system of the plant towards moisture and the moisture that the plant uses, whether grass or some other plant, is the moisture that comes up from below by capillary attraction. When the dry weather comes and the top inch or so of our turf becomes parched we think that it needs watering. It may be that there is still sufficient water coming up from below by capillarity and while the grass may become a little parched, the roots may still be doing well. If we begin to sprinkle and only sprinkle a little so that the top part is kept moist the roots may become very shallow. When sprinkling is done at all it should be a thorough soaking three or four inches deep, once or twice a week rather than a light application every day. In this way the lower part of the soil is kept moist and the roots will go down in the deeper soil and can withstand the continued dry weather much better.

The mowing of the lawn is another thing that must be considered. All the food that is present in the roots of any plant is manufactured in the leaves. The roots absorb the raw materials from the soil-it is carried up through the stem out into the leaves where it is combined with some materials taken in from the air. These materials are combined in the green portion of the leaf, are manufactured into food and are transported back into the root system. If we keep the grass cut too short we do not have any food-manufacturing system--that is, the leaves are kept cut short and we have no leaf surface for the manufacture of food, and so the grass roots suffer from lack of food. I should recommend the setting of the knives of the lawn mower about two inches above the surface. Of course, we know that the grass should not be allowed to go to seed which causes the stems to become tough and wiry, which also draws a great deal of the food out of the root system that is required there.

I don't want to detain you people too long. I want to give you an opportunity to ask questions. I have on my paper a reference to a hook with which some of you are probably acquainted. It is "Turfs for Golf Courses", by Piper and Oailey, published in 1917, by Macmillan Company, New York. Anyone who is going to establish a lawn or who has the maintenance of one should have this book in his library. There is also a bulletin published by the United States Department of Agriculture which is very good-Farmers' Bulletin No. 494, entitled "Lawn Soils and Lawns". This was also written in 1917.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 37th Annual Convention
Harrisburg, PA
August 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1923

At the time I was invited to speak before this gathering I was at somewhat of a loss to see just why one interested in trees and forests should be asked to appear on the program of a meeting of Cemetery Superintendents, but a moments reflection on the three things that stand out most prominently in cemeteries convinced me of the wisdom of the wisdom of the officials of the Program Committee.  As one looks at a cemetery the three things that occupy conspicuous places are the markers, the trees, and the grasses.

Next to the grasses, trees are the commonest form of vegetable growth on the face of the earth. In many localities are so common that we do not give much attention to them.  But what if we had no trees!  I wonder how we would feel if tomorrow morning upon looking out on the streets and the rural landscape we would find that some demon during the night had destroyed all our trees.  Then we would appreciate their value and be willing to list them as our true friends.  Sometimes it is necessary to lose friends in order to appreciate their real value.

No doubt it is because trees are so common that we sometimes forget to think about them and give them a place in our program of work.  They are found everywhere from the shores of the ocean up to the timber line upon the high mountains. They beautify the banks of streams, clothe our steep mountain slopes and make our rural landscape, city streets and parks objects of beauty.  I truly believe that trees were made to bring happiness and comfort to the people. They are the earth’s fairest cloak.  They adorn the earth more fittingly than any other object of nature.  A park without trees is purposeless.  A road without trees is shade-less.  A cemetery without trees is cheerless as a creedless land is hopeless.

Both the living and the dead seem to love to rest beneath the quiet shade of old trees.  In New England I found many cemeteries surrounded by beautiful white pine trees.   There the dead rest serenely with patches of sunlight playing on the white moss-touched tombs and a thin carpet of pine needles makes soft the tread of reverent feet.

Beautiful cemeteries are a credit to the community and unborn faces will bless those who help take care of them.  Neglected cemeteries are an eyesore and bring discredit to those who tolerate them.  They are obvious evidences of disregard and disrespect on the part of the living to those who repose there.  I would rather rest in an abandoned cemetery than a neglected one.  In time nature will make an abandoned cemetery a fitting resting place.  Not so long ago I happened upon a small abandoned cemetery on a hillside overlooking the abandoned town of Greenwood Furnace in central Pennsylvania. It overlooked the site of an old charcoal furnace that at one time supported a prosperous small mountain community. When the forests were all cut off from which the supply of charcoal was derived, the furnace was dismantled, and shortly thereafter the town abandoned. While walking along a forest road on a hillside over looking this town, I noticed an American flag playing gently with the wind amidst a thrifty growth of young forest trees. My curiosity was aroused and I wandered over beside the flag, and found that it marked the burial place of a veteran who once lived in the abandoned town. Standing over the forest cemetery was a beautiful Yellow Poplar about 20 years old, and beside it a princely White Pine. Over the little mound of raised ground was a cover of myrtle and ivy. This was truly a quiet and beautiful resting place. Please permit me to repeat that I would rather have my body repose in an abandoned cemetery where nature will clothe my resting place with forest ornaments that no man-made object can ever equal, than to have it lie in a neglected cemetery filled with weeds and marred with dilapidated markers.

There are about 1,000 different kinds of trees in North America. Some of them are famed for their wood and others for the food they produce. Still others seem to be created to give shade and shelter.  It seems as if the Creator fashioned some in a way that their main function will be to adorn, to make beautiful and to give cheer and comfort. It is this class of trees that is especially adapted for planting in cemeteries. I will not pretend to talk about the arrangement of trees in this cemetery or their grouping, but wish to point out a number of their striking features and peculiarities.

The evergreen trees are well adapted for cemetery planting because of their bright green color throughout the year. There are a number of trees that are widely planted in cemeteries.  One of these is the Norway Spruce. It is not a native of North America but it has been imported from Europe and on account or its attractive form and ease with which it can be grown it has found a wide use in cemetery planting. Another tree that is well adapted to cemetery planting particularly about the border and where height is desirable is the White Pine. It is the greatest of American forest trees, and one of the most fitting for cemetery planting, for it can be successfully transplanted, grows rapidly and has an attractive term, and produces beautiful foliage. The needles upon falling to the ground form a soft carpet that makes soft the tread or reverent feet. Many of the prominent citizens of Colonial days are buried in the shade of White Pine trees.

The European Larch is another tree well adapted for cemetery planting. It belongs to the same tree group with the White Pine and Norway Spruce, but differs from them in that it does not hold its leaves during the winter, but sheds them each fall. In spring when the young leaves of the European Larch come out they are, to my mind, the most beautiful colored leaves of all our trees.

The Arbor Vitae is also worthy of a place in cemeteries. It does not become so large as some other evergreen trees, but it is a tree of rare beauty and its shape can be fashioned to suit almost any artist. It can be cut back heavily to be used for hedge purposes, and will stand trimming so as to conform to any landscape effect that may be desired. It is truly an obedient tree, and will respond to almost any kind of treatment.
 
I must not forget to mention the Irish Juniper, a tree that is rather common in cemeteries and made beautiful by its foliage and attractive form. It stands so erect and gives a feeling of cheer and happiness. In a class with the Irish Juniper is Kosters’ Blue Spruce. This rare ornamental tree was brought out of the remote mountains of Colorado and developed until now it is one of the most attractive ornamental trees. We should ever be grateful to those who have developed trees of rare ornamental beauty, for they have brought to us much of our happiness and pleasure.

Among the small pygmy trees that deserve a place in cemetery planting is the European Mountain Pine. This tree occurs near the timber line on the snow-capped mountains of Europe, where it remains quite small, having battled for centuries with the sliding snows and mighty winds or the Alps. It rarely grows over five feet in height and with judicious trimming may be fashioned so as no t to exceed two or three feet. This unique tree is particularly well adapted for border planting and in other places where a small round-headed pygmy tree is needed.

The evergreen trees are not the only ones that should be planted in cemeteries, for, among the trees that we commonly call “broad-leaved trees" are many that are worthy to be planted in cemeteries, for it seems to me that one of the principal objects of planting trees in cemeteries is to give cheer and comfort and to offset the sorrow that naturally hangs heavy on those who stand over the burial place of those that are near and dear. Among the broad-leaved trees are a number whose main message seems to be one of cheer and happiness. In early spring, long before the leaves come out on many of our trees the Red Bud bursts forth in a garment of rich red. Its leafless branches are completely covered with clusters of' brilliant red flowers. We cannot help but like them, for they are truly beautiful, and this small tree with a broad round crown is deserving of a place where beauty is an asset.  In a group with Red Bud should be placed the Dogwood.  Its flowers ranging from pure white to pink are equally beautiful and carry a message or cheer.

It is most unfortunate that the flowers of these two trees do not last very long and after they are gone we must look elsewhere for cemetery ornaments. Among the appropriate trees for the cemetery that carry a rich coloration throughout the growing season are the Japanese Maples. For generations the people of the Orient have been developing the Maples. They are among the most gorgeously colored trees in the world. For centuries the Japanese have been giving their Maples training not unlike that which American horsemen and the American rose expert give their subjects. There are now in existence Maples having pedigrees that go back for a full century or more. Some of these pygmy trees are only six inches high, while others may reach a height of several feet, but rarely do any of them become very large. I understand that the members or this Association expect to go to Gettysburg tomorrow. If you do and will visit the National Cemetery, you will see two distinct varieties of Japanese Maple at the height of their seasonal glory.

Among the medium-sized trees that have an attractive form and beautiful foliage is the Pin Oak. The Tulip Tree is also deserving of a prominent place in cemetery planting. It is a tree which seems to have been overlooked. I also feel that the White Ash has an ornamental mission that has not yet been fully developed, and the Sweet Gum of the South, a tree with a beautiful star-shaped leaf turning to a gorgeous red in fall, is well adapted for planting as far north as Massachusetts. The Beech with its attractive attire or summer and beautiful grooming in winter is among the beautiful trees that I have seen in some of the best kept cemeteries of the country.

While a cemetery superintendent should know what to plant, I think it is equally well for them to know what not to plant. One good rule to follow is not to plant rapid-growing trees in cemeteries. There are two good reasons for this. Rapid-growing trees have a tendency to throw out shoots and suckers very freely and they deteriorate very rapidly. As a rule, they are short-lived trees, and before they become old they are rather unattractive. Among the trees that cemetery superintendents should avoid planting are the Horse Chestnut, the Ailanthus, the Catalpa, and the Cottonwoods. These four trees are all rapid growers, but their undesirable habit of shedding something all the time of sending up root suckers, interfering with the growth of other trees, and unattractive form, suggests that they should be kept out or cemeteries.

Stephen Girard, one of the greatest men of the Keystone State, said:  If I knew that I was to die tomorrow I would plant a tree today."  Our great poet Henry VanDyke said: "He that planteth a tree is a servant of God. He provideth a kindness for many generations and faces that he hath not seen shall bless him." To plant trees is unquestionably a good slogan, but I think all of us who plant trees should also assume the responsibility or caring for them. To plant trees and then neglect them is unkind. The mere planting of trees will not insure success, for trees like all other living things need attention and a few or the things which should be done in order to insure the establishment and growth of the trees are the following:

1. Be sure to dig the hole large enough to take the roots without crowding them.
2. Cut off broken and injured roots with a sharp knife, and be sure to make a clean cut.
3. Trim back the tops of the trees so that they will balance the roots.
4. See that the earth is placed firmly around the roots so that the tree will be held in place.

I have every reason to believe that all cemetery superintendents know these simple rules, but it may be well to have repeated them again because they are so very important.

It is significant that this meeting is held in the month of August the hardest month in the year on trees. The two things from which trees suffer heavily during the month of August are lack of water and food.  I am sorry to tell you that my observations have convinced me that trees suffer from hunger and lack of water in cemeteries more than in almost any other place. It is customary to establish a dense sod and to cut the grass regularly and rake up every little particle of vegetable growth. As soon as the leaves begin to fall they are raked up and taken away so as to make the cemetery attractive. Now when we begin to analyze this practice we will find that these operations are removing the food that the trees should have. If we continue to remove this source of tree food it is but natural that we should provide it in some other form, that is, by feeding the trees with commercial fertilizer. In the forest where the trees are well watered and well fed they flourish but in our streets and cemeteries where they are poorly fed and inadequately watered, the best they can do is to eke out an existence. It is imperative that during the month of August trees should be well fed and given plenty of water.

There is another thing that should be watched in August that is the second brood of caterpillars. This brood usually consists of a large number, and will do great damage to the trees by completely defoliating them, at a time when they should be storing up food for winter. It will be quite helpful in the development of attractive and thrifty trees to see to it that this second brood of caterpillars is killed off before they can do much damage.

There is only one other thing that I wish to call to your attention, and that pertains to pruning trees. Not so long ago I overheard a conversation in which one man asked another where he could get someone to prune his trees. He was informed that "Over there on a store box sits a man who has nothing to do. I think you can get him." I am sorry to say, that it is too often true, that the poorest workman, the most shiftless character in a town, the fellow that has nothing to do and does not know how to do anything well, is the fellow who is asked to prune trees. One can readily see why so many trees are poorly pruned and the ill effect of such unsatisfactory work will hand us a penalty upon the trees for the rest of our lives.

In conclusion permit me to say that I feel sure that the tree condition of our cemeteries will be improved if on Thanksgiving Day everyone connected with the development of cemeteries will give thanks for the countless gifts that trees give to us, and on New Year's day resolve that "I will open my eyes to the beauty of trees and my heart to the love of them. I will study their habits and learn to know their many uses. I will ever treasure a fair estimate of their great value and the comfort that they bring to us."

Now, if you will bear with me I will show you a few slides which will picture some added features and also picture some of the features which will be shown to you on your automobile trip tomorrow.

(At this point lantern slide pictures were thrown on the screen and explained by Professor Illick)
 

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 37th Annual Convention
Harrisburg, PA
August 20, 21, 22 and 23, 1923

A pioneer in the development of the present day cemetery, Mr. A. W. Hobert, former superintendent of Lakewood, Minneapolis, at the time of his death a year ago last March left innumerable of those signs which mark the genius. For 31 years Mr. Hobert devoted his best energies to Lakewood and the esteem in which that cemetery is held today is due almost entirely to his efforts, his imagination and far-sighted methods of management.

Following in the footsteps of one who has been so unanimously successful is a task indeed. The indelible marks of Mr. Hobert's keen individuality are apparent to one who has watched the progress which Lakewood has made and I confess that I imagined myself a second Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on my shoulders when I took over the management of the cemetery last year. This feeling so strong during the first few weeks gradually changed into one of gratitude that I was given the opportunity to carry on the work of a man who, in my mind at least, bore the stamp of master.

To those who are unacquainted with the accomplishments of Mr. Hobert at Lakewood, it might be helpful to have outlined the cardinal features of his labors. Geniuses, I have noticed, always leave one feat or example that elevates them above the mass of ordinary struggling mortals. And so it was with Mr. Hobert and I believe the work which I am about to describe will prove the assertion.

When Mr. Hobert made his first appearance at Lakewood, the cemetery was little more than a woods, poorly landscaped and even more poorly managed. The tract comprised something more than 170 acres, but some portions of this were unsuitable for use. Mr. Hobert's first move was to put the institution on a paying basis, which was indeed no small task and thereafter he devoted himself to rebuilding that part of the cemetery which already had been laid out. His efforts even today are visible, for his skill in landscape gardening changed the appearance of the older portion of the tract from one of mediocrity to one of perfection.

Mr. Hobert, I believe, was one of the first superintendents to recognize the beauty of the lawn-plan and also one of the first to strenuously advocate this system of gardening. His first mission in the early days was one of education rather than achievement, and Lakewood now prides itself on having the greater portion of its land under the lawn plan. Mr. Hobert also insisted that good roads played no unimportant part in the proper development of a present-day's cemetery. As a result, Lakewood now has the highest form of Tarvia roads throughout-roads which I am certain cannot be surpassed any place in the country.

Probably the greatest single monument to Mr. Hobert's farsightedness in the matter of permanent improvements is the mortuary chapel which was completed in November, 1910. Lakewood, as you may know is as near a public institution as possible; that is, money-making is not its primary object. With this in mind, it is possible that Mr. Hobert had a freer rein than numerous superintendents in the country, but the chapel erected at an initial cost of $150,000 and which could not be duplicated for twice that amount today certainly justified that expense. Permanency, sanitation and beauty, the three architectural requisites, are embodied in the chapel. Permanency is found in the granite foundations and walls; sanitation in that each part of the interior can easily be kept clean and beauty in the exquisite mosaic mural decorations which cannot be surpassed on this side of the Atlantic.

The materials entering into the construction of the chapel were of the most imperishable nature. The walls are of reddish gray granite, the dome and roof of Gustavino tile with an outer covering of Spanish wall tile embedded in elastic cement. The interior is a most interesting and valuable example of the mosaic artists' work, the walls, ceiling and dome being designed and executed in Venetian mosaic, imported for the purpose and set by Italians of great ability. These decorations are set off by a harmonious combination of marbles in floor, wainscoting and stairs. A retiring room for ladies and a robing space for the minister are provided and a private chamber on the main floor allows the family of the deceased to remain as secluded as in a home and yet have within full view, the body and the officiating clergyman. The chapel proper is connected with the crematory by a hydraulic lift.

Another important achievement of Mr. Hobert was reclaiming 40 acres of swamp land in the Southwest corner of the tract, which until a few years before his death had remained practically useless. In reclaiming the land Mr. Hobert dug one portion lower than the surrounding land, threw the earth thus accumulated on the nearest adjoining portion of the cemetery and thus in one stroke added a lake to the other landscape charms of Lakewood and availed for practical usage a considerable portion of land.

I spent five years under the tutorship, if it might be called tutorship of Mr. Hobert, and my one ambition is to carry out the plans of development which he many times, previous to his death, outlined to me. At the same time, I hope to put into actuality some of my own ideas. In the past year I have constructed a thoroughly modern garage and stable, entirely removed from the cemetery, and I am now at work in wrecking the old greenhouses and replacing them in thoroughly modern fashion. I will have 75,000 square feet of glass in the new greenhouses.

Lakewood has natural advantages which I do not believe have been worked to their fullest extent, and in addition to following the policy of Mr. Hobert in a general way, I am making an honest endeavor to put the cemetery on a par with any now existing in the United States. The facilities for such an accomplishment are within my grasp, the directors of the institution are farsighted business men and with reasonably intelligent management, I am confident that the task which I have laid out for myself is not an impossible one.

From the publication:
AACS - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Convention
Detroit, Michigan
September 13, 14 and 15, 1921