“The soil of a cemetery should be of an open, porous nature, with numerous close interstices, through which air and moisture may pass in a finely divided state freely in every direction. In such a soil decay proceeds rapidly, and the products of decomposition are absorbed or oxidised. The soil should be easily worked, yet not so loose as to render the work of excavation dangerous through the liability to falls of earth. It should be free from water or hard rock to a depth of at least 8 feet. If not naturally free from water, it should be drained if practicable to that depth: to this end it is necessary that the site should be sufficiently elevated above the drainage level of the locality, either naturally, or, where necessary, by filling it up to the required level with suitable earth.”
“Loam, and sand with a sufficient quantity of vegetable mould, are the best soils; clay and loose stones the worst. A dense clay is laborious to work and difficult to drain; by excluding moisture and air it retards decay, and it retains, in a concentrated state, the products of decomposition, sometimes to be discharged into graves opened in the vicinity, or sometimes to escape through cracks in the ground to the surface. A loose, stony soil, on the other hand, allows the passage of effluvia.”
And with reference to the site to be chosen for a cemetery he further states:
“Nevertheless, in view of the evils which in former times have undoubtedly arisen from the practice of intramural sepulture, and also because the erection of houses near a cemetery interferes with the free play of air around and over it, it is desirable that the site of the cemetery should be in a neighbourhood in which building is not likely to take place, and also that so far as practicable a belt of ground should be reserved between the graves and the nearest land on which a house may be built, in order to obviate to some extent the risk of contamination of ground-air and subsoil water with decomposing matters. This is especially necessary where houses are constructed with cellars. It is, therefore, highly desirable that interments should not be made up to the extreme edge of the cemetery, and it would be possible without great waste of space to reserve in all cases a strip of ground free from interments, 15 to 30 feet in width, around the whole cemetery on the interior of the boundary fence. This strip would afford room, on the inside for a gravel or asphalte walk to give access to all parts of the cemetery, and on the outside next the fence to a belt of shrubs or trees, the rootlets of which, penetrating the soil, would arrest and assimilate any decomposing matters percolating to the exterior of the cemetery. Obviously a cemetery should not be placed on elevated ground above houses, where the soakings from it may percolate to the sites and foundations of the dwellings below. . . .”
“Sites are of course unsuitable which are liable to be flooded or to landslips, or which are in danger of being washed away, or encroached upon by streams or the sea. Very steep sites are not desirable. The cemetery should be accessible by good roads from all parts of the district.”
As to the unsuitability of clay as a soil for cemeteries, Louis Créteur in “Hygiene in the Battle Field” says, that the bodies of soldiers slain during the Battle of Sedan were buried in chalk, quarry rubble, sand, argillite, slate, marl, or clay soils, and the work of disinfection lasted from the beginning of March till the end of June. In rubble the decay had fully taken place, but in the clay the bodies kept well, and even after a very long time the features could be identified.
With regard to the amount of land necessary for a cemetery, Dr. Parsons calculates that about a quarter of an acre of land for every thousand of the population of the community to whom the cemetery belongs, is the “usually estimated minimum,” but this is far too small a proportion even for a cemetery possessing every advantage, and he further states, “The desirability of providing more than this bare minimum of space is obvious, and is generally recognized.” It must be remembered that as a rule, quite one-sixth of the total area of a cemetery is taken up by the roads, paths, ornamental grass or beds of flowers and shrubs, the chapels, mortuaries, lodges, &c., and sufficient width should be allowed between each grave space to permit every grave being reached without trampling on others: a standard of 110 burials per acre has sometimes been taken, but this appears to me to be rather a small one.
In laying out ground for a cemetery, the following are some points that require careful attention:
(1.) The position of the entrance or entrances; there should if possible be only one, as a lodge is necessary at each, which entails expense.
(2.) The best position for the lodge or lodges, the chapels and mortuary.