1858-02-01 Trustees Annual Report, 1831.026.039.001

Annual Report of the Trustees of Mount Auburn Cemetery -

Since the last annual meeting a new and complete catalogue of the Proprietors of Mount Auburn Cemetery has been published, having been corrected from former editions with much labor & care on the part of the Secretary. To this catalogue has been prefixed a Code of By laws copmpiled & digested from the standing votes of the Trustees with such amendments as were considered necessary.

Since the adoption of this code, it has been found that the duties therein required of the Superintendent were too onerous & [?-sized] to the properly performed by one individual. As a new office has therefore been created, & a new By law introduced, providing for the appointment, & prescribing the duties & powers of a Gardenerto the Cemetery. The person so appointed is to take charge of & keep in repair the lots of such proprietors as may apply to him for that service, & on such terms as may be agreed on between the parties, he is also to keep for sale at some convenient place designated by the Trustees, shrubs, trees, & flowers, and be ready to furnish, plant or cultivate the same at his own expense, & at such price & remuneration as may be agreed on with the purchasers. This plan which costs nothing to the Corporation, has been found to work well in other cemeteries where it has been tried.

2

The Trustees have apointed to this office Mr Anthony Apple, an experienced gardener, & have leased to him a piece of ground nearly opposite the gate, on which he has erected a conservatory & commenced a garden. The destruction of his first greenhouse by fire, & the consequent expense of rebuilding it, entitled him to the charitable consideration of those who may be likely to need his services.

The experiment made last year of transplanting some dozens of large trees in the neighbourhood of the gate, has proved eminently successful, not one of them having been lost or injured by the operation. A ^somewhatsimilar alteration is now in progress on tahe westerly side of the Gate.

By the liberality of one of the proprietors, the sum of one thousand dollars has been expended in grading, stoneing & otherwise improving the border of Meadow pond. An open space of two thousand square feet, inclosing the fountain at the head of the pond, is to be forever kept open for ornamental purposes. It is hoped that other proprietors may be induced to follow so praiseworthy an example. The Trustees have voted to appropriate to a similar repair of Forest pond, all sums which may be derived from the sale of intermediate^spaces between lots bordering on the pond. Some of the abuttors have already subscribed to this object, and it is believed that others will be disposed to promote an object benefi-cial to themselves & the corporation.

the statues expected from Italy & intended to decorate the interior of the Chapel have not yet arrived. That of Gov. Winthrop by Mr Greenough is announced as complete in Florence, & may be expected here in the Spring or sooner. Mr Crawford's statue of James Otis has been unhappily delayed by the death of that distinguished & lamented artist. Letters from his representatives however, express the belief that it is already completed in Rome, & will be forwarded in the course of the spring. The fourth statue, that of John Adams, was shipped from Leghorn about the first of September in the Oxford, a vesselnow missing^{reported as deserted at sea} & probably lost. The amount which would have been due on the delivery of this statue, was insured by the sculptor, Mr Rogers, who is confident of being able to execute a duplicate from the model in the course of another year. When these works are completed, & in their places, the Corporation will have aecquired a valuable & most appropriate embellishment giving them precedence?over all other cemeteries in this country, at an expense not exceeding three percent of the estimated gross outlay of Mount Auburn, or six percent of the expenditure up^{to the present time.}

Among the auspicious events of the last year is the commencement of a permanent fund, provided for the support & preservation of the cemetery after the receipts from land sales shall have aceased.

A first instalment of three thousand five hundred & ten dollars has been paid by the treasurer to the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Co. in pursuance of a vote of the Trustees by which it wis required that one fifth part of the gross proceeds of sales of land, shall be annually deposited with said company, until the whole sum thus de-posited, together with its accumulations of interest, shall amount to one hudred & fifty thosuand dollars. The farther to insure the stability of this invenstment, the Trustees have caused to be inserted in every new deed of conveyance a covenant binding the Corporation to the preservation and increase of this permanent fund, so that, no future board of Trustees will have the power to misapply or to divert any part of it from its legitimate destination.

By the treasurer's report it will be seen that the receipts of the last year have considerably exceeded those of the previous year while the expenditures have have been less. Showing ythat the Trustees have thus far been able to keep up the same prudent policy which has heretofore governed their movements.

for the Trustees

Jacob Bigelow

President

Boston Feb. 1^st 1858

Trustees Report Feby 1 1858