“An improperly chosen graveyard may be said to be one where the soil is dense and clayey, and impervious to moisture. It will be insufficiently drained, necessitating the use of planks to walk upon in wet weather. It will be too close to the abodes of the living, too small to permit proper planting, the graves covered, it may be with flat stones which prevent the passage downwards of the air and rain, and surrounded moreover by high walls which exclude the fresh air. The ground will be stony and insufficiently covered with vegetable soil. No natural outfall will exist, and the drainage water must be pumped up, the bare idea of which is horrible. It will be near also to water-bearing strata, or to a reservoir. Long before decomposition has taken place owing to the smallness of the site, and the impossibility of obtaining any more land except at high building prices, the organic matter hidden out of sight will be far too large in proportion to the area.” Dr. Parsons, in a memorandum prepared by him on the “Sanitary Requirements of Cemeteries” and published by the Local Government Board in their eleventh annual report, says: “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: