THE SECRETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 439 



being kept in the keg on the above mentioned food from noon of July IG till 

 the evening of July 19, He Avas lively and began to disappear in the ground, 

 when he was killed. No examination was maile of his stomach. 



PiiOF. W. J. Beal. 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



ORXAMENTATIOX OF GARDENS. 



With regard to ornamentation generally, "carpenter-architecture," besides 

 being expensive, is altogether out of place in small gardens, although harmoni- 

 ous and agreeable in the shapes of summer-houses and rustic seats, where the 

 grounds are extensive. It is common to see a little garden with starveling flower 

 beds and a few shrubs, bestridden by an elaborate, expensive edifice miscalled 

 a summer-house, miscalled an arbor, properly called a nuisance. Another pop- 

 ular delusion that empty urns and vases, painted China sets, ugly statues of 

 mythological deities, are appropriate to square plots of grass and patches of 

 flowers. Suburban gardens are often spotted with these things, Avhich are sel- 

 dom cither ornamental or useful. A rich urn or vase filled with flowers is a 

 beautiful sight, and may sometimes be nsed with excellent effect, but the right 

 place for it is often an open question. The ornamental properties of decayed 

 tree stumps, and even of half barrels sunk in the ground and covered with 

 strips of bark, are too well known to require particular mention ; but a rustic 

 wall pocket against some grand old tree is not so common, and may be made a 

 thing of beauty with trailing vines and bright clusters of bloom. Our motto 

 would be vines everywhere ; and a curving-in gate with a light trellis work over 

 it, for graceful climbers, is a most ornamental addition to the entrance grounds. 

 For a purpose like this, the beautiful Clematis Jachnanii, is scarcely so well 

 known as it should be ; and the fiery autumn blushes of the Virginia creeper, 

 touch up with just the right line of color the passe charms of summer verging 

 into fall. But whatever else the owner of a small garden may see fit to do, let 

 him not, as Mr. Wegg would put it, "drop into" statuary. Staring plaster 

 casts, unless veiled and draped with abundant green, are positively hideous ; 

 and those who are most given to displaying them in small, unshaded places, 

 would probably return the Venus of Milo, after ordering it, like an Oriental 

 bride, Avithout seeing it, in fuming indignation at a broken and mutilated 

 "nigger," instead of the perfect Greek statue expected and paid for. Mr. 

 Lowell says that "it is only in such a climate" (that of Italy) "that it does 

 not seem inhuman to thrust a naked statue out of doors. Not to speak of the 

 incongruity, how dreary do those white figures look at Fountains Abbey, in that 

 shrewd Yorkshire atmosphere!" Occasionally, perhaps, in extensive grounds, 

 a Naiad by a retired fountain, or a Flora not too elaborately gotten up, may be 

 rather a ])leasant object ; but, after all, the most harmonious figures where 

 nature is supposed to hold sway, are these of veritable flesh and blood, even if 

 not after the Greek models. — Appleton s Journal. 



