110 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



We ought to have more of them, and better ones. At 

 the same time it must be admitted that they are not 

 very comfortable for use, and what we are thinking 

 of now is more particularly seats and tables which may 

 be used with the greatest possible creature comfort. 

 The rustic chairs and tables of the past generation 

 were almost as useless from this standpoint as the 

 Italian marl^les of the jjrcsent fashion. W hat we need 

 is something plain, substantial, attractive, and, above 

 all, comfortable. 



Several styles of landscape gardening have insisteil 

 strcmgl)' upon the introduction of water into every 

 garden. The famous Italian gardens practically never 

 omitted the water features. It is said that the classical 

 Japanese gardeners insist upon the presence of water 

 in some form in every garden scene. We all know 

 how greatly water adds to the charm of every garden, 

 and we may well make suitable sacrifices in order to 

 secure such great advantages. 



Whatever form the water may take, it adils ma- 

 terially to the interest and often to the practical cimi- 

 fort of the garden. Every place which is fortunate 

 enough to have natural ponds and streams has therein 

 a very great resource. Such features should be played 

 up for all they are wnrth. They should be developed 

 not merely for the artistic effects which they will pro- 

 duce, liut for the practical satisfactions wdnich thev 

 may bring into the daily domestic life in the garden. 



Then there are fountains. Perhaps the fountain is 

 the most eftective way, pictoriall}' speaking, of pre- 

 senting water within the domestic garden. It appears 

 that our American ideas of fountains are highh- inade- 

 quate, being founded chiefly upon the cast iron squirt- 

 guns and dribbling geysers introduced years ago. It 



THE rKTt'Ur.soi'E g.vrden oath sir- 



ROUNDS us WITH .\N .VTMOSPIIICKK 

 OF R0M.\NXE. 



requires a fairlv good designer to make an artistic 

 fountajn, and features of this emphatic character 

 should be introduced into any garden with a great care. 

 A really successful fountain, however, is a joy forever, 

 and no opportunity should be omitted which might 

 yield a good result in this character. 



We may speak a special \\'ord for bird fountains. 

 A Avater offering satisfactory to the l)irds can l)e made 



without enormous e.xpenchture for engineering or for 

 the services of a sculptor. Inasmucli as birds are a 

 most attractive embellishment to any garden where 

 they ma}' be brought in, and as the bird fountain may 

 be an attractive fejiture also in itself, this idea is 

 worth}" of special study. 



A quiet pool, either formally or inforniallv treated, 

 ma}' become also a most attractive feature of any gar- 

 den. It offers an op])ortunity for growing many beau- 

 tiful plants which otherwise would be inadmissible, it 

 multiplies the garden picture by its reflections, and in 

 every way it Ijrings into the garden those gracious 

 sentiments and sympathies which are most required 

 to make the garden a success. 



After all is said and done,, a garden is jiartly orna- 

 mental as well as useful. It liiust be beautiful and full 

 of pictures. In building up these pictorial effects it is 

 often desirable to introduce furnishings of a purely 

 ornamental character, and such as do not have any 

 justification in actual utility. Garden statuary has al- 

 \\a}s been a subject of consequence. While statuary 

 has been used mostly in formal gardens it can also, 

 with some careful stud}-, lie introduced effectively into 

 informal gardens. It is quite unfortunate that the art 

 of the sculptor is so poorly patronized, and conse- 

 quently so meagerly develojjed in our country. If we 

 were able to liave apjiropriate statuary at the ]M-ices 

 which people of moderate means could afford, \\e 

 could readily .add much of interest and beauty to our 

 gardens from this source. 



Simple columns of stone, marble, or even of wood, 

 serve to add effect to certain points in gardens. This 

 applies especially to the design of formal gardens, but 

 is open for consideration elsewhere. 



The sun dial has come to be a favorite fashionable 

 garden feature. The gazing globe is just as useful and 

 sometimes more attractive, though there seems to be 

 less literary interest in it. Then at various places 

 throughout the garden we may use vases and bowls of 

 all sorts for potted plants and other purposes. 



.A bird house niay become a striking and attracti\-e 

 feature of the garden : and if we undertake a definite 

 cam])aign for the attraction of birds this would be a 

 very natural line of development. 



The garden gate has so much sentiment attached to 

 it that one only has to mention it to commend it. In 

 fitting the garden with those accessories most com- 

 I'atible with human life and enjoyment, there should be 

 now and then an artistic gate. 



(harden furnishings of all sorts have been rare and 

 expensive in this country. The expense of getting 

 good furniture has accounted in man}- instances for 

 the unfortunate conditions of which we have already 

 ccjmplained. Of course, it is impossible to get the 

 finest kind of statuary, the best kinds of fountains or 

 beautiful marble seats except upon pa}-ment of rela- 

 tively large sums. Such payments would be wholly 

 justified in many cases. They \\-ould not be out of 

 scale as compared with the cost of similar furnishings 

 inside many homes. 



-Some of the fashionable garden furniture is made of 

 high grade lumber and painted or enameled white. 

 Such pieces, if well designed, are extremely eft'ective 

 artistically. In many situations, however, it is quite as 

 practical to make furniture of heavy rough lumber in 

 the undressed state, leaving this to take its own color 

 b}- weathering, or staining it with dull neutral stains. 

 Considerable ingenuity and practical sense are re- 

 <|uired to design and Imild furniture of this sort. It is 

 ;i field in which American gardening has not experi- 

 mented sufficiently. 



