424 LANDSCAPE G VRDENING. 



we see a statue or a vase placed in any part of the grounds 

 where a near view is obtained of the house (and its accom- 

 panying statues or vases), the whole is accounted for, and 

 we feel the distant vase to be only a part of, or rather a 

 repetition of the same idea, — in other words, that it forms 

 part of a whole, harmonious and consistent. 



Vases of real stone, as marble or granite, are decorations 

 of too costly a kind ever to come into general use among 

 us. Vases, however, of equally beautiful forms, are manu- 

 factured of artificial stone, of fine pottery, or of cast iron, 

 which have the same eflTect, and are of nearly equal dura- 

 bility, as garden decorations. 



A vase should never, in the open air, be set down upon 

 the ground or grass, without being placed upon a firm base 

 of some description, either a plinth or a pedestal. Without 

 a base of this kind it has a temporary look, as if it had been 

 left there by mere accident, and without any intention of 

 permanence. Placing it upon a pedestal, or square plinth 

 (block of stone), gives it a character of art, at once more 

 dignified and expressive of stability. Besides this, the 

 pedestal in reality serves to preserve the vase in a perpen- 

 dicular position, as well as to expose it fairly to the eye, 

 which could not be the case were it put down, without any 

 preparation, on the bare turf or gravel. 



Figure 69 is a Gothic, and Figures 70, 71, are 

 Grecian vases, commonly manufactured in plaster 

 in our cities, but which are also made of Roman 

 cement. They are here shown upon suitable 

 pedestals — a being the vase, and h the pedestal. 

 ^f^ These with many other elegant vases and urns are 

 manufactured in an artificial stone, as durable as 



;Fig. 69.] 



marble, by Austin of London, and together with a great 



