SEATS i i 



improve the appearance of the landscape. The simpler 

 the construction of stone seats, the better, and, I may add, 

 the cheaper, for nothing raises the cost of these so much 

 as the introduction of lions' heads, ornamental frieze 

 designs, and supporting figures. The best shapes are 

 perfectly plain, or nearly so, the back perhaps slightly 

 panelled, and the ends the familiar bracket, with as 

 little scroll work as possible. If the seat is not placed on 

 a terrace or paved walk, it should stand on a slab or bed 

 of concrete. A variety of designs may now be procured 

 in artificial stone, which soon weathers a good colour, and 

 is for all practical purposes as durable as the genuine 

 material. Small seats for one person do not as a rule 

 look well in stone, though often a wall recess between 

 two buttresses, or the embrasure of a disused doorway, 

 may be fittingly occupied in this manner. 



The garden seat constructed entirely of wood, with 

 which we are most familiar, is that made of rough 

 branches, and dignified by the name of "rustic-work." 

 This material is the despair of all good garden architects, 

 who often have the chagrin of seeing their best work 

 spoilt by its introduction in the form of tables, chairs, 

 and other portable articles of furniture. For supreme 

 discomfort the rustic garden seat is not to be equalled, 

 and, owing to the intricacies of its design, it is impossible 

 to clean it when it becomes dirty, which is usually very 

 soon. Give the village hurdle-maker a free hand, and he 

 will evolve a truly wonderful arrangement of twisted and 

 contorted woodwork, and proudly point to it as a work 

 of art, and an ornament to any garden. I once saw 

 a wooden seat, completely covered with a design in fir 

 cones, and numerous others carried out in impossible 

 materials, the whole suggesting refined instruments of 

 torture, rather than objects for ornament and some degree 

 of comfort. The makers of rustic seats have their living 

 to make, and so long as the public want their goods we 



