72 THE BOOK OF GARDEN FURNITURE 



and Latin may serve as an unkind cut to those of us who 

 have allowed our classics to rust. Among mottos which 

 may be considered appropriate are the following, though 

 they are only given that they may suggest others equally 

 desirable : " I only mark the bright hours ; " " My hours 

 are few, thine are many ; " " There is no return of time 

 which has flown ; " " Bright be thine hours," and many 

 others. Having our dial with motto and pedestal com- 

 plete, we must have it fixed in position by a skilled 

 workman, for the amateur will find its correct adjustment 

 quite beyond him. Surrounded with the old-fashioned 

 flowers, which kept it company in the gardens of long 

 ago, may the old sundial be restored to favour orice more. 

 In these days of bustle and hurry we need not be offended 

 by its silent reminder that we are only very small after 

 all, and even in our gardens might think less of our own 

 skill and importance. 



Garden statuary does not commend itself to every one, 

 but if employed judiciously, excellent effects may be 

 obtained by its use. A few years ago the cost of even 

 comparatively small figures was such that examples were 

 seldom seen, except in the gardens of the very wealthy. 

 This, to a certain extent, safeguarded the practice, for a 

 bad statue was mercifully lost amid the broad surroundings 

 of the show gardens of the early part of the last century. 

 Besides, a costly model, generally, though by no means 

 invariably, possessed some claim on artistic merit. Now- 

 adays, the cheapening of artificial substitutes for stone, 

 and the introduction of vulgar plaster casts, has led to the 

 most frightful errors being perpetrated in modern gardens. 

 Statuary is used in the most reckless fashion cupids, 

 floras, and winged mercurys positively elbow one another 

 among the flower-beds, and in the evening twilight, when 

 the colours of the landscape have merged into a neutral 

 tint, the staring whiteness of these atrocities asserts itself 

 with painful results. A stonemason's yard, though possibly 



