76 THE BOOK OF GARDEN FURNITURE 



Quaint Pan himself, the guardian of the honey-bees, with 

 legs of a goat and playing upon his reeds, is to be found 

 in many of our most beautiful garden scenes. Heavily 

 draped female figures, bearing scrolls or clasping ponderous 

 garlands, are both clumsy and unsuitable ; the same may 

 be said of the highly developed athletes, whose muscles 

 may, however, serve to excite the admiration of the 

 garden-boy, and suggest a closer application to the spade 

 as a means of attaining similar development. Lions, 

 either of the couchant or rampant variety, are utterly 

 incongruous in the flower-garden, and the eagles, griffins, 

 and other supporters of the family coat of arms, should 

 not be allowed to trespass beyond the entrance gates. 



There is one class of statuary to which I have not 

 referred, that in terra-cotta, one of the most popular 

 materials for garden ornaments of all kinds. Whatever 

 may be said in favour of urns and vases in coloured clay, 

 there can be no defence for its use for garden statuary. 

 The colour is a most difficult one to harmonise success- 

 fully with flowers of any description, and the only time 

 when it has the merit of looking even cheerful is in 

 winter, when we are obliged to swathe it in a protective 

 covering of mats. Old leaden figures fetch high prices 

 nowadays, and the more ornate are only suitable for quite 

 large gardens. Small statues may often be picked up 

 fairly cheaply, and, when mounted on a suitable pedestal, 

 form pleasing objects. 



Stone busts cannot be said to be in keeping with 

 flowers, or where colour and lightness are predominant, 

 yet we have seen them used with good effect in the 

 vicinity of formal yew hedges, whose sombre shadows 

 they relieve. Even then it is possible to overdo their 

 use, and they become monotonous when placed in stifF 

 rows, guarding the sides of the pathway. Formality in 

 garden design, though not always desirable, becomes 

 almost a necessity where statues are to form part of the 



