280 



The Country House 



A vase at "Maxwell Court" 



red or white may serve to strengthen corners and centres, and it is almost 

 imperative that one or the other be used in a considerable solid mass, to reinforce 



the central feature or to serve as a foil to the same. 

 In the combined problem of house and garden, 

 the house itself is supposed to count as the prin- 

 cipal accessory, but this is the sense of two 

 opposing forces forming a contrast in their junc- 

 tion. The major architectural motive in the 

 garden proper is usually located at the opposite 

 end to the house, in the centre of the sides or less 

 frequently in the middle. The lesser features are 

 spaced relatively to the larger motives, as tjie 

 composition suggests. 



Italian and English gardens require more or 

 less accessory, it being a requisite of the stylr. 

 Colonial gardens, on the contrary, being perhaps 

 more strictly flower gardens, require but little of 

 this sort of embellishment. Where the garden is 

 modelled after some distinct style, the furniture 

 should be of that style or of the style from which 

 the garden is derived. Hence the Italian garden, 

 being founded on old Roman and 1'ompi-ian lines, 

 might well be furnished with furniture of these 

 periods as well as that of the Renaissance. A 

 jumble of plunder from the four corners of the earth is not desirable in a garden. 

 It is no museum, in spite of the fact that it is frequently treated as such. The 

 natural lines of the garden suggest emphatic spotting at certain points; what is 

 done beyond this is superfluous and harmful. If the top of the wall is to be the 

 receptacle for pots, statues or architectural fragments, that portion below it 

 should be emphasised by either post or pilaster effect, suggesting that such fur- 

 niture really belonged there and has support. 



Of the numerous types of garden accessory for ordinary conditions, there 

 might be mentioned pergolas, arbours, trellises, summer houses, fences, walls, 

 gates, seats, steps, sun-dials, fountains, statuary, pots and urns. In rare cases 

 tea houses, isolated dens, studios, towers, windmills, dove-cotes, bridges, free 

 columns and lanterns, may be used to considerable advantage. In the tying of 

 the garden to the house, several natural features of the latter are used which in 

 themselves suggest introduction to the open air. Thus the porch, veranda and 

 piazza, or their variations, serve well this purpose, and at the same time make 

 their own excuse for existing more secure in so doing. To break the hard line 

 of intersection between the house and garden, vines, etc., may be used, but it is 

 essential that too much of the architectural detail is not hidden or the light cut off 

 from the house by this treatment. 



As the effect of the garden is benefited by being much lower than the house 

 level, the link between the former and the porch or kindred motive is attained 

 through the medium of the terrace, which involves steps and, perhaps, walls and 



