74 GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



readily yield to the natural processes which will 

 mellow and soften its surface. No amount of 

 architectural form or ornament need necessarily be 

 out of place, always provided it is well designed 

 and in a material which harmonises with the vegeta- 

 tion around it. In an old garden it is often the 

 most startling architectural conceit of the early 

 builder which pleases us most ; but this is because 

 his stone and his brick have long since lost every 

 trace of artificiality, until they have seemed a 

 natural growth, so transformed are they by their 

 dress of creeper, moss or lichen, or by the bufferings 

 of a century or two of storms. A good deal is 

 heard at the present time of " texture " in building 

 materials, and since it often represents a fad or 

 the desire for a false appearance of antiquity, we 

 are apt to give the expression a wide berth. It 

 remains, however, precisely the word to employ in 

 the matter of garden walls and buildings, for the 

 surface should have a texture sufficiently rough to 

 invite the action of the weather upon it, to aid the 

 growth of creepers and parasitic plants, and to 

 blend its colour and tone with the living vegetation 

 in the midst of which it is placed. Many otherwise 



