DECORATIVE MATERIAL 



by floriculture to the degree it may deserve, for 

 it must serve as a part in a decorative scheme; 

 otherwise the surroundings will be such as to 

 create a ridiculous contrast between the statue 

 and the setting. Imagine, if you please, a 

 marble Apollo or a bronze Mercury with a 

 whitewashed fence behind, and the clothes hung 

 to dry before it. Yet, if we removed the clothes 

 and substituted a wall, which comported in solid- 

 ity with the material of the statue, the effect 

 would be beautiful, provided, to be sure, that in 

 our composition we had subdued all to that 

 statue: given an important position to it at the 

 back or corner, massed flowers about it, arched it 

 with vines, made reflections of it in a fountain- 

 basin, maybe, led toward it with walks and re- 

 peated its upright attitude in vines and potted 

 trees, so that it would not stand stark and un- 

 supported. Here is a scheme wherein the gar- 

 den is so subordinated, yet as there are four 

 points, either of which could be made focal, the 

 figure might with equal fitness be placed at A, 

 or B, or C, or D. If placed either at A or C, 

 something might be added, for balance' sake, 

 since the plan is formal, at the opposite side — a 

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