RUSTIC WORK. 



399 



spruce, fir, and larch ; because these retain their bark a longer time without 

 its decaying, than any other common British wood. If tliese kinds cannot be 

 procured, then it is better to remove the bark. Structures of this kind are 

 not uncommon in pleasure-grounds : that now described was erected, some 

 years ago, at Murtle, in Aberdeenshire, by Mr. James Alexander, then gar- 

 dener there. The cost is chiefly labour, the whole timber and other materials 

 not exceeding in value 5^. For other moss-houses, see figs. 123. and 124., in 

 p. 214 and p. 215. 



472. Rustic Work may often be introduced with very good effect in park 

 scenery. A rustic gate and railing {see fig. 255), maybe used to form a 



257 



boundary between the park and the pleasure-grounds ; and a rustic bridge 

 {fig. 257), somewhat decorated, may form the connecting link between the 



258 



259 



dressed ground and the wild scenery. 

 A bridge of this kind, which is of very 

 simple construction, though very orna- 

 mental, has the advantage of being very 

 easily constructed, by any village car- 

 penter, of materials which are found in 

 abundance in every large park. A rustic 

 table may be formed by cutting off the 

 head of a tree, and fixing the trunk in 

 the ground (unless the tree were low 

 enough for it to be left growing), with a 



260 



