STATUARY, TREILLAGE AND GARDEN FURNITURE. 



lines in the same material, I would certainly advise that this be done. Elsewhere, 

 however, wood will look more in keeping with the sentiment of the English garden. 



Within the last few years there has been a great improvement in the design of the 

 general run of garden seats, though examination of a few examples will show that too 

 much attention has been paid to the effort to copy the general lines of pre-Georgian 

 work without giving sufficient care to the relation and proportioning of parts. Most of 

 the designs seem to lack definite purpose in their conception and execution, and in those 

 given (Ills. Nos. 226, 227, 228, 229, 230 and 231) an attempt has been made to over- 

 come this de- 

 fect, and to 

 give a seat of 

 comfortable 

 proportions 

 without sacri- 

 ficing grace of 

 form. The 

 usual length 

 for such seats 

 is six feet, 



but, of course, for special positions, from five feet to twelve feet long may be necessary. 

 Where, however, the length exceeds nine feet, an extra arm dividing it into two parts 

 is often desirable. 



For woodland walks and outlying parts of the grounds, very simple designs are 

 usually best. A very good form is that in which the back is made of solid boards and 

 is hinged so as to close over the seat and keep it clean when not in use. Such a 

 contrivance may, with care, be made quite neat and in keeping with its sylvan 

 surroundings. 



Of iron seats, it may be said with truth that most of the existing patterns are 

 atrociously ugly, and not very comfortably proportioned. There is no reason why this 



FIG. 226. 



FIG. 227. 



FIG. 228. 



FIG 229. 



should be so, and the writer has seen Georgian examples in that most intractable of all 

 materials, cast iron, which were charming in every way. It is the more modern 

 productions with their ridiculous filigree ornament which offend the canons of taste to 

 the greatest degree. 



Curved seats are often required, and are particularly suitable for placing at the 

 end of a garden vista, when additional point may be given to the arrangement by 

 marking the centre from which the curve is struck by a sundial or a choice piece of 

 statuary on a tall pedestal. Illustration No. 232 shows a similar arrangement which 



169 



