20 On Garden Architecture. 



objects are what are called "rustic summer-houses," "rustic fences," 

 " rustic gates," " rustic steps," and lath and clapboard trellisses, arcades, 

 and pavilions, with many others which we shall meet in our progress ; 

 in general, all objects which have an unfinished and temporary look, and 

 all which, like " rustic steps," so called, suggest the idea of rottenness and 

 decay. These things are all well enough in their places. A rustic sum- 

 mer-house is very well as an accompaniment to a gate-keeper's lodge 

 or a rural retreat ; but it is not fit for a garden. A shingle and clapboard 

 pavilion will answer very well for a " cottage ornee," in the " carpenter's 

 Gothic " style, or for a " bier garten ; " but it is quite unsuited to a 

 garden. 



It is proper to specify that by rustic summer-houses are meant those 

 which are built of logs and cat-sticks unstripped of their bark, and with 

 their rough arms but half amputated ; which catch you by the garments as 

 you go in, fray them when you sit down, and tear them from you when you 

 rise to go out ; which, in the rough sinuosities of the bark, afford eligible 

 habitations, breeding-places, and retreats for innumerable insects; over 

 which beetles delight to clamber ; and which are the nearest approach to a 

 paradise that a spider can comprehend. These are as unsuited to a gar- 

 den, as the primitive log-hut, from which they are directly descended, is well 

 suited to a " hard-cider campaign," and should be forever banished. There 

 is, however, a kind of rustic edifice which may be used to advantage in a 

 certain kind of a garden, to which we shall come by and by. 



All artificial objects in a garden should have the appearance of both ele- 

 gance and stability. Summer-houses or pavilions should look as if they 

 could outlast the winter, without being disintegrated by frost, or blown away 

 by the wind : and they should not present the appearance of being the es- 

 pecial homes of bugs and spiders ; for ladies should be able to go into them 

 and sit down, dressed in silks or muslins, as they would go into a drawing- 

 room, of which a garden pavilion may be regarded as a sort of out-door 

 synonyme. 



As the garden is and should be an adjunct to the house, communicating 

 directly with it, and having for its purpose to add to the delight of its occu- 

 pants, it should be laid out, and all its details should be designed, in refer- 

 ence to it. From the house, the garden should always present an aspect 



