Practical Considerations 165 



eaves to the roofs of buildings, and by any arrangement that 

 will yield depth of shadow, should be the ruling constituent 

 of garden architecture. 



Every architectural object admitted into a garden should 

 form part of the general plan of that garden and fit into its 

 proper place. It will create a serious incongruity if merely 

 put down at random, or not duly established as a part of the 

 main design. Smaller architectural ornaments, too, must be 

 adequately connected with and kept in the neighborhood of 

 the house or other sufficiently important building, otherwise 

 they will be too different from the forms of nature to appear 

 harmonious. 



A strictly garden building or object, unless very large, 

 should never be obtrusive. It ought always to be quiet look- 

 ing, and not violently different in color from the surround- 

 ing vegetation. Hence, white, whether in marble, stone, or 

 painted objects, is decidedly to be avoided, and a warm drab 

 or darker tint preferred. 



When a terrace or other ornamental wall — whether balus- 

 traded or otherwise pierced, or simply devoid of any relief in 

 the way of openings — becomes the principal foreground to a 

 garden or other scene, as viewed from the windows of the 

 house, it will appear too hard, cold, monotonous, however 

 much it may be broken up by piers, vases, etc., without some 

 aid from grass and shrubs. In all such cases, therefore, there 

 should be a broad band of grass between the terrace walk and 

 the wall, and a few clusters of evergreens, risi-ng in broken 

 masses above the line of the wall, or of climbers mantling its 

 summit in occasional patches, will require to be skillfully in- 

 troduced; otherwise the wall would seem to divorce rather 

 than mingle with the landscape beyond. 



To pass from the consideration of garden architecture, 

 which, however seductive a topic, scarcely falls within the 



