238 Landscape Gardening 



subjects proper to a sculpture gallery should be transferred 

 at pleasure to the region of the garden as though the latter 

 could claim no style of embellishment peculiar to itself. 



Besides the choice of subject however the style of treat- 

 ment in garden sculpture requires revision. Excessive 

 smoothness, such as will be found in naked figures, is a great 

 charm in works that are to be examined closely and in the 

 house. But out of doors the greater ruggedness of drapery 

 and the introduction of rougher, bolder, and more prominent 

 parts, such as will yield shadows and impart picturesqueness, 

 will be more satisfying to the eye, and more in harmony with 

 natural objects. 



Figures that are composed of plaster and colored nearly 

 white have a very paltry look in a garden, especially if they 

 are so small as almost to degenerate into images. Plaster 

 vases, however, or rather such as are comppsed of what is 

 termed artificial stone or terra cotta, will, if properly col- 

 ored and sanded, scarcely be known from stone at a little 

 distance. 



All sculptured ornaments that are employed in the neigh- 

 borhood of Grecian buildings should be classical in their 

 design, and of whatever material be well executed. Any 

 inferior thing in either of these respects had better never 

 be introduced. Comparatively few manufacturers seem to 

 hit upon pure and simple forms for vases, though there is 

 happily a better taste beginning to prevail in regard to all 

 such subjects. 



Some latitude of choice is allowable with respect to the 

 positions of any architectural figures in a garden. They 

 ought not, however, to be placed out on the middle of a lawn, 

 except in very rare instances (such as sundials occasionally), 

 nor can they usually be allowed to stand on bare earth or in 

 the midst of a bed of flowers or shrubs. The fittest spot for 



