CHAPTER XII 



Garden Furniture 



A GARDEN of any size should not be without a garden seat, a 

 bird bath and similar adjuncts. Convenient seats and appro- 

 priate garden accessories should be a great joy. Inappropriate 

 and mean-nothing garden features should always be avoided. Pergolas 

 which lead nowhere nor hold up any vine are out of place. Garden 

 fences which are too fantastic are like the too frequent highly ornate 

 vases used in our homes for the simplest flowers. Furthermore, the 

 style of the house and the manner of planting will largely determine 

 the propriety of every garden seat, bird house or fence. 



GARDEN BENCHES. An excellent, substantial garden bench may 

 be constructed quite cheaply. A working drawing for such a bench is 

 shown. It is made entirely of three-inch stuff, and can be either 1 

 longer or shorter than six feet. It has been thought best to place 

 the legs one foot from each end of the bench, unless the bench is shorter, 

 when it will be better to have them six inches from the end. Four 

 designs are here found for the ends. They are merely suggestive; 

 others may be used just as well, but they should be simple and in 

 every case should be wide at top and bottom. Small brackets 

 are placed under the top on each side of the legs. They are made of 

 two- or three-inch material, the legs of the right angle being three 

 inches. If one prefers, three long screws may be placed through the 

 top of the bench into the standards. In order to give the legs a good 

 standard, they are faced on all sides at the base with a strip of two by 

 two and one-half-inch stuff. The bench may be painted white, light 

 gray or green. 



RUSTIC WOODWORK. For this work there are a number of good 

 sorts of wood. Some are used with the bark and other wood is peeled 

 before using. Hickory, red Cedar, Cherry, Blackthorn, Birch, Larch 

 and Fir are used with the bark. Such wood should be used only 

 when dry and is best cut hi the Winter, when little sap is flowing. It 

 is stored to dry and season. 



To make the chair (p. 128), select two back poles which have 

 nearly the same curve, then the front posts which are nearly straight. 

 There are two ways the parts may be joined, the first way being to bore 

 holes in both the uprights and crosspieces and fit pegs or dowels of 

 ash or elm into them. The other method is to make a tenon at the 



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