Garden Furniture 347 



of the urns and vases, if Greek and Roman models be used, have 

 deeper bowls than most of them possess, and holes in the bottom for 

 drainage, otherwise the plants set out in them on terraces, walls 

 and balustrades will surely wither away. The brims should be 

 smoothly rounded if they are not to cut the vines growing over 

 the edge. Vases need not necessarily be used in pairs, even in the 

 most formal of gardens. A replica of a splendid great Greek vase 

 may well be given a niche to itself in the concave wall of a clipped 

 evergreen hedge against which its faultless symmetry stands 

 revealed in bold relief. To duplicate a dignified and satisfying 

 ornament of this character is but to cheapen its effect. 



Everyone who may have a fountain in his garden should not 

 deprive himself of the refreshing sound of its splashing waters, 

 the mirror-like effect of its pool, the companionship of birds which 

 it will bring close to his doorstep. Nothing attracts so many 

 feathered neighbours as fresh water for them to bathe in and to 

 drink (they are not squeamish, they will drink their baths). 

 Goldfish, which should live in every fountain basin to keep mos- 

 quito larvae exterminated, may be tamed, as well as the birds, to 

 eat out of one's hand. Robins, thrushes, cat-birds, brown-thrashers 

 and mocking-birds, especially, are inveterate bathers and hard 

 drinkers. No others are finer songsters. 



One cannot think of fountains without seeing on the inner 

 eye visions of the superbly beautiful ones in Italy, the land of 

 garden magic. At the Villa d'Este, where the use of fountains, 

 cascades, canals, rivulets and pools would seem to have reached the 

 pinnacle of possibility, thanks to the abundant water supply of the 

 river Anio, there is a studied simplicity in the midst of grandeur 

 which it would be well to follow in gardens large or small. No 

 posing mermaids combing their hair, no spouting dolphins, no 



