84 GARDEX ADORXMEXTS 



Peradeniya Gardens consist of wrought-iron ends, with narrow 

 strips of wood forming the seat and back. All seats, with perhaps 

 the exception of rustic ones, should be painted, and this requires 

 to be done at least once a year. The most suitable colour, for the 

 low-country at any rate, is light-grey. This does not become dis- 

 coloured so rapidly as other tints, and in many cases it improves, 

 rather than deteriorate, in colour by exposure to the weather. Both 

 green and chocolate paints very quickly become dark and dirty- 

 looking. Zinc or other good kind should always be used in 

 preference to lead paints. 



Adornments. Gardens in the tropics are as yet seldom 

 embellished with such artificial adornments as statuary, beautiful 

 vases, elaborate fountains, etc., as are met with in gardens of 

 temperate countries. Yet other and simpler devices in the form 



A KANDYAN MEMORIAL (THWAITES*), PEKADENIYA GARDENS. 



of arbours, arches, and trellis-covered walks on which ornamental 

 creepers or climbers may be trained, are often adopted, and with very 

 pleasing effect. Any adornments used should, as far as possible, take a 

 practical form and serve a useful purpose ; thus a fountain may be 

 utilised for the growth of water plants, rearing rish, etc. ; vases 

 should be adopted for the successful display of ornamental plants ; 

 while pergolas may be made to provide cool shade as \vell as means 

 for the effective display of ornamental climbers. 



Pergolas. A pergola consists of an archway over a walk, 

 usually formed of rough stems and branches of trees, or piers of 



