486* Wooden Ruslic-'woth 



pies may be formed of unbarked wood. Ornamehtal doorsj 

 every description of garden seats and flower-baskets, and vases 

 of very elegant forms, may be composed of the same material. 

 Shady walks, also, having the pleasing gloom and enriched 

 effect of a Gothic cloister, may be made of wooden rustic-work; 

 indeed, there is scarcely any kind of garden ornament to which 

 it may not be adapted. I allude more particularly to what I 

 call wood mosaic, which is, I believe, rather a modern invention. 

 It is formed of split sticks, of various lengths and sizes, and 

 having bark of different colours. The pieces are nailed to any 

 flat surface of wood, and very beautiful and elaborate patterns 

 may be produced by arranging the pieces according to their sizes 

 and the various colours of the bark. Elegant garden seats, and 

 vases of almost any shape, may be covered with this kind of 

 mosaic work : but, as it is not durable when constantly exposed 

 to the weather, it is most suitable for the inside of summer- 

 houses and garden temples. In such situations, the richest 

 specimens might be introduced; and, if varnished over, they 

 would last for a number of years. There are some handsome 

 and rather costly specimens of this kind of ornament in the 

 flower-garden at Bagshot Park, made, I believe, under the 

 direction of the intelligent gardener there. 



I greatly admired the garden entrance at Bagshot, which is a 

 sort of Gothic cloister of trelliswork overhung with shrubs; 

 but I did not observe any specimens of very elaborate workman- 

 ship, except some flower-baskets, and the inside of a summer- 

 house, in which were borders of round pieces of wood cut across 

 the grain and varnished. The effect was very ornamental, and 

 the pieces of wood had almost the appearance of large agates. 

 The admirers of moss houses may see a beautiful specimen of 

 this kind of work in one of the summer-houses at Bagshot. 

 The various shades of moss are arranged in stripes and panels 

 against the walls, in a manner much superior to anything of the 

 kind that I had before seen. There is here none of that ragged 

 looseness usually seen in moss-work ; and it has the rich effect 

 of uncut velvet, or rug-work, with a close even surface, on 

 which birds can make no impression. It appeared to me to 

 have been pressed into small masses, and built up like bricks. 

 Probably some sort of cement is mixed with the moss. It forms 

 a beautiful lining for a garden temple ; and, if Mr. Toward, the 

 gardener, is the inventor of this kind of moss- work, it does great 

 credit to his taste and ingenuity. [Mr. Toward has kindly sent 

 us a view, with working drawings and descriptions, of this moss- 

 house, which we shall give in our next.] 



But I am wandering from my purpose in troubling you with 

 this paper, which is to show how an embellished effect may be 

 given to a small garden by the use of ornaments of wooden rustic? 



