446 



Garden and Forest. 



[November 14, 18 



years the appearance of hair-like growths from the under 

 side of an occasional floret has been observed, but they 

 were never sufficiently numerous to give any character to 

 the flower. But last year the remarkable variety, Mrs. 

 Alpheus Hardy, which was figured in the first number of 

 this journal, was found in a Japanese importation, and in 

 this each floret was thickly set with these slender growths, 

 giving an entirely new character and expression to the 

 head. Up to a comparatively recent time the section 

 with laciniated florets invariably had small heads, which 

 did not show distinctly this characteristic. Some of the 

 newer varieties of this type have florets three inches long, 

 with four or more bifurcations, and spreading at least to 

 three-quarters of an inch in width. In many cases the 

 florets, for two-thirds of their length from the disc, are 

 tubular, and then branch abruptly into their particular 

 toothed forms. And the disposition of the florets is quite 

 as interesting as their shape. In many cases their ar- 

 rangement is flat ; again they are reflexed; while in others 

 still they are incurved and confused into a globular mass 

 of slender shreds, which often show the upper and lower 

 surface in each floret. But slight modifications of these 

 characters are needed for the origination of a new class 

 of Chrysanthemums as distinct as any heretofore produced. 

 But whatever the forms with which the Chrysanthemum 

 may be endowed in the future, we may feel sure, from what 

 we know of its inherited tendencies, that the flower will 

 continue to show that freedom and fluent grace of outline 

 which so strongly commend it to the taste of the time. 



Piazzas. — II. 



WE explained last week that there is no need for 

 piazzas so extensive as those which a few years 

 ago were commonly attached to our country houses. Their 

 full purpose may be served in almost every possible case 

 if they are placed only on one side of the house, or on a 

 corner, so as partly to encircle two sides. The interior is 

 thus left more free for the admission of light and sun, and 

 architectural effect is improved, while convenience is am- 

 ply considered. Especially is this true if the co^■ered 

 piazza is supplemented by other external features. 



Indeed, the chance to secure such features is in itself 

 sufficient reason why piazzas should not be too large. In 

 a house of the old piazza-encircled type it was difficult, for 

 instance, to emphasize the chief entrance, which, if a home 

 is to have the right effect, should always be hospitably 

 prominent. Upper balconies, which are often so useful as 

 weir as pretty, could not be well placed above the long 

 piazza roofs. Terraces were hard to treat, and that delight- 

 ful feature, the Italian loggia, was impossible, at least on 

 the ground floor. 



Of late we have begun to employ these other external 

 features with the happiest results in the way of comfort 

 as well as beauty. The front door is accentuated by an 

 independent porch, often usefully extended over the drive- 

 way. Upper balconies are attached to the chief bedrooms 

 or thrown out from any window which chances to com- 

 mand a particularly attractive view. Uncovered terraces 

 of turf or of stone are formed where needful, and a portion 

 of the piazza itself is often left uncovered, supplying a 

 pleasant place of resort when dull weather or autumn cold 

 renders a roof unnecessary, and delightful at night in 

 warmer weather. And loggias are seen in both the lower 

 and the upper stories. 



No architectural innovation is more to be commended 

 than the use of the loggia, which may be described as a 

 recessed piazza — a piazza set back into the body of the 

 house, flanked at either end by the walls and covered by 

 the projection of the upper story. In Italy it does not 

 usually appear on the ground floor, for there this floor is 

 not devoted to the chief apartments ; but its effect is 

 just as good when it is adapted to our own customs of 

 building and living. In certain very exposed situations 

 the piazza may well be entirely banished in favor of a 



loggia, and in others a small open piazza may be effectively 

 supplemented by a larger loggia; while in almost every 

 country house at least a little loggia should be intro- 

 duced either up-stairs or down. Our climate is so very 

 variable that too careful a provision can hardly be made 

 for changing winds and skies and temperatures. 



Another useful device is a terrace protected by a trellis 

 over which are trained vines that will soon form a thick 

 summer covering, while their naked stems will in winter 

 admit light and sun to the rooms behind. Or an awning 

 may be used if its effect is preferred, or if there is danger 

 that the vines will harbor too many mosquitoes. It has, in- 

 deed, a certain advantage over vines in that it may be 

 rolled back in dark weather and supported on movable 

 posts, which can be taken down in winter. Of course 

 neither of these expedients really fills the place of a true 

 piazza, for although they screen from the sun they admit 

 the rain ; and if they are of great extent they detract from 

 solidity of effect in the house. But a small vine-covered 

 terrace is never inadmissible, and a small awning is rarely 

 offensive : and they may at least be recommended as sup- 

 plements to a true piazza, or even as substitutes for it in 

 houses occupied throughout the year and in positions where 

 a permanent piazza-roof would be a serious inconvenience. 



We have already said that the pleasing treatment of 

 piazzas is one of the most difficult of current architectural 

 problems. It is true that charming houses with long 

 verandas have been built for generations in certain south- 

 ern countries. But although we may get valuable hints from 

 them, they cannot be used as models. Ours is not a 

 truly southern climate, but one in which almost tropical 

 heat alternates with almost .'Siberian cold. Our more 

 complicated habits of life demand more complicated 

 ground-plans than those which serve, for instance, for 

 an Indian bungalow, and every deviation from a simply 

 outlined and low-roofed form makes the right architectural 

 use of piazzas more difficult. Yet until within quite recent 

 years the problem was hardly recognized as such. No at- 

 tempt was made so to unite the piazza with the house, in 

 both form and material, that it should seem an inteeral 

 part of it, and not a mere attached shed. Whatever the 

 material of the house, the piazza was built of wood, and it 

 was simply tacked on to the walls without the slightest 

 thought of union. Its roofs had no relation to the roofs of 

 the house, and its forms were very slight and fragile — the 

 jig-saw running riot in a vain effort to adorn it, but no se- 

 rious attempt being made to build it beautifully. To-day 

 we see a very great change for the better. The piazza is 

 treated — with more or less success, of course — as part and 

 parcel of the house. It is borne by a solid substructure 

 instead of by isolated posts which allow the cellar vi'alls to 

 be seen, or by a chicken-coop lattice. This substructure is 

 often continued around the piazza as a solid parapet, some 

 three feet in height, which has both artistic and practical 

 merit, for it increases solidity, and therefore dignity of ef- 

 fect, and it screens the feet of the occupants from the wind 

 and protects them somewhat from the gaze of passers while 

 interfering not at all with coolness or with freedom of out- 

 look. If the house is of brick or stone the same material is 

 used to build posts of the piazza, or if wood is employed, 

 simpler and more artistic forms are chosen for them. And 

 it is covered by an outward sweep of the main roof of the 

 house, or by such a disposition of an independent roof 

 that it may play a conspicuous and harmonious part in the 

 general outline of the building. On houses of the revived 

 colonial type the piazza naturally has a flat, balustraded 

 roof, which may be utilized as an uncovered balcony 

 for the upper floor, or some parts of it may be roofed in 

 again as an upper piazza. Difticulties are hardly as great, 

 perhaps, when a flat roof can be employed, as M^hen a 

 steep one is required by the fashion of the greater roof 

 above. Yet, whatever the scheme, we here and there find 

 instances, in ever-increasing number, where it has been 

 thoroughly well managed. Of course an ideal degree of 

 success is seldom seen as yet, and many of our new houses 



