PERGOLAS 47 



styles with which I have been dealing. However, in 

 many cases the square shape is the more appropriate, and 

 helps to make the pergola a distinct feature from the 

 series of arches which sometimes take its place. Few 

 garden structures present less difficulty in the way of 

 construction than the pergola ; indeed, the great point 

 is to avoid over-elaboration. Simplicity and a certain 

 degree of solidity are the main points to be considered, 

 and the amateur who undertakes the building himself, or 

 commissions another to do it for him, should see that 

 they are faithfully carried out. 



With ordinary care and the exercise of taste, the 

 erection of the pergola is easy enough, but apparently 

 it is a more difficult matter to place it in a suitable 

 position. At least this is the conclusion one arrives at, 

 after seeing a number of pergolas situated so that much 

 of their beauty and raison d'etre is entirely lost. A great 

 number of gardens contain absolutely no spot where a 

 pergola is needful or desirable, and these are the very 

 places where we generally find that misdirected enthu- 

 siasm has been responsible for an eyesore. Of all unlikely 

 places, the centre of a lawn would seem the last, yet such 

 positions are frequently enough occupied by a pergola, 

 often built of massive stone or cumbrous brickwork. 

 Clothed with the choicest plants, and faultless in con- 

 struction, they can never be satisfactory in such spots, 

 simply because the real reason for their existence is here 

 entirely absent. A pergola should serve as a walk leading 

 from one place to another, and the way to fully appre- 

 ciate their beauty is to view them from the inside, not 

 the outside. One would hardly think of walking down 

 the centre of the grass plot, when there were paths 

 surrounding it, and thus only one side of the pergola is 

 visible at a time. If placed over a walk in frequent use, 

 we see not only the vista from end to end, but we obtain 

 as well charming peeps of the garden scene, framed 



