Arrangement of Flower Gardens. 85 



FLORAL ARCHITECTURE. 



The decorative parts of architecture were originally derived 

 from flowers and plants. The lotos flower presents us with a 

 model of the principal embellishments of Indian buildings, and 

 the palm-tree seems to have given the first idea of columns to 

 the ancients. Hiram ornamented the capitals of the celebrated 

 pillars he wrought for Solomon with lilies and pomegranates • 

 and the Corinthian capital is stated to have been first invented 

 by Callimachus, a famous architect, who, being engaged to make 

 some pillars at Corinth, toojc the form of his enrichment from the 

 following accidental circumstance .-—Passing a basket, covered 

 with a large tile, that had been placed on the ground over a root 

 of acanthus, the stalks and leaves of which had burst forth, and 

 spreading themselves on the outside of the basket, were bent 

 back again at the top by the corners of the tile, the beautiful ap- 

 pearance of this combination so delighted Callimachus by its ele- 

 gance and novelty, that he immediately adopted the form of the 

 basket surrounded with the acanthus as a capital for his pillars. 



Repton remarks, that the general forms of enrichment may be 

 thus classed:— "The Gothic maybe derived from the bud or 

 germ, the Grecian from the leaf, and the Indian from the flower; 

 a singular coincidence," says this British architect, "which seems' 

 to mark that these three styles are and ought to be kept perfectly 

 distinct.'* The pagodas of the Chinese seem to us to have been 

 modelled after the form of some species of pine trees [Phillips]. 

 It is a remarkable fact that the candlestick of the Tabernacle,' 

 Exodus xxv. 31, was, with regard to its ornamental work, fash- 

 ioned exactly, in all its parts, after the almond blossom, flower- 

 cup, bud, fruit, and even the stem. 



We are indebted to the courtesy of Rufus Porter, Esq., 

 Editor of the Scientific American, for the following plate, which 

 so aptly answers our purpose. 



