268 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



this description. Thus, with excellent effect 

 the stream may be made to pass over a rocky 

 bed, merging from a very gradual slope into the 

 most precipitous descent, while the margins 

 may be made to appear as if consisting of ledges 

 of natural rocky strata, giving endless oppor- 

 tunities for the introduction of plants suitable 

 for the partial clothing which is necessary to 

 give meaning to the design. 



A Rootery. — As a means of more or less screen- 

 ing from view an unsightly object, the roots of 

 large trees can sometimes be employed with good 

 results. Any refuse material, such as that which 

 may have been dug from the foundations of 

 buildings, and which it may be an advantage to 

 get rid of at little cost of transport, can be used 

 in the formation of the mound, carrying it up 

 with much steeper slope than would be necessary 

 in the case of rock-work. The roots can then 

 be piled up in a grotesque manner over its 

 surface, giving the base a sufficient breadth to 

 afford stability and produce the desired effect, 

 using judgment as the work proceeds, to place 

 the materials to the best advantage, and carrying 

 up the pile to whatever reasonable height may 

 seem desirable. At the base of this mound 

 Ivies in variety, Virginian Creeper, Vitis Labrusca 

 and V. riparia (odoratissima) and other North 

 American Vines, crimson Boursault, Ayrshire 

 and other rampant Roses, Clematis flammula, 

 C. Vitality and numbers of other fast -growing 

 plants that will speedily impart to the whole a 

 well-furnished appearance, may be planted. If 

 the root-stumps are well selected, not using 

 small ones or such as decay quickly, the Rootery 

 will last many years. 



Decorations. — Various objects in the shape of 

 vases, fountains, and statues of man and ani- 

 mals, such as deer, hounds, wild boar, horses, 

 lions, &c, are often employed in gardens, the 

 effect being good or bad according to the judg- 

 ment exercised in selecting such as are appro- 

 priate to the surroundings and the sites which 

 they occupy. 



Statuary should be employed but sparingly in 

 private gardens, and never occupy too prominent 

 a position. The effect produced by a well-chosen 

 statue placed in a retired nook, and backed up 

 by the dense foliage of evergreen trees and 

 shrubs, is not unfrequently very good; whereas 

 if it had occupied a prominent position, the 

 effect would have been indifferent or altogether 

 in bad taste. The material of which objects of 

 this kind introduced into gardens consist, is 

 also of importance. Stone, or metal painted of 

 a stone-colour, is doubtless the best. Marble 



always looks out of place in our climate with its 

 often leaden skies and lack of sunshine. The 

 numerous compositions in imitation of stone are 

 not of an enduring kind, and at best look paltry, 

 so that unless the figure has some pretensions 

 as a work of art, such as these are better dis- 

 pensed with altogether. If a group of several 

 figures is introduced, it should always be made 

 subordinate, and, as in the case of a single figure, 

 should not be placed in any position where it 

 may convey the idea that it is of greater im- 

 portance than the garden it is intended to em- 

 bellish. In any garden, large or small, no single 

 object should find a place which has the effect 

 of reducing the legitimate living occupants to a 

 subordinate position. The architectural style 

 of the building to which the garden is attached 

 is also a matter for consideration when statuary 

 is introduced. Where the architecture is wholly 

 or in part Italian, the moderate use of statuary 

 will not be inappropriate 



The presence of vases, filled as they generally 

 are with living plants, conveys to the mind a 

 different impression to that produced by statu- 

 ary, inasmuch as the purpose to which they are 

 put imparts to them the character of usefulness, 

 or of subordination to the objects which are 

 cultivated in them. Here again the material 

 employed should be stone, or iron coloured in 

 imitation of stone. The position they occupy 

 is a matter of the first importance. They may 

 frequently be placed with good effect in the 

 immediate vicinity of the dwelling, or at the 

 point where several walks meet; and at the 

 termination of a walk, where there is often an 

 apparent lacking of some prominent object, one 

 large vase or several may be placed with excel- 

 lent effect. On terrace walls in proximity to a 

 flower-garden of regular pattern vases are often 

 introduced, and serve to relieve the sometime 

 objectionable even surface of the bedded-out 

 I plants; but here again the size of the vases 

 should bear some proportion to the size and 

 general equipment of the garden of which the}' 

 are accessories. We sometimes see vases filled 

 with flowers of the most glaring colours placed 

 on terrace walls that divide the dressed ground 

 from that which partakes of a park-like charac- 

 ter, and where such colours even in small amount 

 are most inharmonious. In such positions vases 

 are quite out of place; but on the margins of a 

 walk running parallel to a boundary wall, the 

 latter being covered with Ivy or other plants, 

 they may be very effectively employed, the 

 colours they display being brought out and 

 relieved by the background of foliage, instead of 



