June, 1907 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



281 



finished floor boards will be found more 

 economical to lay and more satisfactory than 

 one of rough poles. 



As for pergolas, the country seems to be 

 in the midst of a severe and widespread 

 epidemic of them. Nowadays, one would 

 almost as soon expect to find a garden without 

 a Crimson Rambler as without a pergola. 

 One sees them made out of everything from 

 marble to old clothes poles. The thing 

 really seems to be in danger of being very 

 much overdone. A pergola, primarily, is 

 a vine-covered passage from some place to 

 some other place. Usually, however, one 

 enters it from the lawn and comes out on the 

 lawn. 



One of the most attractive forms of pergola 

 — if you must have one — is that with rough 

 plaster columns supporting the framework 

 of white painted beams and cross-pieces. 

 These plaster columns are not nearly so 

 hard to build nor so expensive as their 

 appearance would indicate. Set a sub- 

 stantial fence post in the ground, say six 

 inches in diameter, and build around it an 

 approximately round form of rough boarding 

 the diameter desired. On this nail wire 



lath to hold the plaster roughcast. A 

 square block of wood, two or three in. 

 thick, will form the cap. The lateral beams, 

 about 4x6 in. in section, of white pine 

 or cypress, are centred on the columns. The 

 cross beams may be about 2x4 inches, with 

 the ends sawed to some pleasing pattern. 

 Over these are laid other lateral pieces 1x2 

 in., and spaced about a foot apart. 



In a less elaborate form of a pergola, the 

 large lateral beams support only cross pieces 

 of rough cedar or birch, two or three inches in 

 diameter, and laid six or eight inches apart. 

 These are best attached to the lateral beams 

 by hemp rope wound around the poles and 

 led through a hole in the beam. 



The arbor is a first cousin of the pergola 

 which immigrated to America many years 

 before the latter. As an entrance to some 

 division of the garden, it forms a beautiful 

 and almost essential part of the garden fur- 

 niture. It differs from the pergola in having 

 lattice sides as well as lattice roof. Rustic 

 arbors may be easily built by anyone with a 

 little knack in handling tools. Those built 

 of finished lumber are more expensive but 

 need not be out of reach of the humblest 



garden owner. White lead and linseed oil 

 paint is the best protection against the 

 weather, all joints having been puttied 

 beforehand. 



Statuary in a garden is very like the little 

 girl with the curl, who, when she was nice, 

 was very, very nice and when she was bad, 

 was horrid. In a strictly formal garden a 

 few terminal figures — a marble or cement 

 Pan or a Bacchante — are not only in good 

 taste but almost a necessity. In cement 

 these can be had for from $50 to $100, in 

 marble, $200 to $300, or more if the model 

 is made to order. But in the ordinary home 

 garden one must proceed along this course 

 slowly and in all humility, shunning any- 

 thing of the "Dying Gladiator" type above 

 all things. 



The zeal of garden owners to furnish a 

 garden attractively in the shortest possible 

 time has led to many incongruities in style 

 and general adaptability. In furnishing a 

 garden, as in furnishing a house, it is well 

 to remember that one has got to live with 

 the result, so that a careful consideration of 

 the general fitness of things will save both 

 disappointment and money. 



FVed cedar is the best wood for building rustic worK, white cedar and white birch coming next. A summer house should have a floor of planed boards 



