278 
been horizontal, but a finer harmony is 
secured by making them parallel with the 
upright lines of the trunks of the trees and 
saplings surrounding the seat. 
The broad solid under-surface of the 
overhanging rock invited the contrast of 
an ornate design, shown in No. 2. The 
back of the seat was divided into a 
large central section with two wings in 
which heavy diagonals express strength. 
The filling of the upper panels with delicate 
crooked branches added grace. This seat 
commands an extensive view, and was made 
large enough to accommodate several 
persons. 
No. 3 is a simple sturdy construction in 
vertical and horizontal lines, to contrast 
with the chaotic fractures of the rocks around 
it. The wood of which this seat was built 
was too small; it should have been very 
heavy to secure an effect of massiveness. 
By the: use of crooked branch-wood for 
the posts“ supporting the roof, graceful 
Gothic curves are produced in No. 4, which 
repeats the natural spring of the branches 
of near-by trees. Small crooked branch- 
wood is used haphazard to fill in the gable 
ends and the ends of the seat. The roof is 
made of small straight poles laid close 
together. Two large pines stand as en- 
trance pillars to the nook, and the struc- 
ture was, given a cozy and peaceful effect 
by,,making the roof broad and flat in 
pitch....The largest posts are seven inches 
in diameter. 
No. 5 is the semi-circular seat and 
platform with a railing, built around the 
Christmas and Lenten Roses—By Leonard Barron, 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
trunk of an immense hemlock tree growing 
close to a ledge of rock fifteen feet in height, 
and overlooks the lake from either side, com- 
manding striking vistas in both directions. 
The back of the seat is of three flat surfaces 
in the form of the half of a hexagon, lines 
which combine most pleasingly with the 
curves of the seat and platform. 
No. 6 is of large size and bold outline 
in order to secure an architectural effect 
in a spot where the surroundings are com- 
monplace — a thicket of small undergrowth 
on land recently burned over. The wood 
of which this seat is built is comparatively 
slender, giving an effect of graceful lightness 
peculiarly pleasing. 
A charming idea is a flight of steps lead- 
ing up to a summer-house at an elevated 
point of outlook, seen in No. 7. The 
device of turning the line of the railing down- 
ward to the ground from the upper end 
relieves the terminal from abruptness. In 
No. 7 there are eleven steps each rising 
seven inches, and the treads are made of four- 
inch wood split and hewn smooth, three 
pieces forming a tread. ‘The steps are three 
feet in width and the top of the hand-rail is 
thirty-four inches from the front of the step. 
No. 8 shows a summer-house six feet 
square, built upon a high point which 
commands a fine view, the floor spanning 
a great crevice in the rock beneath. In this 
case, as in all others where a floor has been 
needed, it was made of 4- or 5-inch wood 
split through the centre, the flat side being 
hewn smooth with the hand-axe, and laid 
uppermost. 
JANUARY, 1909 
No. 9 displays a small four-post summer- 
house, six feet wide and four feet deep, 
overlooking the lake. Being under the 
low spreading branches of the big hemlock 
beside it, the pitch of the roof was made low 
and nestling. When in place, however, it 
was found that the rock beyond it dominated 
it too strongly, and the little central steeple 
was added for piquancy. The roof of this 
house is of small cedar poles running at 
right angles to the plates, and butting 
against a larger pole nailed on top of the 
hip rafters. 
A graceful idea for a covered seat built 
in a natural niche beside the path is shown 
in No. 10. The high cliff behind it invited 
a steep roof line, which was accented by 
the little steeples with their up-curving 
braces which reach still higher at the 
peaks of the gables. This seat is seven feet 
in length, including the overhang of the 
roof at the gables. Small, straight, round 
poles are used for the roof, the solid filling of 
the gables, and the base below the level of 
the seat. The back of the seat is of the same 
solid work in diagonal. Crooked branch- 
wood makes open-work panels at each end 
of the seat, and this idea is further carried 
out in side and back panels under the roof 
and in an ornamental apex to the roof. 
Another small summer-house, No. 11, is 
located at a sharp turn in the path. All 
about it are the disordered fragments of a 
ruined primeval cliff. When it is explained 
that this house is but four feet square on the 
ground, its dignity and grace will be better 
appreciated. 
New 
York 
THE WHITE-FLOWERED HELLEBORES THAT BLOOM ALL THE WINTER, — AND THOSE IN VARIOUS 
COLORS THAT BLOOM IN FEBRUARY AND MARCH — CAN 
ee most surprising plant of winter is 
surely the Christmas rose, which 
blooms outdoors amid the snow, and unfort- 
unately, for that very reason, 1s not properly 
appreciated, because so few of us have 
sufficient energy to go out into the garden 
and brush away the snow. The true Christ- 
mas rose, Helleborus niger, flowering from 
December to March, is by all odds the most 
interesting member of this curious family, 
all the members of which produce their 
flowers some time during the winter or 
early spring before the very earliest flowers 
open. 
The Christmas rose has evergreen foliage, 
grows about a foot high, and the pure white 
flowers, borne two to three on a stalk, are 
usually about two inches across; but in the 
variety altifolius they may even attain as 
much as five inches and they appear in 
November. A_ smaller plant, with flowers 
correspondingly smaller, is var. angustifolius, 
and this flowers after the turn of the year. 
There seems to be considerable trouble 
in getting these varieties true to name in 
the trade, but as all the stock is imported 
from Europe the errors rest entirely with 
the foreign dealer. ‘The ordinary form of 
Christmas rose can be bought in this country 
and is usually ready for delivery in March 
if the ground is open enough. The other 
best time to move it is September. It does 
not like interference, and will not be seen 
at its best until about two years after trans- 
planting. A moist, well-drained soil and 
partial shade are necessary; therefore it 
makes a splendid ground cover in open 
shrubbery or under big trees in open winters. 
The freely produced blooms make a remark- 
able display. The fact that it can be had 
in winter time is surely sufficient merit alone. 
In some old gardens colonies of this de- 
lightful plant have endured for years past. 
The conditions having been found exactly 
right for them, they have multiplied freely 
and present a great mass of bloom like that 
shown in the lower illustration on the 
opposite page, which was photographed in 
a garden at Rochester, N. Y. Only those 
who have had the pleasure of gatheting 
armfuls of snow-white flowers in the middle 
of winter can realize what is meant by the 
possession of a bed of Christmas roses. 
The glistening white of the flowers endures 
THE LATTER BE ACCLIMATED? 
for the first few days, and for the best effects 
indoors they must be cut before they begin 
to fade and are suffused with a tinge of pink. 
The best way to have flowers in winter is 
by giving the clumps protection with a 
coldframe, when the blooms Will be had in 
all their immaculate whiteness, and they 
will be somewhat larger, too, than those 
from the open. Plants in the frames will 
repay for the use of liquid manure during 
summer, and all the plants under anz condi- 
tions must be seen to as regards watering all 
through the summer and up to September. 
The greatest difficulty in growing this 
plant is its protection from the heat and 
drought of summer, in which respect the 
only other species worth growing, H. orien- 
talis, is even more delicate. 
All the other forms of this family belong 
to two species, both flowering in late winter 
and early spring. They are quite popular 
in European gardens, but have met with 
but little favor in this country, except in 
some parts of New England. The severely 
late cold of our winters, coupled with dryness, 
catches these Lenten roses just at the time 
when they should be coming into flower, 
