320 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1 9 10 



The accomplished Elizabethan courtier would, therefore, 

 have approved of the pretty Wild Garden represented in 

 Fig. 6. 



Gautier's idea of a garden wherein Nature should have 

 full liberty permitted the twigs to interlace themselves ac- 

 cording to their own fancy; the plants to creep and climb; 

 the mosses to cover with their patches the trunks of trees; 

 the lichens to encircle the statues with their gray bands; 

 the brambles to bar the walks and arrest you with their 

 thorns; the wild poppy to raise its red spark near the un- 

 trained rose ; and the ivy to rove at its will and hang 

 wreaths over the balustrades of the terraces. Moreover, 

 full license was granted to the nettle, the thistle, the celan- 

 dine, the burdock, the nightshade and all the gipsy horde of 

 undisciplined plants — to grow, multiply, invade and ob- 

 literate every trace of cultivation and turn the flower-garden 

 into a miniature forest." 



One delight of the Wild Garden is that it admits of 

 the owner's transplanting any wild flowers or shrubs found 

 during his walks in the woods and fields, even to nettles, 

 briars and thistles. 



The simple seat with lattice canopy shown in Fig. 6 

 will be more picturesque when the creepers have covered it. 

 A rustic seat similar to that shown in Fig. 7 would also look 

 well. This kind of seat is always appropriate except in the 

 stately garden where stone or marble is required. Fig. 8 

 represents a settee of wood on one side of a circle and a 

 wire arch at the base of the grass steps at another. 



Another variety of bench is shown in Fig. 2, which can 

 be painted any color. It is attractively placed among the 

 peonies to which the path leads. 



No one would care to sit down under such an unat- 

 tractive tree as that in Fig. 7 for example, while the high- 

 backed settee in Fig. 3 in a leafly arbor and those in Figs. 

 2 and 5 are happily placed. The marble bench supported 

 on lion's heads between two formal cedars in Fig. 5 is also 

 harmonious. The wooden bench in Fig. 2 is effective in 

 form and can be painted any color; but it needs some pots 

 or vases of blooming flowers by its side. Hickory furni- 

 ture such as shown in Fig. i is also suitable for the sim- 

 ple garden. 



Wicker tables, settees and chairs, stained green; prairie 

 grass chairs; and chairs and tables of wood painted green 

 we also find appropriate; and for gardens that have com- 

 paratively little shade the hooded wicker chair used so 

 much at the seashore in Europe and which the Dutch call 

 "Wind Chair," is a most useful addition. Rustic lawn 

 vases that cost as little as $3.00, and tree seats from $15.00 

 to $30.00, can be placed almost anywhere. 



Turning now to the question of the summer house or 

 arbor, the poet Cowper's pretty idea of turning his little 

 greenhouse into an out-of-door sitting-room might be imi- 

 tated by those who own such luxuries. In 1786, he wrote 

 to a friend: "When the plants go out, we go in. I line it 

 with mats and spread the floor with mats; and there you 

 shall sit with a bed of mignonette at your side and a hedge 

 of honeysuckles, roses and jasmine." He also had another 

 little room of which he spoke as follows: "I write in a nook 

 that I call my boudoir; it is a summer house not bigger than 

 a sedan-chair; the door of it opens into the garden, that is 

 now crowded with pinks, roses and honeysuckles, and the 

 window into my neighbor's orchard." 



A portable pavilion that can be easily erected is a good in- 

 vestment. The one shown in Fig. 4 has a pagoda dip roof, 

 and is screened completely and furnished with a screen 

 door. It costs only $125.00. 



Anyone can set up a pergola, and moreover, at a trifling- 

 cost. 



Pergola pillars, like fences, are now sold in sections, 

 pillars at $6.50 each, cross panels at $5.00, and poles at 

 seventy-five cents. 



The tent, the swing and plenty of cushions for those who 

 like to sit on the grass should be included in furnishing a 

 garden; and last but not least comes the hammock. 



"When you hang like Mahomets cofiin, between earth 

 and heaven, you experience a sense of personal detachment 

 from the ordinary conditions of life which, however easily 

 realized, is simply unique. You lie upon the yielding air 

 and look through a myriad of leaves, pierced here and 

 there with little rays of light, into illimitable space. It is 

 then, moreover, that you best take in the special stillness 

 of a sequestered garden." 



Fig. 8 — A circle of harmony 



