August, 1907 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



293 



this demand that a contemporary authority 

 has written : 



"Passionate collectors of antiquities, and 

 affecting when they do not cherish it an 

 enthusiasm for antique life, they have made 

 their gardens veritable museums, even at 

 last counterfeiting antique ruins on their 

 estates. The whole thing has reduced itself 

 to a question of commercialism. People 

 that can afford to pay two or live or eight 

 thousand dollars for a garden-ornament are 

 numerous enough to absorb all that offers, 

 but not to keep the machinery of the aver- 

 age antique establishment running at full 

 power. 



"Far larger is the public that wants to 

 get its antiques, 'new and old,' at low prices. 

 Suppose one finds that a font or basin, that 

 looks of immemorial age to the uninitiated, 

 may be bought for one hundred dollars, 

 will he not be tempted? If he be a sudden 

 and ill-prepared aspirant for garden hon- 

 ors, it is not difficult to fancy him writing 

 his check, and ordering the plausible object 

 set up in his domain. He is but the modern 

 instance of a counterfeiter of antique ruins. 

 The blame is not to be laid wholly upon the 

 bargain-hunter's shoulders. The original 

 sin was committed, in nearly every case, in 

 Italy itself. Antique designs are more or 

 less faithfully copied, the very chips and 

 gouges of three hundred years of existence 

 being reproduced as nearly as possible, 

 elaborate care being taken to rub down cor- 

 ners and break off projections, as though 

 the weather and the petty accidents of cen- 

 turies had left their scars. The next step is 

 one that stamps the practice as indefensible. 

 Diluted acids are poured over the stones 

 to eat away the surface in irregular patches, 

 in imitation of decay. Finally the calendar 

 is put back for it, by rubbing the marble in 

 damp earth and thoroughly impregnating 

 its skin with a dingy color. For the result 

 there is, of course, only one word. That 

 word is counterfeit." 



It is not surprising under these condi- 

 tions that those who could afford the gen- 

 uine antique, and even those who have a 

 passionate love for the genuinely old Italian 

 marbles, will sometimes avoid the real be- 

 cause of the counterfeits. There is little 

 probability, however, of this form of gar- 

 den decoration being entirely discarded In 

 formal landscape gardening. It is too 

 widely appreciated to be denounced as a 

 whole, because certain ambitious estates dis- 

 play imitations. To be pleasing and effec- 

 tive all antique garden ornaments must be 

 well proportioned, harmonious and fitting 

 to their surroundings — in other words, both 

 appropriate and impressive — or they will 

 fail to satisfy, no matter how "genuine and 

 beautiful" they may be In themselves. In 

 many of the most beautiful of the formal 

 Americans gardens of to-day a few fine 

 marbles are introduced In the form of statu- 

 ary and mammoth garden-vases, but no pre- 

 tence is made to have the rarely beautiful 

 formal garden other than it appears to the 

 admiring observer. 



A Semi-circular Wall of Concrete with an Outer Border of Climbing Roses 



The Architect and the Gardener Have Been at Work Ever Since this Mansion Was Built 



A Lower Wall with an Attractive Fountain Recess, Extending Back 

 Under the Upper Pavement 



