MURAL DECORATIONS. 



647 



2 -inch paving- tiles, such as are used for 

 laying cottage floors. The pilasters are 

 carried up in brick, and capped in the 

 same manner as the rest of the wall. On 

 the top of these pilasters are set vases of 

 appropriate sizes and forms, the whole 

 being set in cement. When we saw this 

 garden, we were much struck with the 

 elegant appearance and economy of the 

 construction. Wherever clay is used for 

 such purposes, it is important that it be 

 of the very best quality, so as to stand 

 the weather ; indeed, we think the fire- 

 clay, and clay in various compositions, 

 used by the Garnkirk and Grangemouth 

 Companies, Mr Wauchope of Edmon- 

 stone, and Deane of Wishaw, far superior 

 to any we have seen in England, and, for 

 durability and elegance of design, ranking 

 next to the artificial stone of Austin and 

 Seeley, and the still more recently dis- 

 covered and imperishable material, the 

 Patent stone of Ransome and Parsons of 

 Ipswich. Objections have been made to 

 plastic ornaments, on account of many of 

 the less perfectly manufactured specimens 

 having given way with the weather. Those 

 we have named have been clearly ex- 

 empted from that defect. The patent 

 artificial stone of Ransome and Parsons 

 has been proved, by experiments made by 

 the Society of Civil Engineers, to be of 

 greater strength than the natural stone of 

 Caen, Bath, York, or Portland ; and we 

 have seen vases formed of it, which 

 have stood filled with water all winter, 

 which water was frequently frozen into 

 solid masses of ice. Another advantage 

 this stone, as well as that of Austin and 

 ' Seeley, has over fireclay imitations, is in 

 colour, which in both cases closely re- 

 sembles the stone of Bath and Portland, 

 thereby harmonising better with sur- 

 rounding architectural buildings. 



Mr Varden, an architect of great taste, 

 has supplied some excellent designs for 

 economical parapets, &c, in " The Ency- 

 clopedia of Villa Architecture," which, for 

 their simplicity, ought to be employed. 

 These designs are evidently the result of 

 much care and study, and are so distinctly 

 given in the cuts that any builder may 

 carry them into execution. Of late years, 

 cast-iron has been employed for most 

 kinds of mural decorations. The only ob- 

 jection, when the design is massive, is its 

 seeming want of importance, if not cast 



of the same diameter that a similar sub- 

 ject in stone would be, if used for the 

 same purpose. This, however, may be 

 remedied by casting the pieces, as it is 

 technically called, with a core in them. 

 By this means the external appearance of 

 size may be given without the employ- 

 ment of too much metal, as they would, 

 of course, be hollow. To prevent oxidis- 

 ation, the metal should be coated with 

 glass, on Johns and Co.'s principle, or by 

 some of the other processes mentioned in 

 this work. The great advantage of cast- 

 iron is its durability, admitting it to be 

 kept exposed during winter, which even 

 marble is not found to withstand without 

 injury in our cold and damp climate ; 

 and hence, to secure it from harm, it has 

 to be either removed or covered up during 

 that very season when it would constitute 

 almost the only artistic object our gar- 

 dens present. 



Slate has been advantageously employed 

 for steps, coping, terraces, &c, and is found 

 to keep perfectly free of moss or stains, 

 and to require no cleaning. If the natu- 

 ral colour be objected to, the slate should 

 be rubbed down with coarse grit, and 

 painted stone colour, the last coat being 

 flatted — that is, mixed with turpentine 

 instead of oil — which will take off* the 

 shiny or glossy appearance, and make the 

 resemblance to stone more complete. 



Of all decorations to our gardens, none 

 are so sparingly admitted as specimens of 

 the works of art, and hence the puerile and 

 mean appearance they present, when com- 

 pared with those laid out in the Italian 

 style. Our modern garden-makers de- 

 pend too often for effect on the gorgeous 

 display of colour produced by plants, and 

 lose sight entirely of those decorations of 

 a more permanent character, which used 

 of themselves to form the chief feature of 

 our ancient gardens. 



In regard to the admission of decora- 

 tive subjects into garden scenery, Sir 

 Uvedale Price remarks, "that rich and 

 stately architectural and sculptural deco- 

 rations are only proper when the house 

 itself has something of the same splendid 

 appearance. This is true in a great mea- 

 sure ; but though it is only in accom- 

 panying grand and magnificent buildings 

 that the Italian garden has its full effect, 

 yet as there are numberless gradations in 

 the style and character of buildings, from 



