THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 
373 
place they part company. Then the beauty of Venus and Adonis 
is seen to be but skin deep, and the gigantic vase from which the 
floral scrolls have fallen, has less elegance than the pile of clinkers 
that make hideous the grand entrance to a genuine cockney’s garden. 
As remarked in a preceding page, however, artificial stones of many 
distinct kinds are now manufactured, and many of them equal stone 
both in durability and beauty of texture, so that unless we employ 
the sculptor to make demonstration of his skill in Carrara marble, 
we may do well to adopt these patented substitutes, which are 
as cheap as they are good, and for the most part cast in such 
artistic designs that they will merit to be regarded as works of art. 
AVe quite regret that our fixed rule of action precludes the recom- 
mendation of some of the patented stones, but the warning offered 
as to the compounds of cement and plaster may have some practical 
value for the reader. Iron, of course, answers well in place of stone, 
if designed for the purpose, and kept in good condition by regular 
cleaning and painting. But the texture betrays it, and the paint is 
an undesirable accessory — we should always prefer for decorative 
works intended for pictorial uses only, stone, or its nearest imita- 
tion, to iron, but where a mechanical strain is to be borne, as in a 
balustrade or centlivre for example, iron of course will sweep every 
other material out of the field for strength and elasticity. 
Rustic Furniture is often badly made, and of the worst mate- 
rials. In purchasing expensive articles of this class it is necessary 
to guard against obtaining timber in which dry rot has commenced, 
though as to “guarding against” this contingency is no easy 
matter. Until within the past ten years or so, manufacturers in the 
eastern parts of London made use of cheap oak timber, the pro- 
duce for the most part of the pollard oaks of Epping Forest. This 
soon began to decay within by dry rot, which seldom gave any out- 
ward sign, so that a rustic structure in which the process had long 
been active, would preserve its respectable appearance until the 
final collapse came, when it would subside into a wreck, and, to the 
owner s surprise, be found to have long before consisted only of an 
■outer shell of varnish or paint, and a mass of mere dust within. 
Those portions of the forest from which this treacherous timber was 
obtained are now enclosed and cultivated ; but in many another 
•district a similarly bad material may be in use to the injury of pur- 
December. 
