328 
The Garden Magazine, July, 1921 
in trees and garden plants; 
and is more home-like than 
the larger dwelling of the 
older Mr. Mercer. The grape- 
vine covered porch with tiled 
floor and circular cement 
fountain is a delightful spot 
for outdoor living, and af- 
fords an excellent view of the 
pond where Water Lilies and 
other aquatic plants flourish. 
Another attractive view of 
the pond can be obtained 
from an open summer house 
at one corner of the garden. 
This pool is kept freshly sup- 
plied with water by the foun- 
tain jetting up from a big 
rock on which a sculptured 
mermaid reclines and which 
interestingly breaks the level 
of the open pond. A garden 
gate furnishes entrance to a 
OLD ITALIAN GRAIN JAR 
In contour simple, it furnishes 
an arresting focal point at the 
heart of grouped greenery 
THE WATER GARDEN AT ALDIE 
Lilies and other aquatic plants take up life happily 
here where congenial, natural conditions are offered 
rustic pergola covered with Grape-vines, and off 
from this are clipped Arborvitae hedges planted in 
rows, so that several vistas are presented at right 
angles to each other. At the ends of these 
pleached walks stand fountains built of cement 
and set with mosaic and other figures, again 
evidencing the skill of the owner in obtaining 
artistic results. At the end of one of the tree 
galleries is a wall fountain with a bronze figure 
and at the end of the other a pre-Christian terra- 
cotta vase of large size. Another wall fountain 
is set with colored mosaics after the Byzantine 
style, and in another part of the formal garden is 
a richly decorated Byzantine font supported by 
twisted cement columns. The eastern wall of the 
barn, adjoining the garden, is painted a Pom- 
peiian red, which harmonizes- well with the 
Italian arbor supported by artistic cement 
columns. Near the main entrance to the house 
is another fountain of Byzantine design and out 
of the mouths of four lions spout columns of water 
which fall into a circular basin of cement be- 
neath. The garden is, in a numberof places, artis- 
tically adorned with some of the tile work of the 
brother of the present owner of Aldie, who at the 
Doylestown Moravian Pottery and Tile Works 
manufactures tiles suitable for wall insets, both 
glazed and unglazed, of various patterns and 
colors. 
Fireplace facings indoors are, as well, adorned 
with beautiful examples of tile and cement manu- 
factured at Doylestown , where a concrete mu- 
seum presented to the Bucks County Historical 
Society on June 17, 1916, by Dr. Henry C. 
Mercer, (the manufacturer of the tiles) houses 
the implements, utensils, and other objects of 
domestic art of the earlier settlers of Pennsyl- 
vania. Besides a library of 8000 volumes and 
numerous relics of Indian handiwork, the build- 
