EMBELLISHMENTS. 
397 
[Fig. 74.] 
we think more suitable. They are not merely 
decorative, but have also an useful character, and 
may therefore he occasionally placed in distant 
parts of the grounds, should a favourite walk ter- 
minate there. When we meet daily in our walks 
for a number of years, with one of these silent 
monitors of the flight of time, we become in a 
degree attached to it, and really look upon it 
as gifted with a species of intelligence, beam- 
ing out when the sunbeams smile upon its dial- 
plate. 
The Architectural Flower-garden , as we have just re- 
marked, has generally a direct connection with the house, at 
least on one side by the terrace. It may be of greater or 
less size, from twenty feet square, to half an acre in extent. 
The leading characteristics of this species of flower-garden, 
are the regular lines and forms employed in its beds and 
walks. The flowers are generally planted in beds in the 
form of circles, octagons, squares, etc., the centre of the gar- 
den being occupied by an elegant vase, a sundial, or that still 
finer ornament, a fountain, or jet d’eau. In various parts of 
the garden, along the principal walks, or in the centre of 
parterres, pedestals supporting vases, urns, or handsome 
flower-pots with plants, are placed. When a highly marked 
character of art is intended, a balustrade or parapet, resem- 
bling that of the terrace to which it is connected, is con- 
tinued round the whole of this garden. Or in other cases the 
garden is surrounded by a thicket of shrubs and low trees, 
partly concealing it from the eye on all sides hut one. 
It is evident that the architectural flower garden is supe- 
rior to the general flower-garden, as an appendage to the 
house , on two accounts. First, because, as we have already 
