The Summer-House. 
327 
larch, not exceeding two inches in diameter, and stripped of their bark or not 
as may suit the fancy. Larch, elm, and hazel, with the bark on, has a very 
handsome effect when nicely arranged. Rinded withy or alder will look well 
if varnished. Sycamore is not sufficiently durable. Suitable summer-houses 
for shrubberies have been built of a frame-work of larch covered with thin 
bundles of gorse or furze, and lined with thin bundles of fern, ling, broom, or 
heather. These obtain preference in country districts where such material 
can be had in abundance. 
The foundations of a summer-house must vary with the design. If the 
house is to be an owner's fixture, with posts firmly driven into the land on 
Fig. 4. 
which it is to be built, the ground will be merely levelled, the posts inserted 
in holes dug for them, and a stone or brick floor laid down first to preserve 
the floor boards from damp. If, however, the land is not our own, if we are 
merely yearly tenants, or lease the land in dependence on the will of the 
owners, the house must be merely a tenant’s fixture, and the foundations pre¬ 
pared accordingly. By a tenant's fixture is meant a house that can be 
removed by the tenant at any time without disturbing the soil—that is, a 
house resting on the soil, but not rooted in it in any way. If its foundations 
are sunk in the soil, it becomes the property of the owner of the soil, and 
must not be taken down or removed. In the case of tenants’ fixtures, if wood 
