House <y Garden 
A WALL DIAL MADE AT COMPTON 
has aimed at producing a pure terra-cotta, able 
to withstand any weather, more durable than 
stone and entirely suitable to outdoor decora¬ 
tion. The ware has been tested in 27 degrees 
ot frost and has remained perfectly sound. 
Pure clay is used, the clay found in the 
neighborhood of her home at Compton. It 
is composed ot silica, alumina, proto-oxide 
ot iron, magnesia, lime and water. No glaze 
is used, either in the body of the ware or on 
the surface, and this removes one difficulty 
from the potter’s task; for a glaze must be 
transparent, it must have the right propor¬ 
tions of hard and sott ingredients to resist 
abrasion, to expand and contract at the same 
ratio as the body of the ware, and to avoid 
the crackings and crazings which so often 
result from the firing. On the other hand, 
pure clay has its own difficulties. It must 
be sufficiently plastic to be worked easily in 
a moist state, sufficiently infusible not to 
collapse in the heat of the oven, yet fusible 
enough to become dense and sonorous. 
Another point to notice is that no pounded 
flint is mixed with the clay and no coloring 
matter used, the deep and tender red of the 
ware being obtained by having the ovens 
heated by wood fuel only. These ovens are 
“ up-draught,” the wares being protected by a 
flash wall. Great care is necessary in the firing. 
I he objects are first of all well dried, so that 
all moisture is excluded, and are then packed 
so that the weight is evenly distributed. 
A glance at the illustrations which accom¬ 
pany this article, will show that the designs 
are, in every case, most care¬ 
fully considered. T he smaller 
objects are thrown on the 
wheel ; the larger are cast in 
moulds specially designed by 
Mrs. Watts. 
The industry is particularly 
valuable in the light ot modern 
garden-craft and at a time 
when artistically good outdoor 
ornament is indeed rare. 
“ Consult the genius ot the 
place in all,” says Pope, and 
indeed, much might be written 
on the choice ot suitable 
garden decorations. How 
often does some hideous 
summer-house or impossible 
garden-seat mar a prospect 
which would otherwise be both gracious 
and pleasant! 
“God Almighty first planted a garden,” said 
Francis Bacon, that great man whose master¬ 
mind found time, within the limits ot the 
short span of one human life, to occupy itself 
SOME OF THE COMPTON FLOWER-POTS 
2 33 
