Notes and Reviews 
TN “The Book ot Garden Furniture,” 1 Mr. 
1 Charles Thonger gives in few words a 
deal ot good advice upon a kind of garden 
embellishment without which, however lux¬ 
uriant may be the flowers, few garden scenes 
are complete. The object in selecting the 
examples tor illustration is to send into de¬ 
served oblivion those forms of plant life 
done in cast iron 
and rustic contor¬ 
tions of wood 
which ill-bred en- 
t h u s i a s m h a s 
brought to our 
private grounds. 
Thebestpositions 
for seats, dials, 
archways and 
treillage, are 
pointed out, so 
that these shall 
notonlvbeseen to 
the best effect but 
that they may be 
usedwith the most 
convenience and 
comfort. Suitable 
flowers and vines 
to be planted about them are therefore sug¬ 
gested. The chapter on summer-houses is 
most useful and interesting. Remarks upon 
their construction are combined with advice 
upon their design and the conditions under 
which a garden should contain them. The 
author is true to his national type of garden in 
1 “The Book of Garden Furniture,” by Charles Thonger. 97 pp., 
i6mo. John Lane, London and New York, 1903. Price, cloth, 
$1.00 net. 
eschewing under the head of “pergolas” the 
ambitious Italian affairs which are only ap¬ 
propriate to architectural surroundings and 
are eyesores elsewhere. It is rather to the rus¬ 
tic arbor that he turns in directing its plant¬ 
ing with as much precision as the shaping of 
the rods of iron or wood which are to sup¬ 
port the clematis or the rambler. “ As a 
good picture may 
be spoilt by a bad 
frame, so may a 
good garden be 
ruined by ugly 
boundary lines ” 
is a remark under 
the head of “gates 
and fences” before 
numerous illus¬ 
trations of differ¬ 
ent types of fences 
for different pur¬ 
poses. The book 
has a practical 
value for the 
dwelling owner by 
reason of the fact 
that expense of 
these ornaments 
is always kept in view and the sources from 
which they may be obtained is often named. 
To the design of gardens, also, the author’s 
urgence upon good taste, congruity, the re¬ 
lation of these single objects to the whole 
is especiallv pertinent; and it is this ex¬ 
tension of his subject that makes his little 
book valuable to American inquirers upon 
garden arrangement. 
AN OPEN-AIR BREAKFAST HOUSE 
From 4 4 The Book of Garden Furniture 
Regarding the Congress of Architects to be 
held this year, Mr. W. L. B. Jenney, who 
is the representative of the American delega¬ 
tion, writes us as follows : 
The Sixth International Congress of Architects, it is expected will 
be held in Madrid this month. I say expected because the Spaniard is 
very uncertain, never exact. I attended the previous meeting at Paris 
in 1900. They are held each third year. At the end of the session 
the Spanish delegation requested that the next meeting, 1903, be held 
in Madrid. The request was supported by official requests from 
Governmental authority from that city. The invitation was officially 
accepted by unanimous vote of the delegates present. The Spaniards 
had three years for preparation, but that was unimportant, for they 
believe in the so-called I in Spain) golden rule “ Never do today what 
can be deferred until tomorrow,” so that they are jocosely called the 
Mananas ; so universal is their disposition to postpone everything. 
The result was that at the last moment they decided to postpone the 
meeting of the Architectural Congress until April, 1904. 
I learned that there was an International Medical Congress in Madrid 
at about the same time that the architects were to have been there. 
This was given as the reason that they were obliged to postpone the 
meeting of the architects, as they could not properly entertain the 
architects and the “medicos” at the same time. This they proved to 
be true by the very poor treatment thev gave the “medicos.” I heard 
of it everywhere. A delegate who was not a special government dele¬ 
gate stood no chance at all. Little or no attention was given to en¬ 
gaged rooms. The hotels and pensions were full, so the Spanish officers 
of the Congress appointed a committee to find rooms for guests, which 
they did, and the treasurer of the said committee decided that all delegates 
must pay in advance for their rooms for the full duration of the Congress, 
which they did. When the Congress was over and they wished to leave 
their room, they were astonished to receive a bill therefor. On being told 
that they had paid the treasurer of the committee duly appointed by the 
Congress, it was not disputed, but as they had not paid the landlords, the 
latter insisted on a repayment to them before the delegates were allowed to 
take their baggage from the room. The treasurer could not be found. 
He had collected all the money he could and had fled. No proposals to 
refund the money thus stolen were offered, not even an apology for such 
treatment. 1 would advise all architects who propose to attend the Archi¬ 
tects’Convention to arm themselves with the strongest official documents 
they can procure, well ornamented with official seals from the United 
States Government, if possible, and from the Secretary of the American 
Institute of Architects and from their Chapter—the more the better to 
make the Spaniards think they are “ big guns ” in their profession. 
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