House and Garden 
This shaft, surmounted by a gnomon, stands 
upon the curb of the outdoor pool and has 
rivalled the permanence of the sun for more 
than three seasons and no damage from 
weather is apparent. 
A pergola was built upon the grounds at 
“ Aldie ” a year and a half ago and owes its 
exceedingly decorative character to the addi¬ 
tion of masks, vases, urns and tree-tubs 
which display the progress ol this novel 
is of plain red Moravian tiles ; the walls and 
piers are of brick, covered with a cream 
colored plaster ; and the beams are of dark 
brown, rough-hewn chestnut. Harmonizing 
with these colors are the dull yellows, browns 
and reds of some of the jars and flower 
boxes, the dark, almost blackish, gray of 
others. But this blackish color is free from 
the bluish cast which cement will produce 
when left to its own course. On the con- 
industry. The surfaces of these objects vary 
greatly in smoothness and density ; and as 
a group, they represent a half dozen well- 
chosen tints of color, all perfectly appropriate 
to a materia] which is by its very nature 
similar to stone. The pieces have been ap¬ 
plied to the pergola by being built in its 
walls, thus forming part of the structure, and 
also by being merely set in the spaces be¬ 
tween the piers. The floor of the pergola 
trary, it is a superior black obtained by 
means of umbers. 
Mr. Mercer uses sand of the common 
gray color which is so easily obtained that 
any object cast in this manner may be ab¬ 
surdly inexpensive. The roughness of sur¬ 
face is due not only to the admixture of 
sand having different degrees of coarseness, 
but to the manner of casting. If proper 
precautions are not taken, the pure cement 
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