: NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
n(Gneden Embellishments. 
BY MARY H. 
Just as a house, however perfect it may be in style 
and construction, must have furniture to make it cosy 
avd comfortable, so a garden, beautiful in its wealth of 
flowers and shrubs though it may be, requires certain 
accessories to give it that pleasant, homelike air which 
is so essential for its success. The early garden makers 
among the Greeks and Romans realized the truth of 
this fact and consequently made their belef manifest 
through the wonderful fountains, vases, and statuary 
with which they embellished their grounds. Many 
beautiful gardens or more modern origin bear traces of 
the same artistic spirit displayed by the ancients, but 
of late years there has apparently been a decline in this 
respect. Too little attention has been paid to the proper 
furnishing of the garden and as a result it has lost 
much of its fascinating charm. 
This has been especially true of our American gar- 
dens, for it is only within comparatively few years that 
we have commenced to appreciate the great possibilities 
for enjoyment and comfort which they offer. It may be 
that the prevailing fashion of copying old English and 
Italian gardens, as well as the delightful old-fashioned 
ones of colonial days, has brought about this change. 
At all events, people are certainly arranging their gar- 
dens after a more sensible plan than formerly; not that 
they are less beautiful, but rather more attractive, since 
their furnishings render them most charming outdoor 
living-rooms for summer use. 
Among the more useful types of accessories now in 
favor are garden seats, which are to be found in a 
countless variety of styles. Even the tiniest plot is not 
too small to contain a simple bench attractively placed 
in some shady corner, while the stately, formal garden, 
which graces the rich man’s vast estate, cannot be called 
complete without its dignified seats of stone or concrete. 
For the informal home garden there are suitable seats 
in many attractive designs. Where a rustic effect is 
desired, cedar and locust with the bark left on may be 
used with excellent results. Cypress also makes satis- 
factory furniture for garden use and, if well painted 
and cared for each season, it will do service for a num- 
ber of summers. 
For those who prefer a more durable material, but 
cannot afford expensive stone seats for their gardens, 
concrete makes an excellent substitute. Simple benches 
of good design may be purchased at reasonable prices 
and their soft natural coloring contrasts well with the 
varied hues of flowers and shrubs. Elaborately orna- 
mented seats of marble are occasionally seen, but rarely 
outside of the most strictly formal garden. Even there 
they must be in perfect accord with the other decorative 
details, for otherwise they are in bad taste. 
A frequent companion piece of the garden seat is a 
table of some sort. This convenient bit of furniture 
usually corresponds in style to the seat near which it is 
placed, although contrasting designs and materials ap- 
peal to some people as being more desirable. Stone or 
concrete is far more satisfactory than wood for this 
purpose, since a table top of the latter material soon 
becomes warped unless carefully protected from the 
weather. 
The effectiveness of the most attractive furniture 
may be entirely spoiled by the wrong placing, however, . 
NORTHEND 
The essential point in selecting its location is that spot 
chosen shall be the one best adapted for that purpose. 
There should be a sort of inevitable fitness between these 
accessories and their surroundings; otherwise the 
beauty and comfort of the garden are in no way en- 
hanced and the very object for which the work was 
planned is defeated. The ideal location for a seat and 
table is a cool, shady spot, where one can find welcome 
shelter from the sun on a hot, sultry day and spend a 
comfortable hour with a book, or chat with a friend 
over a refreshing glass of one’s favorite summer bev- 
erage. 
The influence of far away Japan may be seen in the 
pretty little tea-houses which are springing up in so 
many gardens at the present day. These picturesque 
affairs, invitingly situated at the end of some flower- 
bordered path, or seen through a vine-clad pergola, are 
delightfully suggestive of small, informal gatherings. 
So also are the little summer-houses which one so fre- 
quently comes upon, nestling in some quiet corner half 
hidden by masses of bloom and graceful foliage, or 
perched, perhaps, after the fashion of an old English 
gazebo, upon some elevation commanding an extensive 
view of the garden and surrounding country. 
In style of architecture these garden-houses vary 
infinitely from quaint, rustic shelters, thatched with 
straw or fragrant pine needles, to miniature temples of 
classic design. In furnishing and equipment they also 
differ widely, for while some contain only a few simple 
benches, many of the more pretentious ones are so con- 
veniently arranged and fitted up that it is an easy mat- 
ter to serve a dainty chafing-dish supper, or entertain 
one’s friends at an afternoon tea even on a rainy day. 
Indeed, one occasionally finds a garden-house so well 
constructed that it may be used with comfort on sunny 
days all through the winter months. 
Not a few gardens owe their attractiveness in part to 
the beautiful arbors and pergolas which embellish them. 
The arbor is by no means a new-fangled accessory, nor 
is the pergola, for that matter, but the introduction of 
the latter into this country is of more recent date. This: 
arrangement of pillars, crossbeams and rafters, which 
we have borrowed from the vineyards of sunny Italy,, 
often constitutes one of the loveliest features of the 
garden, when, draped with delicate wistaria or hardy 
climbing roses, it arches a well-kept path. Placed 
against a high wall or the side of a house, such a strue- 
ture is also effective. It should be remembered, how- 
ever, that a pergola, like every other garden ornament, 
must have a reasonably good excuse for existing, else it 
becomes superfluous and serves to mar rather than aug- 
ment the beauty of the scene. 
Among the more purely ornamental accessories foun- 
tains claim an important position. To lovers of water 
gardens they make a distinct appeal, since their basins 
make an admirable setting for aquatic plants of all 
sorts. Gold-fish, too, will thrive in their shallow pools 
and amply repay one for the trouble of obtaining them 
by keeping the fountain free from that tantalizing sum- 
mer pest, the mosquito. Fountains and basins can be 
purchased in a number of different materials, but con- 
crete, the happy medium between inartistic iron and ex- 
(Continued to page 49) 
