Siipiih'm''nl  to 
234 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  12,  1£03. 
F.  Ecu  key  iD  Son. 
Sundial  in  a  Garden. 
Individual  taste  knows  no  limit ;  nor  can  it  be  restrained  so 
as  to  accept  any  one  definite  law,  this  being  true  in  prospect, 
present,  or  retrosirect. 
Rides 
are  by  no  means  so  familiar  as  walks  or  drives.  The-  latter  is 
an  everyday  necessity  ;  the  ride  appertains  only  to  the  wealthier 
class,  and  where  there  is  ample  woodland  to  carry  it  out  in  extent 
or  design.  We  have  in  mind  a  long,  straight,  and  broad  green¬ 
sward  terminating  in  a  kind  of  rustic  temple  or  so-called  summer 
house  of  varied  pattern ;  or  it  may  take  the  visitor  to  a  distant 
keeper’s  cottage,  where  kennels  and  their  occupants  provide  so 
much  to  interest  and  employ  the  mind  of  the  juvenile  or  adult. 
It  may  afford  peeps  into  distant  landscape  or  beautiful  vistas  in 
hill  and  dale  on  the  way.  Except  to  thei  bold  and  fearless  fox- 
hunter,  who  cares  nought  for  farm,  field,  or  lawn,  the  ride 
is  usually  kept  sacred  as  a  footway,  the  soytheman  or  machinist 
making  the  surface  attractive  and  loleasant  by  its  smoothness. 
On  either  side  sloping  shrubs  of  varying  kinds  are  dotted  here 
and  there  with  flowering  and  ornamental  leaved  trees,  which  in 
spring  and  autumn  have  a  touch  of  Nature  that,  by  the  aid.  of 
bird-life,  is  made  both  rural  and  enchanting.  Snowdrops  and 
Bluebells  and  Pink  Robins,  sometimes  Windflower,  Forget-me- 
not  and  Daffodil  play  their  part  to  beautify  the  scene,  and  when 
Rhododendron  and  deciduous  Azaleas  give  of  their  best  in  June 
month,  what  could  one'  desire  that  is  more  beautiful  in  Nature 
than  a  walk  through  such  a  panoramic  creation?  Like  the  garden 
walk 
The  Drive 
becomes  part  and  parcel  of everydomain.  The  villa,  with,  perhaps, 
its  sharp  swerve  from  gate  to  entrance  door  concealed  from  the 
highway  with  bolts  of  varied  shrubs  extending  only  a  few  i^aces, 
has  an  importance  as  much  its  own  as  the  mansion  with  its 
measured  miles  of  private  roadway.  There  is  seldom,  however, 
anything  to  attract  the  passer-by  in  such  cases,  but  there  is 
something  to  admire  in  a  well-kept  carriage  road,  even  when  it 
conveys  one  merely  through  park  or  field.  It  is  infinitely  more 
so  when  its  course  takes  one  by  the  winding  riverside,  or  through 
the  shady  Oak,  Beech,  or  Fir  forest. 
In  such  tree-land  there  is  always  much  to  admire  and  enjoy, 
especially  when  the  pheasant,  the  rabbit,  the  squirrel,  or  the 
many  bird  songsters  greet  one  on  the  way.  There  are  some 
among  the  owners  of  large  landed  estates  endowed  with  a  generous 
attitude  towards  their  i^oorer  neighbours  or  travellers,  and  permit 
the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  carriage  drive  on  foot  or  wheel,  a 
reasonable  stipulation  being  that  visitors  refrain  from  trespass 
beyond  the  right  given  them.  That  p  especially  necessary  when 
game  preserves  are  dissected  by  the~road.  It  is  a  noble  thought 
which  places  such  enviable  privilege  within  the  reach  of  everyone 
who  care  to  embrace  it.  Longleat,  the  seat  of  the  Marquis  of 
Bath,  in  Wiltshire,  has  been  made  famous  by  this  kindly  spirit, 
and  many  thousand  strangers  from  town  and  country  have  re¬ 
turned  home  with  pleasant  and  enduring  memories  of  the  beauties 
of  Nature  with  which  Longleat  is  so  richly  endowed.  This  is 
mentioned  only  as  an  instance;  there  are  many  others, 
though  they  are  fewer  than  might  be  the  case.  A  good  hard 
stone,  a  steam  roller,  and  an  occasional  barrel  of  weed  killer,  are 
a  trio  of  indispensables  for  the  upkeep  of  a  good  drive,  whether 
for  private  or  public  use.  Given  these,  economy  is  self-satisfying, 
and  pleasure  absolutely  assured. — W.  Strtjgnell. 
Zbc  Hrcbitectuval  in  (Jaibens. 
.  Vases,  Sundials,  Statuary,  and  Fountains. 
'^T  is  sadly  true  that  garden  making  has  falleii  from  its  former 
1  high  standard  as  an  art;  and  Mr.  Thomas  H.  Mawson  in 
'Nt  his  book,  “The  Art  and  Craft  of  Garden  Making,”  assigns 
the  reason  to  be  “  the  inattention  of  those  most  capable 
of  guiding  and  advising.”  We  presume  that  Mr.  Mawson  refers 
to  the  professional  architects  who  naturally  desire  an  harmonious 
setting  dr  garden  frame  to  the  house  they  have  designed  ;  but 
the  horticulturist  has  now  such  an  abundance  of  varied  material 
for  the  elaboration  of  the  designs  of  “  landscape  gardeners,”  and 
the  latter  have  been  so  assertive  of  their  rights  to  lay  out  the 
garden  with  absolute  freedom  from  the  trammels  of  the  architect, 
that  nearly  all  sympathy  between  the  one  and  the  other  has 
vanished,  and  the  architect  must  as  much  confine  himself  to  the 
mansion  and  buildings  as  the  gardener  to  the  garden  and 
grounds.  Co-operation  seenieth  imperative  between  these  pro¬ 
fessional  men,  in  order  that  the  highest  comfort,  utility,  beauty, 
dignity,  and  economy  be  secured  in  the  planning  of  the  site  of 
a  house,  and  of  the  gardens  surrounding  it.  If  that  sympathy 
doe®  not  exist,  the  probability  is  that  something  is  lacking, 
harmony  is  impaired. 
But  the  jealousy  and  hauteur  which  has  alienated  the  two 
sets  of  workers  for  nigh  a.  hundred  years,  will  probably  continue, 
unles.s  where  the  employer  voices  his  own  commands.  These  few 
short  notes  are  a  plea  to  the' unrestricted  landscapi.st,  to  favour 
more  than  has  been  the  case  during  the  past  twenty-five  years, 
the  introduction  to  gardens  and  ornamental  grounds  of  certain 
architectural  elements  whose  presence  never  fails  to  impart  a 
sense  of  either  dignity,  magnificence,  stateliness,  quietude, 
charm,  or  brightness  when  properly  disposed.  Everybody  knows 
to  what  element.®  we  refer:  to  the  fountains  of  Ascot,  Holland 
House,  Chatsworth  and  Hampton  Court;  to  the  Italian  garden  of 
Shrubland  Park  and  elsewhere ;  the  terrace  gardens  of  Bowood 
and  Lockinge ;  and  to  the  innumerable  public  and  private  gar¬ 
den.®  whose  nobility  is  so  very  largely  dependent  on  their 
sculptures  and  designs  of  architectural  art.  Indeed,  were  it  not 
for  noble  flights  of  steps,  expansive  terraces,  with  their  Roses, 
Myrtles,  and  Bays ;  sparkling  ca.scades,  fishponds,  and  foun¬ 
tains ;  courts  with  their  statues;  divisional  walls  with  vases;  or 
sundials  in  the  sunny  sequestered  nooks,  on  what  woulfl  the 
charm  of  many  of  the  most  famous  gardens  depend  ?  There  is 
no  antagonism  here,  between  horticulture  and  architecture,  for 
the  one  can  be  essentially  complementary  to  the  other. 
Why  is  there  generally  a  keen  regard  for  old-fashioned  gar¬ 
dens?  We  think  it  is  because  of  their  united  harmonious 
features,  possessing  as  they  usually  do,  just  sufficient  of  those 
unchangingly  silent  tokens  of  past  art  and  hi.stor,v  to  improve 
the  abundance  of  the  live  growth  of  gardens,  and  to  furnish  an 
air  of  stability,  warmth,  dignity,  and  shelter  which  the  organic 
features  cannot  at  all  times  assure.  Here  is  what  one  of  the 
greatest  of  landscape  gardeners  has  said,  that,  ‘  To  raise  a  monu¬ 
ment  in  memory  of  a  great  public  character  or  consecrate  an  urn 
to  private  friendship  or  parental  memory,  can  hardly  be  offen¬ 
sive  to  any  mind.  A  sundial  is  both  a  useful  and  an  agreeable 
object ;  and  statues  and  busts  in  highly  polished  scenery,  by  the 
contrast  in  the  kind  of  beauty  displayed,  recall  the  mind  for  a 
moment  from  contemplating  the  wide  range  of  Nature,  to 
admire  the  hand  of  Art  concentrated  in  a  single  point.  In  this 
view  there  are  various  objects  of  this  description  admissible  in 
the  more  polished  scenes  of  gardens,  as  marble  fountains, 
fragments  of  antiquity,  &c.”  The  author  from  whom  we  quote, 
concludes  by  qualifying  the  foregoing  in  these  words :  “  When 
simplicity  and  natural-like  beauty  are  the  prevailing  idea,  all 
works  of  art  must  interfere  more  or  le.ss  with  the  idea,”  with 
Avhich  we  concur,  and  one’s  only  desire  in  i^enning  a  note  under 
the  pre.sent  title,  is  that  all  the  dignity  and  depth  of  interest 
that  architectural  and  sculptural  forms  are  capable  of  producing 
(and  extracting)  in  gardens,  may  not  wholly  be  unheeded  in  these 
days  of  informal  garden  designing. — D. 
