The greatest charm of home life in the summer season is rarely found
within the house. This is especially true in the village or in the
country, where nature is at her best; but even in city homes that
are fortunate enough to include in their surroundings a small yard, a
bit of garden, or any means of connecting the home with "God's great
out-of-doors," though it be but a sheltered balcony or a window garden,
the touch of nature is not lost. It is possible, however, for art to
assist nature; and in many cases her assistance is very much needed.
It is certainly true that nature cannot be left wholly to herself in
the neighbourhood of the village or city home. If there be a garden,
as much forethought must be exercised in planning it and as much pains
taken in developing and caring for it as is called for in working out
any form of interior decoration. There are problems of design and
construction suggested by the need of suitable chairs and settles for
the piazza, comfortable hammocks and couches for the balcony, awnings
for the windows on the sunny side, and the right furniture, perhaps,
for an out-door dining-room. The more decorative features are found in
the rose arbours, the trellises, the garden screens, the lawn tent, the
pergola, and the garden gate; and all these offer problems that easily
come within the reach of enterprising and capable young craftsmen.
_General Types._--In the designing of out-door furniture there are
two suggestions from nature that may appropriately find expression.
On the one hand large masses, as seen in the hills and rocks, suggest
solidity, weight, and permanence. This idea is embodied in walls of
masonry, stone posts, iron gates, stone or concrete pedestals, or
in some other kind of heavy construction. On the other hand, there
are the suggestions of lightness, delicacy, and growth, seen in the
growing vines, shrubbery, and small trees, which are carried out in the
so-called rustic furniture, trellises, arbours, and garden screens.
_An Example of Heavy Furniture in Wood._--A settle designed for
comparatively permanent use in some cool or retired corner of the
garden may be made of native pine, white wood, or spruce, well
protected by several coats of paint. A suggestion is here given for
such a design, laid out on substantial lines. Ordinary 4 × 4 spruce,
planed, may be used for the posts, pine or white wood for the rest
of the construction, 2-inch stock being used for the back pieces and
arms, and 7/8-inch boards for the rails and seat. Mortise and tenon
joints should be used in the framing. The illustration shows also a
simple design cut in the back pieces and repeated in the two front
posts. It is a decorative feature which seems to counteract, somewhat
successfully, the general severity of the lines on which the settle is
designed to be built.
[Illustration: A garden settle]
_Concrete Furniture._--Still more substantial out-door furniture
may be made of concrete cement. This material has come into use for
sidewalks and pavements and as a substitute for brick and stone masonry
in retaining walls, bridge abutments, and in a great variety of heavy
building construction. Concrete is, in fact, an artificial stone, made
by mixing Portland cement with sand or pulverized rock in the right
proportions, thoroughly wetting the mixture with water, and allowing it
to harden. It is so commonly associated with heavy, crude work that it
is not easy to believe that it may be also fashioned into anything of
an artistic or decorative character; and yet it is capable of a wide
range of out-door decorative uses. Gate posts, pedestals, fountains,
window boxes, urns, and other forms of garden pottery in great variety,
tables, and garden seats, have been successfully moulded in this
material. Its natural stone gray colour and surface are well suited to
many of these uses; but it may be given a variety of colour effects in
bold design if occasion requires it. In weight and durability it leaves
nothing to be desired.
_The Wire Form._--Concrete cement cannot be modelled like clay. In
its formative state it is too soft for such manipulation. It must be
supported in some way while it is being worked into the desired shape
and until it has hardened. In general there are two methods of giving
the necessary support: _viz._, by employing an interior framework or
skeleton, generally of wire lath, which is permanently encased in the
cement; or by using a plaster or wooden mould into which the material
in a soft and plastic state is poured and from which it is removed when
hardened. The latter method has been elaborated quite extensively for
commercial purposes, because it readily yields an indefinite number
of marketable results from the same moulds. The simpler wooden moulds
may be easily made by a clever boy; and after a little experience
he can soon learn how to mix the cement properly and mould a form
successfully. For single pieces of concrete work, however, the wire
forms are to be preferred. A suggestive illustration of this method is
found in the following problem: