Old-Time Gardens, Newly Set ForthEarle, Alice Morse
History
Old-Time Gardens, Newly Set Forth
Earle, Alice Morse
Gardens; Landscape gardening
Occasionally a very unusual and beautiful sun-dial standard may be seen,
like the one in the Rose garden at Yaddo, Saratoga, New York, a copy of
rarely beautiful Pompeian carvings. A representation of this is shown on
page 86. Copies of simpler antique carvings make excellent sun-dial
pedestals; a safe rule to follow is to have a reproduction made of some
well-proportioned English or Scotch pedestal. The latter are well suited
to small gardens. I have drawings of several Scotch sun-dials and
pedestals which would be charming in American gardens. In the gardens at
Hillside, by the side of the Shakespeare Border is a sun-dial (page 378)
which is an exact reproduction of the one in the garden at Abbotsford,
the home of Sir Walter Scott. This pedestal is suited to its
surroundings, is well proportioned; and has historic interest. It forms
an excellent example of Charles Lamb's "garden-altar."
[Illustration: Sun-dial at Hillside, Menand's, near Albany, New York.]
On a lawn or in any suitable spot the dial-face can be mounted on a
boulder; one is here shown. I prefer a pedestal. For gardens of limited
size, much simplicity of design is more pleasing and more fitting than
any elaborate carving. In an Italian garden, or in any formal garden
whose work in stone or marble is costly and artistic, the sun-dial
pedestal should be the climax in richness of carving of all the garden
furnishing. I like the pedestal set on a little platform, so two or
three steps may be taken up to it from the garden level; but after all,
no rules can be given for the dial's setting. It may be planted with
vines, or stand unornamented; it may be set low, and be looked down
upon, or it may be raised high up on a side wall; but wherever it is, it
must not be for a single minute in shadow; no trees or overhanging
shrubs should be near it; it is a child of the sun, and lives only in
the sun's full rays.
[Illustration: Old Brass and Pewter Dial-faces.]
In the lovely old garden at the home of Frederick J. Kingsbury, Esq., at
Waterbury, Conn., is a sun-dial bearing the motto, "_Horas non numero
nisi serenas_," and the dates 1739-1751,--the dates of the building of
the old and new houses on land that has been in the immediate family
since 1739. Around this dial is a crescent-shaped bed of Zinnias, and
very satisfactory do they prove. This garden has fine Box edgings; one
is shown on page 173, a Box walk, set in 1851 with ancient Box brought
from the garden of Mr. Kingsbury's great-great-grandfather.
The gnomon of a sun-dial is usually a simple plate of metal in the
general shape of a right-angled triangle, cut often in some pierced
design, and occasionally inscribed with a motto, name, or date.
Sometimes the dial-maker placed on the gnomon various Masonic
symbols--the compass, square, and triangle, or the coat of arms of the
dial owner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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