300 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



a garden attractive at all seasons that there sliould be a good sprin- 

 kling in the plantations of trees that give to the autumn landscape 

 broad dashes of colour, so that though the rain may put a stop to 

 walking out, the view from the windows w^ill be still cheerful. 

 There are, indeed, few effects in rural colouring to equal such masses 

 of orange and russet as we occasionally see in well- wooded coun- 

 tries, where against a dark background of fir, with the black outlines 

 of heathy hills to give strong contrast, we see great breadths of elm, 

 chesnut, maple, and alder, in their several strong shades, rivalling 

 the grandest of sunsets, and by their very colours suggesting that 

 there will be found a delicious order among their falling leaves. 

 Though in gardens our effects must be all on a smaller scale, they may, 

 nevertheless, be made still richer in their way ; for the glories of a 

 country full of hedgerow elms, and Spanish chesnuts, and oak woods, 

 delight quite as much because of the magnitude of the features 

 which give the scenery its character, and there are no British forest 

 trees capable of rivalling, in their individual forms and colours, some 

 of the choice subjects cultivated in shrubberies and gardens. Take, 

 for a familiar example, the common Virginian creeper, Ampelopsis 

 liederacea, and what can surpass the splendour of its perishing leaves 

 at the present time, where it covers the whole side of an old man- 

 sion with a sheet of fire ? Where skilfully managed, so as to be 

 trained over ivy without cliolcing it, the Yirginian creeper is one of 

 the grandest wall plants we possess, and the only skill required to 

 manage it with ivy is to cut it back severely as soon as the leaves 

 are down, leaving a few strong, long rods at intervals of about four 

 feet, the growth from which will be sufiicient to make a brilliant dis- 

 play in autumn, but not sufiicient to prevent a free growth of the 

 ivy. Amongst our common shrubs, we have nearly as brilliant a 

 display now in the common sumach, Rhus typhina, which is at all 

 seasons a fine subject for conspicuous positions where moderate 

 growth only is required, and remarkably eff"ective when planted in 

 large masses. When fully exposed to the sunshine, on a tolerably 

 dry soil, the foliage of this tree dies ofi" a brilliant red, and the tufts 

 of feathery flowers frequently remain all the winter through. The 

 cockspur thorn, 3Iespilus crus-galli, is now brilliantly coloured, the 

 large-lobed leaves having changed from a cheerful green to a bright 

 amber, which is again changing to deep red, in which state they will 

 end their career. In our rambles lately we have been much struck 

 with the autumnal beauty of the common dogwood, Corwz^s sanguinea, 

 which dies off a rich reddish-purple, which, when illuminated by the 

 setting sun, has a fine effect in the midst of darker greens, and 

 ruddy and russety hues. There are few subjects more suitable for 

 approaches and the fronts of mixed plantations than the scarlet oak, 

 Quercus coccinea, which is now flame-like in its glory ; the champion 

 oak, Q. rtcbra, which dies off a rich blood-red, less attractive than the 

 last, and yet, nevertheless, superb. The scarlet maple, Acei^ ruhrum, 

 is beautiful at all seasons, except in the dead of winter, but is now 

 at its best. Less distinctive, but still beautiful in their winter dress, 

 and invaluable for variety, are the tulip tree, Ziriodendron tulipifera; 

 the Norway maple, Acer platanoides ; the sugar maple, A. saccharinwn; 



