228 



THE GARDEAEK'^ MONTJILY 



\^Amgmsty 



Tlui Autuiim tints of Amoii<a aro a joy of 

 beauty to forcisnera, and a continual surprise to 

 our own people. They are so by their strong 

 contfJist; tlio scarlet and the «;olden, the green 

 and the wbiU', the veined and the tinted, are all 

 nijussed together, and the result is a picture of 

 indesrribal)le beauty. 



These contrasts may be obtained in the Spriiif; 

 and Summer, as well a.s the Autumn, by the 

 plantinfj of trees in which they are constant, 

 (rradalions of color may give a harmony which 

 is pleiv-sin^, and distance may be gained by using 

 lighter tints for the back-ground, and darker for 

 the nearer trees, but the true test is the expres- 

 sion of pleased .surprise uttered by the novice or 

 connoisseur on entering a forest or a lawn where 

 these strong contrasts are found. 



Some thirty-five years ago, on returning from 

 atrip over the AUeghanies, in June, and then 

 again on the Pennsylvania hills in all the glories 

 of October, I was so impressed with the value 

 of strong contrasts, that I aimed for them as far 

 as possible in planting my own lawn. The re- 

 sult is satisfactory ; and now that the trees so 

 planted have been growing twenty-five to thirty- 

 five years, the etVect upon visitors proves that 

 nature is right, and that it is always safe to 

 follow her. 



The gejieral form of my lawn is that of an 

 amphitheatre, of which the house is the center. 

 The largest trees are on the outside, graded 

 down to smaller ones on the inside. While im- 

 mediately around the house is clear turf, upon 

 which robin, catbird and thrush- have their love 

 passages and mock fights, like the performers in 

 a Roman arena. I sit upon my piazza and 

 watch them, thinking how happy they are, with 

 no real estate in fee, and no taxes to pay, while 

 the changing tints of a Summer afternoon gild 

 or shade the quivering foliage of the trees before 

 me. The contrasted colors form a picture worthy 

 of the pencil of Cropsey, and when the sun 

 comes, after a shower, the pendant drops sparkle 

 like diamonds upon gold and emeralds. Per- 

 haps the finest eft'ect of these contrasting colors 

 is just before a glowing sunset, when the shadows 

 are thrown long upon the grass, and the leaves 

 seem almost transparent with green, scarlet 

 and gold. 



It may interest some to know what trees are 

 planted together to obtain these effects, and I 

 will endeavor to describe them, as my eye rests 

 upon them from the piazza, for they are nearly 

 all within my view from that point. 



The outside lines are Stone Piiu;, IleiQil<x"k, 

 Norway Sj)ruce and xVustrum l'lne,fc'orty to tifty 

 feet high. The color of the Stotie PSne is a 

 bright, refreshing green ; the Nonvay Spnice is 

 darker, the Hemlock still darker, iund dairke^t of 

 all is the Austrian Pine. Inside of these, two 

 Ivindens, one hundred feet high and .sijcty feet 

 in diameter of foliage, stand giuird^ wblh^ one 

 of them holds before her a grown-up child — a 

 Silver Weeping Linden fifty feet bigh» The 

 light-tinted Virgilia, fifty feet hiigt and fifty 

 feet broad, with its full racemes ©tf snow-white 

 llowers, is growing at the side olf the l*in"ple 

 Beech, fifty feet high, whose dark tints are again 

 relieved by the lighter foliage and pure white 

 blossoms of a dlouble flowering Cherry^ which 

 covers a diameter of fifty feet, and whose trunk, 

 twelve feet in circumference, shows its remark- 

 able age. The blue-green arms, of the Weeping 

 Larch, arms twenty-two feet long, on a body ten 

 feet high, stretch out horizontally on either side, 

 one of them grasping toward a Yellow Magno- 

 lia and the other resting upon a mass of Golden 

 Yew. Against this last is a Magnolia liCnne, 

 whose crimson petals just show their silver 

 lining. 



Near the dwelling, the Chinese Cypress stands 

 sentinel, upright as a grenadier, symmetrical as 

 an arrow, clothed with foliage soft as the green 

 feathers of a bird,' and a shade of pea green 

 more delicate and refreshing than that of any 

 tree I have. Its shape, a diameter of twelve 

 feet to a height of thirty-five, is that of a true 

 cone. 



The Nordmann Fir, thirty feet liigh, stands 

 alone in its grandeur. Its limbs are regular 

 and symmetrical and its foliage compact. In the 

 early season, the very light tint of the young 

 growth against the darkness of the old is very 

 charming, like gold upon ebony, or like the 

 cheek of a fair child against the dusky one of its 

 parent. 



From this varied foliage, the eye wanders to 

 the lighter color of an Atlas Cedar, forty feet 

 high, and to the unequalled charming lavender 

 tints of the Engelmann Spruce, relieved against 

 the darkness of an Austrian Pine. The blueish- 

 green of a Larch, fifty feet high, is contrasted 

 on one side with the dark-green of Euonymus, 

 clothed in the Autumn with its brilliant scarlet 

 berries, while on the other side stand the lighter 

 Lilacs and the graceful curves of the Weeping 

 Sopkora. The long arms of a Gingko, forty 

 feet high, extend protectingly over the flowers 



