TROPICAL EFFECTS 325 



tubs well, they are tubs. These objections do not apply to the 

 yellowwood on the lawn or the redbud in the garden. 



AN . INFALLIBLE RULE 



So, then, we have a sure principle to guide us in bringing the 

 spirit of tropical beauty to the North. We are not to pick out the 

 showiest plants of the tropics and transport them bodily, for they 

 fear the frost. Their faces, so to speak, blanch at the thought of 

 it and, therefore, they can never look entirely happy or seem at 

 home in our gardens. The true way is to search out the hardy 

 members of each family that plays a great part in the tropics. These 

 will look at home both summer and winter, for even when they 

 are bare they will give us some beauty of outline, branching, bark, 

 bud, or berry. In the case of herbs there will be only two or three 

 months gained, but in the case of the trees and shrubs we shall 

 get a dignity from their stature which we can never have from the 

 tropical plants that are set outdoors for the summer. 



WHAT WE MEAN BY "TROPICAL" 



Nine times out of ten when we speak of "tropical vegetation" 

 the chief idea in our mind is luxuriance of foliage, rather than any 

 particular leaf form. I realized this during my first day in Eng- 

 land, when I saw clearly that the overwhelming beauty of England 

 is due chiefly to her great luxuriance. For when the earth seems 

 teeming with fertility, everything looks prosperous and happy. 

 America does not yet have this look, except in spots. One great 

 reason for it is that hitherto we have relied chiefly upon European 

 plants and these, broadly speaking, do not fit our climate as well 

 as our own and those from China and Japan. Throughout this 

 book I have been illustrating in many different ways a single 

 theme, viz., that America can never get this happy, prosperous 



