ON COLOUR IN TREE SCENERY. 457 



colour. There appears to me a monotony on the face of 

 our English landscapes arising from one uniform and all 

 pervading colour green. This monotony I would seek 

 to remove by the introduction of trees with purple, white, 

 and yellow leaves. With the same end in view I would 

 also plant more freely the transitory red, yellow, brown, 

 and purple tints of spring and autumn, supplementing 

 these efforts by the introduction of berry-bearing trees 

 trees with white, red, black, and yellow berries, and trees 

 with white, red, and yellow bark for winter ornament. 



With these preliminary remarks I shall endeavour to 

 show, first, that the object I seek is desirable ; next, that 

 it is attainable ; and shall conclude with a few general 

 remarks and brief examples in support of my views. 



I am free to confess that there is nothing in the whole 

 range of nature which yields me more pleasure than the 

 contemplation of a beautiful landscape. To stand on 

 some elevated spot in the English or Scotch lake district, 

 for example, and look down on a broad and varied ex- 

 panse of country ; to row upon the surface of the lakes 

 and look upwards upon the towering masses of rock and 

 tree ; to trace the lake shores, the lake islets, and water- 

 falls, is, I believe, a recreation of a higher intellectual and 

 more aesthetic order than the many who have not prac- 

 tised it might at first sight take it to be. A highly 

 cultivated American gentleman once said to me, "England 

 is a series of varied and improved landscapes. Now and 

 then in remote districts one catches a glimpse of nature 

 unaided and unadorned, but generally throughout the 

 length and breadth of the land high art has been so 

 skilfully applied as to effect the artist's object without 

 leaving behind any traces of the artist's hand. But I miss 

 the brilliant autumnal glow of the American forests; your 

 landscapes lack colour." This very nearly expresses my 

 ideas of English scenery; the natural beauties of our 

 landscapes have in many cases been improved or de- 

 veloped at a sufficiently distant date that the old and 



