82 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 4, 1870. 



objection, owing to the skids protruding so far that in going 

 round they thrust into the bed and injure the plants, but verges 

 I can and do cut with it. Another objection is that it does not 

 cut quite so closely as I should wish ; but this objection will, 

 perhaps, be all in the machine's favour, as in a more growing 

 season than the present the cut grass will be more readily lost 

 to view than if it were shaven off close to the ground, which 

 would tend to give a rusty appearance. 



I do not pretend to say that the Archimedean is the height 

 of perfection, far from it ; there is room for improvement, but 

 it is a great advance in the way of diminishing labour. We 

 must also bear in mind that since Green's and other machines 

 came into use great improvements have been made in them, 

 and I have not the slightest doubt but that our American 

 cousins will eventually make as great an improvement on the 

 Archimedean.— E. Morgan, The Butts, Hairow-on-the-Hill. 



HORTICULTURAL CONGRESS AT OXFORD. 



(Continued from page 65.) 

 The next paper read, was that of Mr. William Paul, of 

 Waltham Cross, viz. : — 



ON COLOUR IN THE TREE SCENERY OF OUR GARDENS, PARKS, 

 AND LANDSCAPES. 



Last year I had the privilege of reading a paper at the Manchester 

 Congress of this Society, " On the Improvement of Races," which 

 subject may bo said properly to belong to the " science " of gardening. 

 To-day I have the pleasure of submitting to you my thoughts " On 

 Colour in the Tree Scenery of our Gardens, Parks, and Landscapes," 

 and here I find myself dealing more directly with the "art" of gar- 

 dening. While fully recognising the progress, both in the art and 

 science of gardening, which has taken place in my day, I yet think that 

 in this outlying but important province, our professors have not made 

 so free and effective a use as they might have done of the various tints 

 of foliage which are to be found amongst trees and shrubs. Lest I 

 should be misunderstood, permit me to state at the outset, that I hold 

 the prevailing greeu with which the earth is clothed to be the best 

 colour that could have been devised for the purpose, as blue is the 

 most appropriate colour for the sky. But the sky, which is beyond 

 our reach and power, is naturally subject to constant and considerable 

 variation, and is singularly free from monotony. It is not altogether, 

 or long together, of one colour. There are light fleecy clouds con- 

 tinually breaking up the hemisphere of blue ; varying in substance and 

 colour ; sometimes hanging motionless, but oftener sailing noiselessly 

 along, more or less rapidly, and every moment changing in form. 

 Then there are the dark thunder clouds, and the golden, silvery, purple 

 and roseate hues, which often give both life and brilliancy to the 

 morning and evening sky. 



But we have the power given unto us to vary and adorn the surface 

 of the earth, and I would here invite public attention, and invoke the 

 artist's aid in behalf of 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, supple- 

 menting these effects 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 — 1st, that the object I seek is de- 

 sirable ; 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 

 expanse of country ; to row upon the surface of the lake, and look up- 

 wards upon the towering masses of rock and tree ; to trace the lake 

 shores, the lake islets and waterfalls, is, I believe, a recreation of a 

 higher intellectual and more esthetic order than the many who have 

 not practised it might, at first sight, take it to be. 



A highly cultivated American gentleman once said to me, ''Eng- 

 land is a series of varied and improved landscapes. Now and then in 

 remote districts one catches a glimpse of Nature, unaided and un- 

 adorned, 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 miny oases been im- 

 proved or developed at a sufficiently distant date, that the old and the 

 new have become blended in one harmonious whole, leaving no strong 

 lines of demarcation between the work of Nature and the work of Art ; 

 but the landscapes are generally cold and monotonous — wanting in 

 variety and colour. 



If we proceed to analyse a beautiful English landscape we shall find 

 it composed of diversity of surface, light and shade, wood, water, rock, 



and many minor accessories, which may or may not be present, either 

 singly or in combination. These I mention not to dwell upon, but to 

 dismiss, as the recognised features of the landscape. My business at 

 present is with tree scenery, and principally with one feature of it — 

 colour. Our earth tints are prominently neutral, often sombre, and to 

 correct this thould, in my judgment, be a leading idea with the true 

 artist in landscape gardening. A piece of country, however beautiful 

 by nature ; a garden, however perfectly planned, yields more or less 

 pleasure according to the skill and taste exercised in the planting, just 

 as the proportions and beauty of the human form are improved or 

 otherwise by the style of dress — trees, shrubs, and flowers constituting, 

 in fact, the exterior dress of the garden and the landscape. Now, it 

 must be patent to those even who are but slightly acquainted with this 

 subject, that the labour of our plant collectors abroad, and plant cul- 

 tivators at home, have placed within our reach many trees with 

 coloured leaves — purple, yellow, and white — of various shades, and I 

 hold that these colours should be so blended with the prevailing green 

 as to remove the monotony which at present obtains. That the effect 

 of colour in the landscape would be generally appreciated was once 

 brought home to me in a peculiar manner. I was riding in company 

 with some friends through the park at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire. 

 Suddenly we sighted a tree with reddish-brown leaves rising from the 

 green sward, and surrounded at some little distance with the usual 

 green trees. Remote as it was, we could not at the moment make it 

 out, but all admired it, and agreed that it was at once telling and 

 beautiful. Led by admiration as much as by curiosity, we approached 

 it, and discovered a dead tree retaining its reddish brown withered 

 leaves. 



I think that any cultivated observer who may dwell ever so briefly 

 on the tree scenery of Great Britain will admit that the contrasts of 

 colour, weak and little varied as they generally are, present to him 

 one of its most pleasing features. If, then, the slight existing variation 

 of colour, restricted principally to the contrast between light and dark 

 green, is admitted to be an element of beauty, may we not justly infer 

 that we should gain something if we varied and increased the con- 

 trasts by the use of stronger and more distinct colours? I think, 

 then, that I may fairly assume that, on a free and full consideration 

 of this subject, it will he generally admitted that a greater variety of 

 colour would be an improvement in the tree scenery of our English 

 gardens, parks, and landscapes. 



I have next to show that the object I seek is attainable. The ar- 

 rangement of the colours of flowers in the flower garden has of late 

 years been worked out with wonderful skill and effect. What were 

 our flower gardens in this respect thirty years ago ? I remember that 

 results predicted then were considered impossible by the many, al- 

 though they have been accomplished, and more than accomplished, 

 long ago. Now, as far as I am aware, no one has yet applied the 

 same principles in the arrangement of trees and shrubs with coloured 

 leaves. I have been told that it cannot be done. But after a long 

 study of the question and numerous experiments, I have come to a 

 different conclusion, which I submit with all deference to those who 

 think otherwise. I believe that here, as in the flower garden, there 

 only needs a beginning, and progress will be rapid and success certain. 

 Many yearB ago I formed a collection of pictorial trees and Bhrubs, 

 and planted them closely together, with the view of watching their 

 development and eradicating those kinds which might prove undesir- 

 able on more mature acquaintance. This plan I vigorously pursued, 

 and now find myself in possession of a select list, which I believe is 

 sufficient to carry out all that I shall advance. 



In addition to the ordinary or prevailing green, I find that I have 

 five colours, or tones of colour, with which to work : — 1, Light green ; 

 2, Dark green ; 3, Reddish purple ; 4, Yellow or golden; 5, White or 

 silvery ; and these may be combined iu a variety of ways. Dark 

 bluish green has a good effect when placed in contrast with light 

 yellowish green ; white with dark green ; reddish purple with light 

 green ; reddish purple with yellow ; yellow with dark green. And 

 these contrasts by no means exhaust our resources. I merely quote 

 them from among a number of experiments which I have _ actually 

 tried and found agreeable to my taste. I have, indeed, no intention 

 here of laying down any precise or definite rules for the application of 

 these principles ; I aim at no more than to show that the materials in 

 colour exist, leaving their combination to be dealt with by the ingenuity 

 and industry of a cultivated taste. It would be chimerical to suppose, 

 unfair to expect, that any person taking this subject in hand without 

 previous study, or without the fullest acquaintance with the materials 

 which exist — some of them newly introduced — would at once realise any 

 great measure of success. To such an individual the scheme would 

 probably appear Utopian. He might, by a momentary effort, call up 

 in his mind the short list of old and familiar trees with purple, white, 

 and yellow leaves, — the purple Beech, the white Poplar, the variegated 

 Turkey Oak, and some few others still among the most valuable, but 

 so few in number that he would dismiss the subject as impracticable. 

 But unless familiar with the black and yellow Oaks, the yellow Elm, 

 Acacia, and Alder, the white-leaved Acer Negundo, and the many 

 beautiful Maples recently introduced from Japan— the host of richly 

 variegated trees only now becoming plentiful, — in a word, unless 

 familiarly acquainted with the latest introductions of this kind, he 

 would, I submit, be drawing his conclusions from incomplete in- 

 formation. 

 Iu order to bring my views to a practical test, I have here a diagram, 



