xvi INTRODUCTION. 



scarlet maple, sumach, Rhus Oshechi, etc. At another point 

 many spring-blooming plants are massed, and throughout 

 all the tree and shrub groupings come more or less spring-, 

 summer-, or fall-blooming kinds scattered about at frequent 

 intervals. In regard to the employment of bright-colored 

 trees and shrubs, such as Japanese maples, purple beeches, 

 and golden oaks, it is important to say that self-restraint 

 is advisable. Coloring of the brightest kind is valuable 

 duly and properly related to the general mass of the foliage 

 of trees and shrubs. The color scheme of tree and shrub 

 plantation should be, as a rule, in tones of green. Subsidi- 

 ary masses may, hovi^ever, have yellowish or reddish tones, 

 and even a main mass might be, in some cases, attractively 

 designed with only purple beech or golden oak. 



It seems fitting to explain here what I consider the 

 proper way to treat shrubs viewed in mass and viewed 

 individually. I approach this question with some hesi- 

 tation, because it is easy, in talking of such matters, to 

 find one's self landed in a tangle of unprecise phrases, 

 such as mystery, blending, gardenesque, picturesque, etc., 

 etc. There is doubtless a particular composition that 

 should be devised for every landscape-gardening picture, 

 and a broad comprehensive scheme of a high order of 

 art may be thus unquestionably established. Foreground, 

 middle-distance, and background need due consideration, 

 and proper relations of this kind may be unquestionably 

 established. Trees may be massed on the higher levels, and 

 may straggle down hillsides, and may be grouped and em- 

 phasized at certain points in a thoroughly artistic manner. 

 The stretches of lawn and vistas of trees may extend, 



