The Beauty of Trees 



when her greens are exhausted, Nature falls 

 back upon other colors, and gives us such an 

 eccentric thing as, for instance, the purple 

 beech. 



In default of a marked natural gift, it is 

 more difficult, perhaps, to cultivate a good 

 eye for color than for form ; yet it can be 

 largely developed by a process of constant 

 observation and comparison. The main 

 trouble is that few people even try to appre- 

 ciate the difference between coloristic har- 

 monies and discords. They do not really 

 look at anything they see. 



As it is with texture, so it is with color in 

 trees : restfulness, which implies dignity, of 

 effect, is more often desirable than restless- 

 ness and fragile grace, and is always desir- 

 able when a large mass is in question ; and 

 it may broadly be said that dark colors are 

 quieter than pale colors, and that the most 

 restless of all are those which are mottled 

 instead of simple. The unquiet look of a 

 silver-maple, for instance, as compared with 

 the restful look of a sugar -maple, depends as 

 much upon the contrasted colors of the up- 

 per and lower sides of its leaves as upon 



