The Beauty of Trees 



when it is purple Hke the well-known variety 

 of beech, or red like some Japanese maples, 

 or blue like a Colorado spruce, or bright 

 yellow like many varieties of shrubs — it 

 should be used with peculiar care, and a dis- 

 cretion amounting to the most rigid parsi- 

 mony. It is like the red cloak which land- 

 scape-painters are so fond of employing — 

 invaluable, sometimes, if set in exactly the 

 right place, but by no means always need- 

 ful, and always ruinous if wrongly placed or 

 over-emphasized . 



Again, all objects which come into visual 

 contact with our trees must be considered 

 as affecting their own colors. A tree which 

 would look well against a background of 

 dark rock might not look as well lifted 

 against a background of sky ; and one 

 which would harmonize with a brown or a 

 white house might not harmonize with a 

 red brick house. The sheen and color of 

 water, too, and its reflecting powers, de- 

 mand that its borders be very carefully 

 treated. A bright tree which might give a 

 welcome accent in itself might give a dis- 

 tinctly over-emphatic accent if doubled by 



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