golden evergreens would find a place. And lastly I would see 
a tall English elm with leaves of silver-white, the only tree that 
is luminous under the moon. 
To keep the world from seeing what a shocking thing this 
place was, I would have it hedged in with dark purple beeches, 
hazels and maple trees, themselves hidden behind thick hemlocks 
and deep-green cedars. Now and again the knowing could find 
a peep-hole from my dark grove onto my pretend sunshine. And 
it should be seen from only one window of the house, the window 
of the dark book-room where one '^yent on dull days to forget 
the weather. 
The subject of abnormal coloring in plants is not easy to 
handle. Anything strange was popular in the old carpet-bedding 
days. That is probably the reason why everything of the sort 
is now deprecated by connoiseurs. But it is easy to lean over 
backwards, which is a ridiculous attitude. There are few things 
for which no use can be found. In fact, there is no little 
challenge in universal condemnation. And in more than one 
case I have seen fit and pleasing uses of these more or less 
unusual objects. 
One hears criticism of the purple beech. In one case that I 
know well, a rather small house was built along-side a huge old 
tree with deep red-purple leaves — dark maroon they are accord- 
ing to Ridgway. The tapestry bricks of the house exactly match 
the foliage color. The result is, surprisingly enough, that the 
house has the reputation of being very large. No doubt this is 
because the casual eye sees one great mass of the same color, 
and knowing part of it to be house, carelessly assumes all to be 
brick and stone. This is fortunate, as the landscape composition 
requires a dominating structure at this place and the house 
alone would not be large enough to serve the purpose. Where 
one seeks the effects of deep shadow, the purple beech and purple 
hazel are most useful in the distance, half screened behind their 
greener neighbors. And for spring cutting in the house, the 
garden has nothing more graceful than long sprays of purple 
beech. 
The variegated green and white leaved plants suffer much 
the same disapproval. They are certainly fearful and wonderful 
at times. Ordinarily speaking, the more they are admired by 
the owner, the more inappropriate the position in which you 
find them. But like the other strange things, one is challenged 
to find a place where they are better than anything else would be. 
A short time ago in a great garden near New York, I chanced 
upon a Euonynius radicans which had one branch of cream white 
leaves, quite Without the usual green striping. It was growing 
on a stucco wall. The gardener at the time was going about, 
doubtless according to others, carefully cutting out all the 
variegated branches. As a matter of fact, the effect in this 
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