The Beauty of Trees 
when it is purple like 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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