Art Out-of-Doors 
If, in ornamental planting, we used only 
the materials which Nature supplies in the 
neighborhood of our homes, no one of these 
qualities would seem of more interest to the 
planter than the others, or would offer him 
more chances of making mistakes. But the 
efforts of generations in introducing exotic 
species of trees and in perpetuating casual 
natural eccentricities have brought color 
into greater relative prominence in the 
nursery than it assumes in Nature’s work- 
shop. The planter is therefore more apt to 
be struck by varieties of color than by those 
of form and texture ; and, as a rule, he 
thinks more of the effects which he can pro- 
duce with them, and commits with them his 
most frequent and conspicuous errors. 
If a true artist could always be employed 
when a work of landscape-gardening is in 
question, then the development of our nu- 
merous and striking nursery-varieties of color 
—which include tones of purple, red, blue, 
white, and especially yellow in a score of 
different degrees, and many striped and mot- 
tled effects as well — might be counted wholly 
fortunate ; for, of course, the wider the range 
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