The splendour of the American forests in autumn is a theme on which many travellers have loved to dwell, and leaves from these forests may be seen in that admirable institution the South Kensington Museum. The trees we have long had under cultivation, and they are not only available but capable of being wrought up with magnificent effect in this country. Among the most effective of spring trees the Corstorphine Plane (Acer Pseudo-Platanus flavo-variegatum), yellow; the Acer colchicum rubrum (red); the purple Horse-chestnut (AEsculus Hippocastanum purpureum), purple; and the Silver Poplar (Populus argentea), white, may be instanced. The shades of green at this season are also innumerable, although for the most part gradually subsiding into one nearly uniform tint. The brightest among the leaves of autumn are perhaps the Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea), the Liquidambar (L. styraciflua), the Stag's-horn Sumach (Rhus typhina), the Ostrya virginica, and several varieties of Cherries, Pears, and Maples; these usually die off bright red.

Of yellow shades may be instanced the Lombardy and Ontario Poplars (P. fastigiata and P. candi-cans), the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), the Horse-chestnut (AE. Hippo-castanum), the Salisburia adiantifolia, the Lime (Tilia Europaea), the Tulip-tree (Liriodendron tulipiferum), the White Mulberry (Morus alba), the Gleditschia triacanthos, the Magnolia tripetala, the Juglans amara, the Acer Negundo, the Kolreuteria paniculata, the Birch (Betula alba), and certain varieties of Cherries, Pears, Thorns, and Maples.

As examples of planting for pictorial effect, nothing can be more beautiful in the flower-garden than pillars or columns of Ivy, provided that they be appropriately placed. Here we have dark green, light green, green blotched with gold, and green edged with silver, all calculated to form permanent pictures. Standard and pyramidal golden Yews and golden Hollies also form beautiful permanent pictures in the garden. All permanent pictures are of course also winter pictures; but the common Beech (Fagus sylvatica) deserves special notice: it holds its reddish-brown leaves throughout the winter, and this colour stands in warm and beautiful contrast with the Pines and other Evergreens at that season. The white bark of the Birch, the white, purple, and yellow bark of certain species of "Willows, the red and yellow berries of the Holly, and the yellow and black berries of the Privet, are also invaluable for winter decoration. I have often admired the effect of three large trees placed in juxtaposition in a garden in my neighbourhood, whether by accident or design I have no means of ascertaining. Near the bend of a river is a Weeping Willow, the pale-green drooping branches appearing in the distance almost to sweep over the stream.

Behind rises a mass of the dark feathery Yew, the plumes of foliage waving in beautiful contrast of motion, form, and colour. Still further behind there appear in spring rigid masses of Apple-blossom, the snow-white crimson-tinted flowers blending in beautiful contrast with the dark and pale green of the Yew and Willow. Here we have the evergreen and deciduous forms in combination, but they are most effective as a spring or summer picture. Of all the errors to be avoided in the association of colours, I would caution the planter against an arrangement that should present a "spotty" appearance. Broken lines or irregular shapes of colour appear to me more desirable in forming plantations or belts than figures with a more easily definable outline. On the face of belts or woods three or five plants of a kind may be planted in a group, the outline being so broken that there are bays or promontories. In parks and gardens, single trees or groups of trees, each group of a distinct colour or shade of colour, would seem most appropriate. In working out these ideas we must never lose sight of harmony, remembering, however, that there are harmonies of contrast as well as of analogy. There is another point which should on no account be lost sight of.

There are some trees the effect of which is beautiful close to the eye, but which lose their distinctive character in the distance. Such are more appropriate to the garden, where brought in close contact with the eye, than in the distant landscape. But there are others which lose little or nothing from a distant view, and these facts must be taken into account and acted on when planting. As a rule, trees with variegated leaves are best placed near to the eye, and those of one uniform tint are most effective in the distance. I have already instituted a comparison between the colours of flowers and the colours of leaves, but there is an important difference in them which I must not omit to mention. The colours of flowers are often so bright and pronounced that certain of them cannot be judiciously brought into close contact; they require an intervening mass or line of some intermediate or neutral colour to render the effect agreeable and satisfactory. Not so, however, with the colours of trees; they are so subdued in tone that the association of the strongest colours does not produce violent contrasts.

Again, for this very reason, the colours of leaves being less bright than those of flowers, it becomes necessary here to accomplish by breadth of colour that which, with flowers, is effected by brilliancy of tone. Thus it follows that great breadths of scenery may be dealt with most effectively. It is, indeed, a mere question of outlay, and nothing more, whether variety of colour shall or shall not be extended from the garden to the outer pleasure-ground and shrubberies, the hills of plantations, the outskirts of woods and forests, and the most distant mountains and plains.

A. - Summer Pictures

1. Light Green. Larix Europaea. Taxodium distichum. Gleditschia triacanthos. Juglans laciniata.

Acer Negundo. Tilia Europaea. Catalpa syringaefolia. Robinia Pseudo-Acacia. Platanus occidentalis.

2. Dark Green. Fraxinus crispa.

,, monophylla. Alnus glutinosa. Cytisus Laburnum. Pyrus Aucuparia. AEsculus hippocastanum. Betula nigra. Fagus sylvatica. Ulmus, various kinds. Quercus Cerris.

3. Reddish Purple. Fagus sylvatica purpurea. Ulmus campestris fol. purp.

Acer Pseudo-Platanus fol. purp. ,, japonicum atropurpureum. Corylus Avellana purpurea. Quercus pedunculata purpurea.

,, nigra. Berberis vulgaris fol. purp.

4. Yellow or Golden. Quercus Cerris variegata.

,, Robur var. Concordia. Fraxinus aucubae folia. Castanea vesca variegata. Sambucus nigra aureovariegata. Symphoricarpos vulg. fol. aureis. Spiraea opulifolia lutea. Robinia Pseudo-Acacia aurea.

5. White or Silvery. Populus argentea.

Acer Negundo variegatum. Tilia argentea. Pyrus vestita.

,, salicifolia. Salix argyrea. Shepherdia argentea. Hippophae rhamnoides.

B. - Permanent Pictures

1. Light Green. Pinus Pyrenaica.

Cedrus Deodara (the green variety). Abies orientalis.

,, rubra. Ilex Balearica. Juniperus thurifera.

,, Virginiana.

,, Chinensis.

2. Dark Green. Pinus insiguis.

,, Austriaca. Picea Nordmanniana. Araucaria imbricata. Cupressus Lambertiana. Quercus Ilex. Cerasus Lusitanica. Phillyrea. Garrya elliptica. Hollies and Yews, various.

3. Purple. There are no suitable purple Evergreens, consequently this colour is restricted to summer pictures.

Waltham Cross.

4. Yellow or Golden.

Abies excelsa Finedonensis. Cupressus thyoides variegata. Ilex aquifolium aurea. Thuja aurea.

,, elegantissima. Taxus baccata aurea. Euonymus japonica flavescens. Retinospora pisifera aurea.

5. White or Silvery.

Cedrus Deodara (the glaucous variety). Pinus excelsa.

,, monticola.

,, nivea. Abies alba glauca. Ilex aquifolium argentea. Juniperus Virginiana glauca. Rhamnus Alaternus fol. argentea.

W. Paul.