The fact that the redoubtable sycamore is a member of this noble clan may prove a cause for reflection amongst the more sober-minded gardeners. However, contained in this genus are some of the loveliest moderate-sized trees for foliage it is possible to cultivate.

Acer cirrinatum, the Vine Maple, was at first try a most reluctant debutante at Harlow Car, largely because I succeeded each time in planting it near a subterranean sulphur spring. Finally on the third move I selected a dry site and it is now a flourishing large shrub. The leaves are lovely in summer when they are shaded with bronze tones and in autumn they turn deep yellow and crimson. Acer davidii makes a medium-sized tree of 30 ft. which is excellent in association with cherries or crab, for the white-striped branches and handsome autumn colour add interest when the others are out of flower.

Amelanchier x grandiflora is a hybrid with canadensis as one parent. I prefer the pink- flowered form listed by some nurseries as rubescens, by others as rosea. Pink candyfloss would be an exact description of this bush in full bloom, the autumn colour of the leaves being a rich deep red.

Andromeda polifOlia compacta could hardly be called versatile for it demands an acid peaty soil. The grey leaves with clusters of bright pink flowers from May onwards, sometimes into July, make this a splendid ground cover plant. I mulch the bed each year so that the branches root themselves to spread the group wider.

The Red Buckeye will eventually make a bush 12 ft. high, but has the grace to flower when hardly out of the nursery. The dark red panicles of flower show colour in mid-July. Ailanthus altissima is frequently known by the common name of the Tree of Heaven, and I have often wondered Why a tree with such doubtful claims to real beauty should be so honoured. That it is quick growing, tolerant of atmospheric pollution and possessed of large not unattractive leaves is undeniably true, but surely these qualities hardly warrant the sobriquet of Heavenly.

A soil which is acid or neutral in character seems to intensify the richness of autumn colouring. I remember an A. palmatum in full flame of autumn scarlet, planted around with the cool blue of aconitum, which made a serenely beautiful picture.