120 DEPARTMENT EEPORTS. 



during the winter, no date has been fixed to designate the entire bareness of 

 the branches. Usually the last leaves to disappear from most trees are those 

 on the higher or younger shoots. These shoots mature last. ''With respect 

 to the fall of leaves, it has been noticed that three more or less distinct 

 periods are observable. The first occurring, on an average, a week earlier 

 than the main fall, is marked by the loss of the leaves of the weakly twigs. 

 The second comprises the main defoliation. The third embraces the period 

 during which straggling leaves, mostly on branches which have been shaded 

 during the growing season, successively disappear. This period is often lim- 

 ited only by the beginning of growth the next spring."* 



The following tables can afford a basis for the comparative study of plant 

 life only as they are compared with similar observations made in other places. 

 The critical reader will be liable to learn from them alone, among other 

 things, something of the earliness or lateness of the last three seasons, 

 however. 



* Wm. Trelease, 2 nd. Rep. Wis. Exper. Sta., 59. 



