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But when a plant is about to shed its leaves, it takes 
care not to waste the precious food which they hold. 
This food it draws back into its stem and roots, laying 
it away in safe places beneath the buds which are to 
burst another year. 
It is this action on the part of the plant which 
changes the color of the leaves every fall. That mate- 
rial which makes them green is broken up, and part 
of it is taken away. That which is left is usually 
yellow or brown or reddish, and gives the leaves the 
beautiful colors we see in our October woods. 
So whenever you see the woods changing color, 
losing their fresh green and turning red and yellow, 
you can be sure that the trees have begun to prepare 
for winter. You know that they are stowing away 
their food in warmer, safer places than can be supplied 
by the delicate leaves. And when all the food has 
been drawn out of the leaves, and packed away in 
the right spots, then the plant finishes a piece of work 
it began some time before. This piece of work is the 
building-up of a row of little cells just where the leaf- 
stalk joins the stem or branch. When this row is com- 
plete, it acts almost like a knife, loosening the stalk 
from the stem. 
Then the leaf’s life work is over; and with the first 
breeze, the empty shell, which is all that is left, breaks 
away from the parent plant, and drifts earthward. 
