FOLIAGE. 



FOLIAGE is the most conspicuous of the minute pro- 

 ductions of nature. To the leaves of trees we look, not 

 only for the gratification of our sense of beauty, but as 

 the chief source of grateful shade and of the general 

 charms of summer. They are the pride of trees no less 

 than their flowers, and the cause of healthful freshness in 

 the atmosphere. They afford concealment to small birds 

 and quadrupeds, they give color to the woods, and yield 

 constant pleasure to the sight without any weariness. It 

 is remarkable that we always trace with delight the 

 forms of leaves in other objects of nature, in the frost- 

 work on our windows, in the lichens that cover the rocks 

 in the forest, in the figures on a butterfly's wing. Espe- 

 cially in art do we admire the imitation of foliage. It is, 

 indeed, the source of half the beauty of this earth ; for it 

 constitutes the verdure of field and lawn, as well as of 

 woods. Flowers are partial in their distribution, but foli- 

 age is universal, and is the material with which nature 

 displays countless forms of beauty, from the small acicular 

 leaves of the delicate heath plant, to the broad pennons 

 of the banana, that float like banners over the hut of the 

 negro. 



With the putting forth of leaves we associate the most 

 cheerful and delightful of seasons. In their plaited and 

 half-unfolded condition and in their lighter hues we behold 

 the revival of spring, and iu their full development and 

 perfected verdure the wealth, the ripeness, and the joyful 

 fruition of summer. The different colors they assume 



