AUTUMN WOODS. 251 



visited Europe, I cannot speak of the comparison from 

 my own observation. But from descriptions of them 

 by different authors who have treated the subject, I 

 have been led to believe that the difference is caused 

 by a larger admixture of scarlet and crimson among 

 the tints of our own trees. To aid the reader in draw- 

 ing a comparison between them, I have made a synopsis 

 of the tints of American woods during September and 

 October ; and have copied a similar one, less full and 

 particular, by George Barnard, of English woods. 



NOTE. 



There are a few trees and shrubs, of which the alder and buckthorn 

 are examples, that so seldom show any kind of a tint that I have not 

 included them in my list ; and there are several species of oak that dis- 

 play such a motley combination of green and rust, with faint shades of 

 purple and yellow, that it is impossible to classify them. In my list I 

 have only named the genera, except when the species are distinguished 

 by important differences. The brown hues of the oak and the beech are 

 the tints only of their dead leaves or dead parts of leaves ; but pure 

 browns are sometimes seen in the living leaf of the snowy mespilus, the 

 pear-tree, and the smoke-tree ; in others they occur so seldom that they 

 may be classed as accidental hues. I ought to add that only a small 

 part of what may be said of the tints of trees is unqualifiedly correct. 

 They are greatly modified by circumstances which cannot always be 

 understood. I have seen maples that always remained green, apple-trees 

 dressed in scarlet and yellow, and lilacs in a deep violet ; but I have 

 never seen a purple, crimson, or scarlet leaf on any of the trees of 

 Division I. of the Synopsis. 



