322 AFTERMATH 



are left to die of ripe old age, the delicate wood 

 Ferns go through changes of tint, until all color is 

 bleached from them before they are cut down in 

 late October. Another year perhaps nothing re- 

 covers from the September storms that beat and 

 make sodden and then draw the cold northwest 

 winds after them. Even though frosts be light and 

 October a month of slowly deepening red and gold, 

 the flowers disappear from their haunts one by one, 

 and the Ferns melt or shrivel away according to 

 their previous succulence, leaving the rock Poly- 

 pody, Ebony Spleenwort, Christmas and Evergreen 

 Wood Ferns as the Winter representatives of the 

 tribe, so that November is always the month of 

 aftermath. Then when we follow the wood path 

 and waterways, the eye is content with mere 

 gleanings of color, such as the red -berried cap of 

 Jack -in -the -Pulpit, the Dogwood and the coral - 

 strung Winterberry yield. 



At this time the open fields, uplands, meadows, 

 and byways, where distance softens, are more allur- 

 ing than the deep woods in which we are brought 

 face to face with barrenness. But of all places, the 

 marshes bordering Sunflower Lane are the most 

 hospitable to both plant and bird. 



The Hazel Bushes along the lane have dropped 



