370 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



than a few mineral crystals, but those of the branch, 

 just under the cork layer, are rich in starch and 

 protoplasm. And when the sun comes back to us 

 from the South these living principles of the dead 

 leaves are pushed up anew into the April buds, 

 and help to form the tender foliage of another year. 



When Nature begins to empty the leaf-cells in 

 autumn the little green disks of chlorophyll " lose 

 their normal outline, assume irregular shapes, and 

 their coloring matter," says Professor Von Sachs, 

 " undergoes changes." The crimson, purple, and 

 golden-green leaves of early spring are leaves into 

 which chlorophyll has not yet come. The crim- 

 son, purple, and yellow leaves of autumn are leaves 

 in which chlorophyll has lost its green color and its 

 active life. The splendor of the October woods 

 was prophesied in April, but the leaves which 

 mutely foretold it were too tiny and their colors 

 were too evanescent to catch the attention of busy 

 people. And the autumn glory, when it comes, 

 more than fulfils the little hints and half-promises 

 which the trees give us in spring. 



Some plants, the annuals, never awaken from 

 their winter sleep. One summer is their span of 

 life. But these are but a small proportion of the 

 vegetable world, and even these, by the time sum- 



