A NOVEMBER CHRONICLE. 123 



dead ; why should they not obey the general 

 law, " ashes to ashes, dust to dust " ? Is 

 our summer too short to ripen them, and so 

 to perfect the articulation ? Whatever its 

 cause, their singular behavior does much to 

 beautify the landscape ; particularly in such 

 a district as mine, where the rocky hills are, 

 so many of them, covered with young oak 

 forests, which, especially for the first half of 

 November, before the foliage is altogether 

 faded, are dressed in subdued shades of ma- 

 roon, beautiful at all hours, but touched 

 into positive glory by the level rays of the 

 afternoon sun. 



I began on the very first day of the month 

 to make a list of the plants found in bloom, 

 and happening, a week afterward, to be in 

 the company of two experienced botanical 

 collectors, I asked them how many species 

 I was likely to find. One said thirty. The 

 other, after a little hesitation, replied, " I 

 don't know, but I should n't think you 

 could find a dozen." Well, it is true that 

 November is not distinctively a floral month 

 in Massachusetts, but before its thirty days 

 were over I had catalogued seventy-three 

 species, though for six of these, to be sure, 



