236 THE RING OF NATURE 



OCTOBER 

 II 



THE BROWNING OF THE LEAVES 



THE yellow of autumn is running down the 

 elms, turning them into astonishing pillars 

 of pale fire. The big leaves of the lime take the 

 colour of straw, and drop off almost within the 

 course of twenty-four hours. The flame-shaped 

 fingers of the Ampelopsis on the house wall become 

 coloured images of the devouring element ; the 

 long fingers of the sumac are bloodily crimson ; 

 the beech has luminous leaves in every shade 

 from yellow to scarlet ; the oak is going out in a 

 sort of sturdy scorched biscuit-colour. The trees, 

 in short, about to shed their leaves brighten the 

 world with a display of reds even more remark- 

 able and varied than the greens with which they 

 came in. 



The phenomenon of the leaf-fall is not, as we 

 instinctively imagine, easy to explain on the mere 

 score of change of temperature. As it happens, 

 this autumn is warmer than the summer has been, 

 and yet the yellowing of the leaf began as early as 



