204 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



juice. At last, when autumn already veils the sun in cold 

 mists, and cuts off its warmth from us by dark clouds, 

 the grape gives us, in its fermented juice, the most pow- 

 erful cordial. Winter brings oily and farinaceous nuts, 

 almonds and olives, which keep long and warm well. 

 Still it must not be forgotten that those fruits which are, 

 so to speak, necessaries of life, the wheat of the north, 

 and the date, cocoanut and bread-fruit of the south, are 

 constantly found in all stages of development, and last 

 longer than a short season. 



But fruits do more ; they actually tell us when they 

 are ripe and wish to be gathered. They mostly change 

 their color for this purpose : as long as they are unripe, 

 they are green like the leaves, among which they are 

 concealed, or reddish like the bark to which they closely 

 adhere, as is the case with plums. When they approach 

 maturity, they assume brighter colors, so that the very 

 change announces them to be ripe, and their rich red, 

 blue, yellow, or black, invites those for whose use they 

 were intended. Others appeal to us by their smell and 

 some even to our ear. The chestnut-burr snaps in the 

 keen air, when the silent groves are already clad in au- 

 tumn's garb ; acorns and beechnuts are heard to fall in 

 the clear atmosphere, and the ripe cocoanut strikes the 

 ground with such force that the sound is heard for many 

 miles. Other fruits of palms, which, until ripe, were hid 

 under the protecting screen of broad leaves, burst with a 

 noise like a pistol shot, a signal at which more than one 

 guest is seen to hurry up to the rich treat. Among the 

 latter none are perhaps more curious than the land-crabs 



