Ii8 April — Dried Old Leaves, 



just left the hands of the workman. The impression is 

 much increased by the quantities of leaves from the pre- 

 ceding year, which will generally be found on the earth 

 beneath, for the horse-chestnut leaf is very durable, and 

 retains its shape and substance long after it is dead and 

 sapless. Painters are not generally very partial to this 

 tree, because the size of the leaf and the definition of 

 its forms require more accurate drawing than can be 

 easily made compatible with the mystery that landscape- 

 painters desire ; but from the opening of the leaf-bud 

 to the ripening of the fruit the end of a horse-chestnut 

 twig presents a constant succession of interesting models 

 for a designer of ornaments. Even such a detail as the 

 position of the old scales, which remain after the accom- 

 plishment of their especial protective function, is of im- 

 portance from the ornamental point of view, as one 

 soon discovers after carefully drawing the extremity of 

 a twig in full detail, when the leaflets are still hanging 

 together vertically, or just gaining strength enough to 

 begin to spread themselves, and the scales decorate the 

 point from which all this new vegetation has issued, 

 making the separation between the old woody twig and 

 the fresh green leaf-stalks of the present year. 



How long the coloring of foregrounds is affected by 

 the remains of the previous season ! and what aston- 

 ishing contrasts are produced by this juxtaposition of 

 death and birth ! All along the sides of the April 

 woods you may see the red of the dry oak foliage 

 close to the fresh green of the willow and the white of 

 the blackthorn, three colors as distinct as possible ; 



