A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



Then, when the maples have burst out 

 into color, showing like great bonfires along 

 the hills, there is indeed a feast for the eye. 

 A maple before your windows in October, 

 when the sun shines upon it, will make up 

 for a good deal of the light it has excluded ; 

 it fills the room with a soft golden glow. 



Thoreau, I believe, was the first to re- 

 mark upon the individuality of trees of the 

 same species with respect to their foliage, 

 some maples ripening their leaves early 

 and some late, and some being of one tint 

 and some of another; and, moreover, that 

 each tree held to the same characteristics, 

 year after year. There is, indeed, as great 

 a variety among the maples as among the 

 trees of an apple orchard ; some are harvest 

 apples, some are fall apples, and some are 

 winter apples, each with a tint of its own. 

 Those late ripeners are the winter varieties, 

 the Rhode Island greenings or swaars 

 of their kind. The red maple is the early 

 astrachan. Then come the red-streak, the 

 yellow-sweet, and others. There are wind- 

 falls among them, too, as among the apples, 

 and one side or hemisphere of the leaf is 

 usually brighter than the other. 



The ash has been less noticed for its 

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