OCTOBER. 315 



prevents anything tawdry or little in the effect. On the 

 contrary, when the full beams of the sun shine on them, the 

 warm and glowing colours possess a great deal of grandeur. 

 The poplar leaves often assume a crimson hue ; the elm, a 

 bright and golden yellow ; birch and beech, a pale, sober, 

 yellow ochre ; ash and basswood, different shades of brown ; 

 the tamarack, a buff-yellow. The beech, the ash, and the 

 tamarack, do not, in general, bear much part in this glittering 

 pageant ; the ash is mostly leafless at the time, and the glory 

 has passed away before the other two have scarcely begun 

 to fade. Indeed, the glossy green of the beech is perhaps 

 more effective than if it partook of the general change ; and 

 even the gloomy blackness of the resinous trees, by relieving 

 and throwing forward the gayer tints, is not without effect. 

 This beauty is not shown to equal advantage every year : in 

 some seasons the trees fade with very little splendour, the 

 colours all partaking more or less of dusky, sordid brown; 

 early frosts seem to be unfavourable for its developement : 

 and even at its best it is a melancholy glory, a precursor of 

 approaching dissolution, something like the ribbons and gar- 

 lands with which the ancient pagan priests were accustomed 

 to adorn the animals they destined for sacrifice. 



C. What is the cause of the fall of leaves ? 



F. The severity of the weather is doubtless the cause 

 of the death of leaves, since we find that only those survive 

 the winter which are protected by a resinous varnish, as the 

 fir, latirel, &c. But the fall of the leaf does not necessarily 

 follow its death, for if a branch be cut off from a tree in full 

 leaf in the midst of summer, the leaves will not be shed ; 

 they will dry up and become brittle, but it will be found 

 that their connexion with the stem is as strong, and their 

 hold as tenacious as when they were in vigour and green- 

 ness : so that we must look to other causes for the denuding 

 of a tree. Every bud is formed in the axilla of a previous 



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