214 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



America there are 'six weeks of Indian summer all 



gold by day, and, when the moon comes, all silver by 



night;' and 'when the maples have burst out into 



colour, showing like great bonfires on the hills, there is 



indeed a feast for the eye ' : — ^ 



' Arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and yellow, 

 Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree of the 



forest 

 Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with mantles 



and jewels.' — Longfellow. 



From all accounts, this is not an exaggerated descrip- 

 tion, and to American eyes our woods in autumn must 

 seem tame in colour ; but they have a beauty of their 

 own, and — 



' The pale descending year is pleasing still. ' — Thompson. 

 And though I wish to speak chiefly of the foliage in the 

 gardens, I cannot altogether pass by the beauties of 

 trees in our woods and hedgerows. One of the first 

 trees to put on autumnal colours and to drop its leaves 

 is the horse-chestnut ; in some seasons the leaves take 

 the colour of old gold, and when they fall the curious 

 horse-shoe mark at the junction of the leaf with the 

 branch is so distinct that it is not surprising some 

 should think the name of the tree is derived from 

 that, with which, however, it has no connection. 

 The elms and beeches soon follow the horse-chestnut, 

 1 Burroughs. 



