NATURE'S CALENDAR 197 



SEPTEMBER 



September, the seventh month (Latin September i 



Septimus, seventh) of the old Roman cal- 

 endar, is counted as the first of the au- 

 tumnal quarter in our arrangement, but 

 practically summer lasts through to Mich- 

 aelmas. September is the month of fruits. 

 "Grapes," says Wilson Flagg. "in purple 

 clusters, basking in the sunshine, garland 

 the stone wall, which seems like a natural 

 trellis. Apples are reddening on the 

 orchard trees, under the ripening influence 

 of the sun, or lie in heaps of variegated 

 colors upon the ground. Peaches with 

 downy cheeks, wearing the blush of 

 mellow ripeness, are drooping voluptu- 

 ously from their slender boughs. Quince- 

 trees, in gleaming rows along the fences, 

 tempt the visitor with the golden apples 

 of the Hesperides. Every way-side in the 

 country is adorned with a similar profu- 

 sion, and glittering varieties of fruits hang 

 from thousands of boughs and sprinkle 

 the green turf of every orchard." 



The mammals, large or small, are not 

 as much in evidence yet as they will 

 be later, but certain ones are common 

 enough. The young of most have now 

 grown to two-thirds their full size— per- 



