NATURE'S CALENDAR 



219 



hues of autumn, and do it out of the 

 same materials that, acted upon in a 

 different way, and under other circum- 

 stances, make the flower tints of spring. 

 The petals of the rose, the brown leaves of 

 its bush, and its scarlet seed case, or" hip," 

 which remains to glow against the snow 

 and feed the birds, are all painted from 

 the same palette, but by different brushes. 



Another material assisting in produc- 

 ing bright colors is the fatty particles in 

 the plant juices, which, when the chloro- 

 phyll retreats., appear upon or near the 

 surface, and give a yellow or reddish 

 tinge to the stems and leaves, and some- 

 times to the bark and seeds. 



" How interesting now," exclaims the 

 Sage of Walden, " by wall-sides and on 

 open springy hill-sides, the large strag- 

 gling tufts of the Dicksonia fern above 

 the leaf-strewn green sward — the cold fall- 

 green sward ! , , . Long, handsome, lan- 

 ceolate green fronds pointing in every 

 direction, recurved and full of fruit, inter- 

 mixed with yellowish and sere brown and 

 shrivelled ones, the whole clump per- 

 chance strewn with fallen and withered 

 maple leaves, and over-topped by now 

 withered and unnoticed Osmundias." 



Now is the time to go nutting; and 

 what in the country boy's experience 

 equals that, from January to December .'' 

 But no matter how early the happy ur- 

 chin seeks the hickory he has been watch- 

 ing, or the butternut or walnut left grow- 



October 4 



October 5 



