NATURE'S CALENDAR 



245 



ter undergoes a change similar to decay, 

 which produces the other colors charac- 

 teristic of the season. 



October's brilliance has passed now, yet 

 the essence of its color remains, in this 

 sunset of the year, as the sky is often 

 richly reddened after the sun has quite 

 departed. The woods are far from leaf- 

 less, but they have a much darker tone 

 than in summer, and except where pines 

 or hemlocks stand in copses, there is no 

 distinct green. Instead, one sees browns 

 and purples passing into one another by 

 the loveliest gradations or pleasingly 

 mingled. 



It is when one enters the woods, how- 

 ever, that he begins to see that somethmg 

 new is to be learned of them at this sea- 

 son. Now is the time to study barks. 

 One ought to know all the trees by their 

 barks, and by the shape and manner of 

 forking of the branches — the feathery, 

 brushlike head of the birch; the ugly 

 skeleton of the powdery-skinned poplars; 

 the curled-in branches and twigs of the 

 dogwood, are only suggestions of how 

 characteristic is form in each sort of tree 

 when unclothed. 



But why do the leaves fall } The sum- 

 mer foliage is fastened on tightly enough, 

 so that the July gales are more likely to 

 break the branches than to strip them, 

 and in autumn the greenery is shed long 

 before the late storms tear the last of their 

 coverings from the " tufted trees." Yet 



November 16 



November 17 



