212 SEVENTH REPORT OK THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Autumn Foliage. 



In the selection of species for street and highway planting some consideration 

 should be given to the colors which the leaves will display in the fall months, a 

 matter as important as that of tree habit or graceful outline. Although a purely 

 esthetic one its importance has been urged at times by scientists as well as writers 

 on woodland scenery. We hail with pleasure the green foliage of each returning 

 spring, but delight none the less in the brilliant display made by the painted leaves 

 in autumn, and, so, when we come to choose our trees for planting, everything 

 else being equal, why not give a preference to the species which afford a pleasing 

 aspect in both spring and fall. 



In considering this question it is well to remember that, while certain species 

 generally show the same color each fall, there is apt to be some variation in 

 this respect. Occasionally some individual will exhibit an entirely different tint 

 from the prevailing one of that species, while frequently several tints, and at times 

 two or more distinct colors, will be found on the same tree. The Red Maple is 

 noted for the scarlet hue of its leaves in early fall ; but here and there a tree 

 of this species will display a yellow foliage at that season. Then, again, the other 

 Soft Maple, the White or Silver Maple, which generally turns yellow, will in some 

 places present a single tree with leaves showing a red color to considerable extent. 



Most of our Oaks are a brilliant red or scarlet in October, but some of them 

 change each autumn from green to russet without the usual intermediate bright 

 tints that generally precede the russet. The Hard, or Sugar Maple, cannot be classi- 

 fied under any one particular color, for it not only displays various ones on the same 

 tree, but green, yellow, and red are often found on the same leaf. The leaves on 

 some species, the White Ash for instance, show three or four successive tints during 

 their transition, passing from yellow to a beautiful shade of brown. On some trees, 

 noticeably the Red Maple, a single branch will assume a brilliant color, generally red 

 in August, while the rest of the foliage is still green. This may be attributed to 

 some lack of vitality in the particular branch thus affected. 



It has been observed that when a tree shows a distinctive sport of this kind the 

 peculiarity is a persistent one, and its recurrence may be looked for each year. If a 

 Red Maple displays one highly colored branch in early August, while all the rest of 

 its foliage is green, it may be depended upon to exhibit the same phenomenon next 

 season. The White Maple, as a rule, has yellow leaves in autumn ; but if some one 

 tree of this species shows a mixture of red and yellow in its leaves it will surely do 

 the same through each successive year On some Oaks the leaves, instead of turn- 



