GETTING AC^AINTED WITH THE TREES 



have a special charm. They are properly red, 

 but mingled with the characteristic color is a 

 whole palette of tints of soft yellow, bronze and 

 apricot. As the little baby leaflets open, they 

 are shiny and crinkly, and altogether attractive. 

 One thinks of the more aristocratic and dwarfed 

 Japanese maples, in looking at the opening of 

 these red -brown beauties, and it is no pleasure 

 to see them smooth out into sedate greenness. 

 Again, in fall, a glory of color comes to the 

 leaves of the red maple ; for they illumine the 

 countryside with their scarlet hue, and, as they 

 drop, form a brilliant thread in the most beau- 

 tiful of all carpets — that of the autumn leaves. 

 I think no walk in the really happy days of 

 the fall maturity of growing things is quite so 

 pleasant as that which leads one to shuffle 

 through this deep forest floor covering of ori- 

 ental richness of hue. 



As the ground warms and the sun searches 

 into the hearts of the buds, the Norway maple, 

 familiar street tree of Eastern cities, breaks into 

 a wonderful bloom. Very deceptive it is, and 

 taken for the opening foliage by the casual ob- 

 server; yet there is, when these flowers first 



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