530 The Fall of the Leaf. 



If we would learn the full comparative value of trees, as 

 ornamental objects, it is necessary to study them under the 

 different aspects they assume, during each of the four seasons. 

 They should be observed in May and June, when they are 

 putting forth their leaves and blossoms; in July and August, 

 when they have completed the growth and maturity of their 

 foliage ; in October, when they are hung with fruits, and are 

 assuming the tints that precede their decay; and lastly, in 

 December and later, when they appear in their denuded state, 

 and have lost all their beauty, except that of the forms and 

 arrangements of their branches. Under each of these aspects, 

 they are a study which cannot fail to reward the observer, 

 by affording him many new ideas, which will assist him in 

 comprehending the beauty and grandeur of vegetable forms 

 and colors. 



The season of the fall of the leaf commences, in general, 

 about the twentieth of September, and varying with the 

 character of the weather, continues until near the third week 

 in November. It occupies a space of about two months, and 

 may be divided into three periods. The first includes the 

 lime between the twentieth of September and the middle of 

 the next month, when the maple, the elm, the hornbeam, the 

 hickory, the beech and the chestnut are in their full splendor. 

 During this period the yellow, orange and scarlet hues pre- 

 dominate in the tints of the foliage. The second period oc- 

 cupies a space of about two weeks from the end of the first, 

 when the oaks have fully ripened their tints, and many of the 

 trees just named have become leafless. This period is re- 

 markable for a predominance of red, crimson and purple hues 

 in the color of the foliage ; and it lasts until about the seventh 

 or tenth of November. The third period commences with a 

 succession of severe frosts, that destroy all the remaining tints 

 of the forest, and change them into one uniform and monoto- 

 nous brown. This period may be said to terminate with the 

 early snows of winter, and is remarkable, in some years, for 

 a series of warm days which have been called the Indian 

 .Summer. 



AH those who are accustomed to note the successive 



