1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAE^rER. 



601 



^ 



AUTUMNAL SCENERY. 



XJTt^MN in our 

 country, puts on 

 ^>^w^t5\(^ glorious hues not 



^/Wr'^tt^^^^^ equalled in any 

 p'^^ ^ \.r\ other land. — 



iWVa There is no per- 

 son so indifFer- 

 ,-1 « ent as not to no- 

 '^.^3 tice and admire 

 ^^ our autumnal 

 ^S cenery. Thou- 

 sands gaze an- 

 nually upon it 

 with emotions of 

 great delight, 

 who would find 

 little pleasure in 

 contemplating a painting, though 

 it might come from the pencil of 

 one of the best masters. 

 It is quite certain that "no person who, at 

 this season, has observed, with an eye of taste, 

 the accidental grouping of forms and tints 

 in a forest of natural wood, can refuse his as- 

 sent to the sentiment, that 'none can paint 

 like Nature.' It is not merely in the harmony, 

 the freshness, and the beauty of the coloring, 

 that this is true ; but in the contrasts, in the 

 discrepancies, and even in the long breadths 

 of tamenesss and uniformity which occasion- 

 ally occur, as well as in the whole style of 

 grouping, sometimes so wild, at other times so 

 subdued, and again so full of unexpected grace 

 and soft luxuriance. There is a peculiar charm" 

 in the very freedom and negligence of nature." 

 The common opinion, that the charming col- 

 orings of the woods in October are occasioned 

 by frost, is undoubtedly a mistaken one. In 

 proof of this, we see, every year, trees giv- 

 ing the beautiful tints of our Atumnal foliage 

 in the months of July and August. This oc- 

 curs several weeks before any frost has taken 

 place, even in low grounds. 



The change in the coloring takes place from 

 the want of vital action in the leaves. We 

 have long noticed that where these tints occur 

 early in the season, before any frosts have ap- 

 peared, they are upon trees which are in low 

 ground, where water usually stands until quite 

 late in the spring. The roots of trees stand- 

 ing in such places do not penetrate the earth, 

 because they have a natural aversion to going 



where cold water remains a large portion of 

 the year. They spread their roots, therefore, 

 over a considerable extent, quite near the sur- 

 face, in search of the food they need. In this 

 condition they flourish so long as the surface 

 is moist ; but when the summer droughts have 

 deprived that surface of its moisture, these 

 trees, although in low grounds, are among the 

 first to show the effects of drought. The vital 

 action which has kept them green and grow- 

 ing has been suspended. Sometimes we have 

 seen a single branch glowing in the sunlight 

 with unnumbered tints of beauty, while all the 

 rest of the tree was "dressed in living green." 

 T*his may afford a proof to some that each 

 branch has its own particular root, to which it 

 looks for its necessary food. 



It would seem, then, that the coloring of 

 the leaves does not take place until their vital 

 action ceases, — whether the cause of that ces- 

 sation be the maturity of the leaf, as supposed 

 by some, or by old age, as is believed to be the 

 case by others. In his exceedingly interesting 

 and valuable work on the "Woody Plants of 

 Massachusetts," Mr. Emerson says, "the sting 

 of an insect, the gnawing of a worm at the 

 pith, or the presence of minute, parasitic 

 plants, often gives the premature colors of 

 autumn to one or a few leaves." This corrob- 

 orates our theory, we think, of suspended vi- 

 tal action. 



Why, then, it may be asked, do not all 

 leaves wither and tremble in the wind, an un- 

 distinguishable mass of rusty brown ? In the 

 work quoted above, it is said that "the sober 

 browns and dark reds, those of the elms and 

 several of the oaks, may be the gradual effects 

 of continued cold. The higher colors seem to 

 depend upon other causes. An unusually 

 moist summer, which keeps the cuticle of the 

 forest leaves thin, delicate, and translucent, is 

 followed by an autumn of resplendent colors. 

 A dry summer, by rendering the cuticle hard 

 and thick, makes it opaque, and although the 

 same bright colors may be formed within the 

 substance of the leaf, they are not exhibited 

 to the eye ; the fall woods are tame ; and the 

 expectation of the rich variety of gaudy colors 

 is disappointed." 



In "The Seasons," Thomsonsays, — 



"But see the fading, many-colored woods, 

 Shade deepening over shade, the countrj' round 

 Imbrown ; a crowded umbrage, dusk, and dun, 

 Of every hue, from wan declining green 

 To sooty dark." 



