42 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



erly pressed undergo little change in this respect. A ripe leaf while on the tree is 

 still soft and flexible, whatever its color may be ; a dead one is faded and sear, gen- 

 erally crisp and of a dull brown. 



Bright colored specimens can be preserved by placing them immediately between 

 sheets of blotting paper on which heavy weights, books, for instance, should be 

 placed. Mr. Justus W. Folsom in an article on " Autumnal Changes in Leaves " 

 (Garden and Forest, Vol. VIII, p. 383), says that they are best preserved by covering 

 them with a sheet of paper, pressing with a hot iron upon which parafifine has been 

 rubbed, and flattening and drying between papers afterward. Leaves thus prepared 

 will retain flexibility and color for years ; but if pressed without parafifine they will 

 soon become dull and brittle. 



The colors mentioned in connection with the different species are the ones which 

 the trees may be expected to show in autumn. But on some there will be 

 various exceptional tints, especially the Maples, among which may be found indi- 

 viduals bearing parti-colored leaves, some of them figured, striped or mottled like 

 the wing of a gay butterfly. The White Ash leaf in ripening passes successively 

 from a yellow to a dark bronze, violet, and chocolate brown, while here and there a 

 leaf will display a lilac hue during this transition. 



Still, the most of our trees show only some shade of yellow, and if we had to 

 look to them alone the autumn would lose much of its brilliant beauty. Fortu- 

 nately, the reds and scarlets which add so much to the glory of our woods and land- 

 scapes in September and October, are furnished in profusion by the larger shrubs 

 that, in the openings along the country lanes and by the water courses, display 

 their masses of flaming color. While yellow is the predominating autumn color of 

 the trees, red prevails in the foliage of our shrubs and bushes. 



A careful observer will note that much of the autumnal brilliancy seen in fields 

 and on wooded slopes is due to humble species of our minor flora that are seldom 

 mentioned in connection with this subject. Early in August the Hobble Bush dis- 

 plays its purple harbinger of fall, while along the roads and waste places the Sumachs 

 show a profusion of leaves that look as if they had been " dipped in blood." By 

 September the Poke Weed decks the rocky hillsides with the flaming maSs of color 

 afforded by fruit and foliage and stem. A score of minor species, shrubs and briers, 

 together with the underlying mass of humbler weeds and purple grasses, add their 

 varied hues, until the landscape exhibits all the warm colors of a Persian rug. 



It is well to remember that some of our poisonous shrubs also assume b/ight, 

 fascinating colors. The Poison Ivy, clinging to some tree, attracts the eye with 

 the brilliant hues of its leaflets, crimson, scarlet or purple, while, more dangerous 



