AUTUMN TIDES 107 



of rocks, the dark green of the cedars with the still 

 fire of the woodbine at its heart. I wonder if the 

 waysides of other lands present any analogous spec- 

 tacles at this season. 



Then, when the maples have burst ovit into color, 

 showing like great bonfires along the hills, there is 

 indeed a feast for the eye. A maple before your 

 windows in October, when the sun shines upon it, 

 will make up for a good deal of the light it has 

 excluded; it fills the room with a soft golden glow. 



Thoreau, I believe, was the first to remark upon 

 the individuality of trees of the same species with 

 respect to their foliage, — some maples ripening 

 their leaves early and some late, and some being of 

 one tint and some of another; and, moreover, that 

 each tree held to the same characteristics, year after 

 year. There is, indeed, as great a variety among the 

 maples as among the trees of an apple orchard ; some 

 are harvest apples, some are fall apples, and some 

 are winter apples, each with a tint of its own. 

 Those late ripeners are the winter varieties, — the 

 Rhode Island greenings or swaars of their kind. 

 The red maple is the early astrachan. Then comes 

 the red-streak, the yellow-sweet, and others. There 

 are windfalls among them, too, as among the apples, 

 and one side or hemisphere of the leaf is usually 

 brighter than the other. 



The ash has been less noticed for its autumnal 

 foliage than it deserves. The richest shades of 

 plum-color to be seen — becoming by and by, or in 

 certain lights, a deep maroon — are afibrded by this 



