AUTUMN FLOWERS, SQUIRRELS. 



255 



rious red, orange, yellow, and maroon of the turning 

 leaves. The brilliant hues of autumnal foliage are 

 produced mostly by the ac- 

 tion of the cold atmos- 

 phere on the chlorophyll 

 or green matter in the 

 microscopic leaf cell. 

 Chlorophyll is a marvel- 

 ously complex substance dif 

 cult to analyze. It is 

 found in solution in an oil 

 which fills the interstices 

 of what is called the chloro- 

 plasts (the masses of spongy sub- 

 stance which fill the cells beneath 

 the upper skin of the leaf). By 

 a chemical change, therefore, the 

 green color of a leaf is destroyed, and a red or yel- 

 low color takes its place. But the scientific fact is 

 less interesting to us than the aesthetic result of 

 the change. 



Any one can see the splendid even yellow of the 

 sugar maple or the. sober scarlet of the red maple, 

 but it takes a trained eye to discover all the complex- 

 ity of color that there is on the roadside in early 

 October, when the sky is clear and blue. The gray 

 birch and the white birch are turned a brilliant gold- 



Os\vei:ro Tea. 



