370 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
than a few mineral crystals, but those of the branch, 
just under the cork layer, are rich in starch and 
protoplasm. And when the sun comes back to us 
from the South these living principles of the dead 
leaves are pushed up anew into the April buds, 
and help to form the tender foliage of another year. 
When Nature begins to empty the leaf-cells in 
autumn the little green disks of chlorophyll ‘‘ lose 
their normal outline, assume irregular shapes, and 
LR Y 
their coloring matter,’’ says Professor Von Sachs, 
““undergoes changes.’” The crimson, purple, and 
golden-green leaves of early spring are leaves into 
which chlorophyll has not yet come. The crim- 
son, purple, and yellow leaves of autumn are leaves 
in which chlorophyll has lost its green color and its 
active life. The splendor of the October woods 
was prophesied in April, but the leaves which 
mutely foretold it were too tiny and their colors 
were too evanescent to catch the attention of busy 
people. And the autumn glory, when it comes, 
more than fulfils the little hints and half-promises 
which the trees give us in spring. 
Some plants, the annuals, never awaken from 
their winter sleep. One summer is their span of 
life. But these are but a small proportion of the 
vegetable world, and even these, by the time sum- 
