A YEAR IN THE FIELDS 



Then, when the maples have burst out 

 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 re- 

 mark 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 come the red-streak, the 

 yellow-sweet, and others. There are wind- 

 falls 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 

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