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The more I see of the live oak. the more 1 find to admire in it. 

 The long sweeping strands of gray "Spanish moss" with which 

 it is always ornamented, gives it a venerable appearance and a 

 solemnity not found in other trees. Its short massive trunk and 

 long level branches are not in the least like the airy gracefulness 

 of the elm, and yet I rind myself often associating them, 

 mentally. Both have a sort of brooding, sheltering air that 

 make them ideal trees for planting near dwellings. I do not 

 know of a nobler object in Nature than an ancient live oak. One 

 marvels at the sight of perfectly horizontal branches fifty feet in 

 length. 



A close rival of the oaks in effective coloring is that counter- 

 part of the tamarack in Southern swamps, the bald cypress (Ta.vo- 

 dium distychum). Like its northern ally it insists upon its little 

 nap in winter and prepares for the event by dropping its leaves, 

 becoming bald indeed. Before the leaves fall they turn to a fine 

 reddish bronze that for some time spreads a pleasant light 

 through its swampy retreats and blends harmoniously with the 

 yellows of the ever abundant poison ivy. 



There are a few dashes of color in the Southern Autumn not 

 given by the leaves. That form of fruit, the berry, so abundant in 

 the North, seems here to give way largely to the seed cup ; at least 

 T have been struck by the absence of berries in the thickets. But 

 one must not overlook the dark shining berries of the cat brier 

 (Smilax), whose prickly stems festoon the leafless shubbery by 

 the wayside; nor can he omit the crimson fruits that cover the 

 branches of the winterberry ( Ilex) in moist places. The flower- 

 ing dogwood (Cornus) is usually abundant also, and more heavily 

 fruited, at least this year, than I have ever seen it in the North. 

 There is still another berry, which, while it does not lend a 

 special note to the landscape, may well be mentioned in this con- 

 nection. 1 refer to the May-pop. Here and there swinging in the 

 sunny thickets one sees this great hen)-, the size of a hen's egg or 

 larger, still hanging on the vines. From these evidences it is easy 

 tc construct the Summer scene, and one imagines the glorious 



