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blossoms of the passion flower in place of these yellowing fruits. 

 In the list of economic products these fruits have no importance, 

 but children are fond of them and they rarely go ungathered. 

 The construction of the fruit reminds one of the fruit of the 

 mandrake or May-apple. The seeds are surrounded by a thin 

 pulp and much juice. Only this juice and pulp is eaten. It is 

 quite pleasant to the taste, being sweet and with a spicy flavor, re- 

 minding one strongly of its tropical relative, the grenadilla. It 

 may be queried in passing w hy this fruit w hich ripens in Autumn 

 should be called the May-pop. 



Even in the South there are many trees that drop their leav es 

 in Autumn, and not a few that do so without a suggestion of 

 bright colors — with no last lingering contribution to the gorgeous 

 pageant that is passing. The time for their winter's sleep having 

 come, they begin it quietly and without ceremony, as a hibernating 

 animal might go into its w inter quarters. As the brow n leaves 

 fall a world w ithin a world is revealed, for high among the leaf- 

 less branches are great numbers of trim round tufts of mistletoe. 

 These balls of green in the treetops give the deciduous forests a 

 curious appearance in winter. All summer long they have 

 flourished unnoticed, but now the golden green of their foliage is 

 conspicuous enough to constantly remind (me of the approaching 

 holidays. 



While the mistletoe flaunts its colors from its elevated perch 

 the shining prickly leaves of the holly are to be seen nearer the 

 earth. In fact, the underwood seems scarcely to have changed 

 color. There is life welling up from the warm moist earth that 

 the frost cannot overcome. Many plants, it is true, are leafless 

 and dead; but these finished their work long before chilly nights 

 came, and dropped their leaves without a hint from the frost. 

 The palmetto still shows in lush green thickets over millions of 

 acres of swamp land and a multitude of other green things occur 

 whose leaves give the stranger botanizer no clue to their families 

 or relationships, and so cannot be mentioned here. 



Thus Autumn fares in the State of Mississippi, but as one 



