72 
RURAL HOuRS. 
many of the scarlet maples have then- foliage quite formed and 
colored, though scarcely full-sized yet. The old chestnuts and 
oaks are in movement, the leaves of the last coming out quite 
pinkish, a bit of finery of which one would hardly suspect the 
chiefs of the forest, but so it was in Chaucer's time : 
" Every tree well from his fcllowes grewe 
With branches bro<ad ; laden with leaves newe, 
That springen out against the simne's sheene, 
Some very red, and some a glad light greene." 
Very many of the trees open their leaf-buds with a warm tmt 
in the green ; either brown, or pink, or pm*plish. Just now, the 
leaves of the June-berry are dark reddish brown, in rich con- 
trast with its white pendulous flowers. Some of the small oak 
leaves, especially those of the younger trees, are the deepest 
crimson ; the sugar maples are faintly colored ; the scarlet maples, 
on the contrary, are pure green, seeming to have given all then- 
color to the flowers ; the mountain maples are highly colored, 
and the bracts of the moose-wood are quite rosy, as well as 
some of their leaves. Elms seem to be always green, and so are 
the beeches ; the black birch is faintly tinged with russet at first, 
the others are quite green. The ashes and hickory are a very 
light green. It is said that this tenderness and variety of tint 
in the verdure, so charming in spring as we know the season, be- 
longs especially to a temperate climate. In tropical countries, the 
buds, unguarded by bracts like otir own, are said to be much 
darker ; and in arctic regions, the young leaves are also said to 
be of a darker color. One would like to know if this last asser- 
tion be really correct, as it seems difficult to account for the fact. 
