OCTOBER. 
315 
prevents anything tawdry or little in the effect. On the 
contrary^ when the full beams of the sun shine on them, the 
warm and glowing colours possess a great deal of grandeur. 
The poplar leaves often assume a crimson hue ; the elm, a 
bright and golden yellow ; birch and beech, a pale, sober, 
yellow ochre ; ash and basswood, different shades of brown ; 
the tamarack, a buff-yellow. The beech, the ash, and the 
tamarack, do not, in general, bear much part in this glittering 
pageant ; the ash is mostly leafless at the time, and the glory 
has passed away before the other two have scarcely begun 
to fade. Indeed, the glossy green of the beech is perhaps 
more effective than if it partook of the general change ; and 
even the gloomy blackness of the resinous trees, by relieving 
and throwing forward the gayer tints, is not without effect. 
This beauty is not shown to equal advantage every year : in 
some seasons the trees fade with very little splendour, the 
colours all partaking more or less of dusky, sordid brown ; 
early frosts seem to be unfavourable for its developement : 
and even at its best it is a melancholy glory, a precursor of 
approaching dissolution, something like the ribbons and gar- 
lands with which the ancient pagan priests were accustomed 
to adorn the animals they destined for sacrifice. 
C. — What is the cause of the fall of leaves ? 
F. — The severity of the weather is doubtless the cause 
of the death of leaves, since we find that only those survive 
the winter which are protected by a resinous varnish, as the 
fir, laurel, &c. But the /all of the leaf does not necessarily 
follow its death, for if a branch be cut off from a tree in full 
leaf in the midst of summer, the leaves will not be shed ; 
they will dry up and become brittle, but it will be found 
that their connexion with the stem is as strong, and their 
hold as tenacious as when they were in vigour and green- 
ness : so that we must look to other causes for the denuding 
of a tree. Every bud is formed in the axilla of a previous 
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