INTRODUCTION. 
59 
abundance and greatest perfection in countries on which 
the sun shines with fullest power. 
“Chill is thy breath, pale autumn,” sings the poet, 
though had not poets called this season pale, we might 
have termed it the rosy, or the golden autumn. In 
the rich month of September the fruits of the earth 
are most abundant, and these are chiefly of a deep red, 
and always of some full colour, as purple or brown. 
The berries which hang about the autumn trees may vie 
with the blackness of the jet, or the redness of the coral 
or ruby. There are the berries of the bryony and the 
honeysuckle, of a deep and soft red ; and the more bril- 
liant scarlet clusters of the common nightshade ; and the 
glossy red bunches of the dogwood ; and the mountain- 
ash, and the wayfaring tree ; and all the numerous hips 
and haws, upon which revel the merry songsters, and 
the meek woodmouse, and the many little creatures for 
whom a feast has been spread with a liberal hand. A 
deep yellow tint is also the predominating colour among 
autumn flowers, almost all our native blossoms at this 
season having either some tinge of redness, or wearing 
that deep yellow in which, as the Chinese say, the sun 
loves to array himself : while the deep and varied colour 
of the wild wood and* the shrubbery delight the artist 
and the lover of nature, who pause in their walks to 
mark, in the foliage, the rich green tint, the bright yel- 
low, the brown, or the crim.son. 
Our native plants often display a considerable degree 
of this latter hue upon their stems and leaves at the de- 
cline of the year. Some few like the red-cornel, have 
their foliage altogether red; others have here and there, 
“ The one red leaf, the last of its clan. 
That dances as often as dance it can ; 
Hanging so light, and hanging so high. 
From the topmost twig that looks up at the sky.*’ 
The prevalence of crimson foliage is, however, often an 
indication that the plant to which it belongs is of Ameri- 
can origin. Never does the Virginian-creeper present 
half so lovely an appearance as when, clothed in its 
autumn suit, it might rival in depth and richness of colour 
