December, 1917 
FOREST AN D S T REA M 
625 
WHY THE LEAVES 
CHANGE COLOR 
HEN the woods begin 
to take on other tints 
these days it requires no 
vivid imagination to pic¬ 
ture Mother Nature go¬ 
ing about with a liberal 
supply of paint with 
which she colors the 
leaves of the trees and 
other plants and thereby 
produces the vivid tints 
which characterize the 
foliage of this season. 
In reality the change in coloring is the re¬ 
sult of certain chemical processes which 
take place at this time in the leaves. 
The change is not, as many people sup¬ 
pose, due to the action of frost, but is a 
preparation for winter. All during the 
spring and summer the leaves have served 
as factories, where the foods necessary for 
the trees’ growth have been manufactured. 
This food making takes place in number¬ 
less tiny cells of the leaf and is carried on 
by small green bodies which give the leaf 
its color. These chlorophyll bodies, as they 
are known, make the food of the tree by 
combining carbon taken from the carbonic 
acid gas of the air with hydrogen, oxygen, 
and various minerals supplied by the water 
which the roots gather. In the fall when 
the cool weather causes a slowing down of 
the vital processes, the work of the leaves 
comes to an end. The machinery of the 
leaf factory is dismantled, so to speak, the 
chlorophyll is broken up into the various 
substances of which it is composed, and 
whatever food there is on hand is sent to 
the body of the tree to be stored up for 
use in the spring. All that remains in the 
cell cavities of the leaf is a watery sub¬ 
stance in which a few oil globules and 
crystals, and a small number of yellow, 
strongly refractive bodies can be seen. 
These give the leaves the yellow coloring 
so familiar in autumnal foliage. 
It often happens, however, that there is 
more sugar in the leaf than can be readily 
transferred back to the tree. When this is 
the case the chemical combination with the 
other substances produces many-colored 
tints varying from the brilliant red of the 
dogwood to the more austere red-browns 
of the oak. In coniferous trees, which do 
not lose their foliage in the fall, the green 
coloring matter takes on a slightly brown¬ 
ish tinge, which, however, gives way to 
the lighter color in the spring. 
While the color of the leaf is changing, 
other preparations are being made. At the 
point where the stem of the leaf is at¬ 
tached to the tree, a special layer of cells 
develops which gradually sever the tissues 
which support the leaf. At the same time 
Nature heals the cut, so that when the leaf 
is finally blown off by the wind or falls 
from its own weight, the place where it 
grew on the twig is marked by a scar. 
Although the food which has been pre¬ 
pared in the cell cavities is sent back to 
the tree, the mineral substance with which 
the walls of the cells have become im¬ 
pregnated during the summer months are 
retained. Accordingly, when the leaves 
fall they return relatively large amounts 
of the soil by •returning these elements and 
phosphorus, which were originally a part 
of the soil. The decomposition of the 
leaves results in enriching the top layers. 
New Holdfast Bullhead Bait For Big Bass 
For Florida big-mouth BASS, get LOUIS RHEAD’S latest and 
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Improved UNTARNISHABLE METAL BODY easily seen in dark 
water. Made better to outlast many fish caught. Two sizes 254 and 
3*4 inch hooks. Price 75 cents each. Return them if not pleased. 
Cash promptly refunded. 217 Ocean Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Hatcheries, PLYMPTON, MASS. 
♦ 
NEW ENGLAND TROUT FARM, Inc. 
BROOK TROUT 
FOODFISH FINCERLINGS EGGS 
CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED PLYMOUTH, MASS. 
Eastern Brook Trout For Sale 
Remarkably Fine Natural Hatched Brook Trout Fingerlings. 
FIVE TO SIX INCHES 
EASTPORT, L. I. TROUT HATCHERY 
EASTPORT, L. I. 
The U. S. Army Board of Surgeons and 
equipment experts devoted 4 years of study 
and experiment with 2,000 marching men 
to the development of a shoe that 99 men 
in 100 can wear with that solid comfort 
through a hard day’s work. 
Herman’s Munson Last 
Army Shoe 
The best shoe on earth for the great Army of 
Sport and Industry. No matter what your work 
is you can do it better and do more of it when 
your feet are easy. Some dealer near you sells 
this shoe. Get his address from us. Or you can 
buy from us by mail. Munson Last army shoes, 
black or tan. 
Catalog- of all styles Free. 
Insist upon seeing our stamp on pull straps 
and soles. It is for your protection. 
Joseph M. Herman Shoe Co. 
810 ALBANY BLDG., 
BOSTON, MASS. 
ITHACAS 
WON 
FIRST, 
SECOND AND 
THIRD 
in the ladies’ event 
at the great Westy 
Hogan shoot at 
Atlantic City. 
Mrs. Dalton, Mrs. 
Harrison and Mrs. 
Almert were the 
winners. 
Get your wife, 
daughter or sweet¬ 
heart an Ithaca for 
Christmas. 
Ithacas win every¬ 
where because — 
any one can shoot 
an Ithaca better. 
Catalog Free. 
Double hammerlexs 
guns, $24.00 up. 
Single barrel trap 
guns, $85.00 up. 
Address Box 25 \ 
ITHACA GUN CO. 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
Wanted to Purchase or Long- 
Lease Hunting and 
Fishing Preserve. 
Want to get following features combined 
in one property if possible. 
1— Good Salmon fishing. 
2— Stream fishing for brook trout. 
3— Deer, moose and caribou shooting. 
4— Original spruce and pine woods. 
5— Weil away from civilization yet fairly 
accessible to railroad. 
6— Comfortably furnished all year round 
lodge on property. 
7— Good partridge shooting very desirable. 
Reply to “W. B”., Suite 1124, No. 25 Broad 
St., New York. 
Good Sport in the South 
On my laige, old rice plantation ten miles from 
Georgetown, S. C., I have some of the finest shoot¬ 
ing for deer, turkeys, ducks, quail, rabbits, squirrels 
and snipe in this part of the South. The finest 
fishing, both fresh and salt water, on the coast. 
Private fresh water lake excellently stocked, few 
hundred feet from. camp. Most exciting deer hunt¬ 
ing with well trained horses and hounds. A re¬ 
markably attractive locality for the visiting sports- 
men. I have a large plantation home overlooking 
the water and bungalows which I use as lodges for 
visiting sportsmen, and together with excellent 
Southern cooking I can promise you a long-to-be- 
remembered trip. 
Write at once and state when yog can come, as 
I can take care of only a limited number and must 
know in advance. Send for booklet. 
F. E. JOHNSTONE 
Georgetown P. O. 
SOUTH CAROLINA 
