The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-09

bends for it's growth and. upon whicf
 animals can live. The leaf green, ol
 chlorophyll is the substance upor
 which all this complicated chemistry
 depends, and has, therefore, been spok'
 en of as the most important of al
 known compounds, for life as we
 know it could not exist without it.
 Without life, however, and certain | high temperature, the chlorophyl
 would avail nothing.
 Leaves may be likened not inaptly
 to factory or kitchen, or yet to a
 laboratory, operating only in Summer | time when the sun is bright and the
 air is warm. Then it is that number
 of definite products are manufactured
 and transported back through leaf, stalk, and stem to parts where they
 may be immediately needed for growth, else to be stored for future use.
 "As Autumn comes on, and the nights grow chill and conditions become un- favorable, preparations are set on foot to stop work and destroy the factory. At this period the factory is more or less filled with manufactured goods and waste or accicdental products, the more important ones of which are to De removed and saved before the factory goes The most expensive of all is the chlorophyll. This with starch sugars, etc., is to be carried into the body of the plant. But they are not transmits sible in their present form. They must be changed into soluble, if not simpler, substances, and so removed to the places of storage. In this breaking up of the chlorophyll especially new pro- ducts arise, such as microscopic oil drops and certain fine granular bodies. These refract the light and are the cause of the color in the leaves to- gether with other coloring matters dis solved in the cell sap. In word, we may say that the color of Fall foliage is due to waste products at the time the leaves are being emptied of valuable material preparatory to being cast off as dead tissue.
 "The most brilliant display of color may naturally be expected after such seasons of active growth as find the leaves strong and full. We should ex pect the present to be favorable year, as, since the drought of midsummer, the rains have been sufficient to re- store the leaves to healthful activity. T FIUSL lS ny IlO lIedIS ucCeSodly lo start the color change; simply cool or chilly nights are sufficient hint that the time is at hand to knock off work and to save valuables. Even in midsum- mer the change may be brought about by accident or unhealthy conditions. Wounds or disease will sometimes cause the most brilliant hectic colors even in July.
 Tt is not strange that different kinds of trees should> offer different colors, but 1t is a matter of wonder that trees of the same species should sometimes present such variety. This has been attributed to differences of soil, amount of water exposure, etc., which may or may not be true. It has not been proved
 ."The claim that the color effects are more vivid further north--in Canada, for instance--than in this latitude is to be admitted. They have not in those northern regions the admixture of soberer brown and russet colors to dilute the effect of the fervid red maple, their predominating tree. Moreover, they are not subject to the droughts or the intense suns of this and consequently the cool Autumn catches the leaves with riclier contents. more color-forming material.
 Tn Maryland the trees which are most conspicuously colored are the sas- safras, sweet gum, black gum, tulip tree, red and sugar naples, sumacs, and the Virginia creeper. ."-Baltimore Sun.