The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1901-11-15
ABOUT AUTUMN LEAVES
GOVERNMENT EXPERT SEEKING THE
SECRET or THEIR COLoRlNC.


The governments new bureau Of
plant industry Is taking up the prob
lem OF how our gorgeous autumnal
foliage receives itsvariegatei coloring,
writes the Washington correspondent
Of the New York Sun That is one
object Of the Investigations which are
now being made by Albert r. Woods,
lately appointed pathologist and physi-
ologist of the bureau.
The preserve autumn leaves Mr..
Woods says the gatherer should imme-
diately lay them fiat between two
sheets of new blotting paper spread up
on table top and covered by a stack
of heavy books. It is essential that
all moisture should be pressed out Of
them. BY this simple process they
should be dry within three or four
hours. So treated they will retain
their beautiful color for years, pro-
vided they are not exposed to the di-
rect light of the sun. If not thorough
" deprived of their normally large
percentage of water they will soon as
sumo a dirty brown tint.
The color of leaf, said Mr. Woods,
in explaining his Investigations, is fur
nished by minute grains of pigment
within its cells. What we see in the
fresh leaf is not simple green, but a
combination of many pigments, which
when mixed appear as solid green.
i Red is one of the color elements of
fresh leaves. Reddish coloring matter
is usually in liquid form, within the
sap contained by the leaf cells. yell
low, another normal color element,
when combined with green, is the nat
ural shade of the grains Of pigment
within each cell. Brown is the nor
nal color of the walls of the CELL
To explain the leaf cells Mr.. Woods
says that he would exhibit very thin
rubber ball filled with the white of an
egg mixed with water. He would add
to this liquid sufficient red dye to dis
solve and color the entire solution. He
would add also paris green, whose
minute grains will not dissolve. yell
low grains of some powdered sub
stance, likewise insoluble, he would
mingle with the green. The rubber
ball itself would be brown, correspond
ing to the normal color Of the leaf
cells walls. Holding the ball up to
the light, the combination Of the col
ors in its texture and interior sub
stance would be the green tint of plant
life
The demonstrate the autumna
changes in leaf tints he would spread
upon a table hundreds of green beads
yellow and red Then he would take
out all of one color, then all of another
and so on, the general shade or tin
of the entire mass undergoing chang,
all the while. Just so in the autumn
leaf-when any of it's elementary col
ors disappear the general affect 0
those remaining clustered in any par
ticular area is altered.
If an autumn leaf turns entirely RET
is tinting is due to the fact tina
only its red pigment is left. If it /
yellow all of the other coloring ha
been destroyed except the minute vel
low grains. If the leaf turns brow
it can be safely diagnosed as dead. Al
living tints have disappeared leavin
only the brown walls of the cells TIL
brown leaf is dingy ruin, withi
which every spark of life has been ex
tinguished.
There has long been controvers
i, as to the cause of the autumn leaf
: coloration," said Mr.. Woods. "Som
? botanists have attributed it to frost
: We are finding that light frosts, nc
= sufficient to kill leaves, greatly facil
o tate their coloration by causing an II
crease within them of normal chem
j., cal ferment, which attacks the colo
y compounds or color generators in tt
= cells. We are finding that the OK
= dation of these color compounds
. this ferment causes the various shade
= of color, especially the puppies, orani
es, etc. The yellows are normally pre-
p ent in the leaf.
p Autumn leaves containing suga
h such as the naples, sumacs, gums, ett
* easily oxidize and thus form the rio
1T reds, puppies and violets so beautif
d. to the eye. That is why these, esp
IL cially the hard naples, give the mo
ir beautiful autumn leaves. Autumn
to oak leaves do not attract admiratiC
v because they contain much tannin. II
d. oxidation color of fannie acid is dir
re brown. Leaves which die quick
e. never give autumnal colors."
d. The most gorgeous autumn leave
is according to Mr.. Woods. are produc
a by a long drawn out fall, whose da