The courier., 1901-11-23
Autunnsi Leaves

along borders Of rivers and creeks
and except for the clean lemon.
yellow Of the cottonwood, the Nebraska
autumn is brown and sere- Usually
there is not much moisture in the
ground by fall. and the leaf itself is
paper-dry. The yellow, red, and greer
colors are visible inside the tiny sacs
Of Vermont maple, chestnut, and beech
leaves. The colors are dry powders in
the leaves Of most Nebraska trees.
The frost which destroys the green
color in the leaves and thus allows the
red and yellow to show comes To Ne
braska as to New England; but in the
western state IL does not have the
same color effect. The government :
new bureau Of plant industry is study
coIoring is produced. Mr.. Albert
Woods, the lately appointed pathOlogist
and psychologist Of the national bureau
of Botany at Washington, and a dis
tinguished graduate Of the Nebraska
university, has made an extremely in
teresting report upon autumnal tissues.
Mr.. Woods says that autumn leaves
may be preserved by laying them as
soon az they are gathered between
sheets Of new blOtting paper spread
upon a table top and covered by
that all moisture should be pressed OUT
Of them. This process will dry them
in two or three hours. and they will
retain their beautiful color for years,
provided they are not exposed to the
direct rays Of the sun. IF not thor
oughIy deprived Of their normally large
Of water, they will soon as
sumo dirty brown tint"
The color Of a leaf" Mr.. Woods
says further, lis furnished by minute
grains Of pigment within its cells.
What we see in the fresh leaf is not
green alone but a combination Of many
pigments, which when mixed appear
green"
Some Of the pigment in fresh green
leaves is red, some is green and some
is yellow. Brown Is the normal color
Of the walls Of the cells. To show how
the leaf is filed by the various pig
ments mixed in water. Mr.. Woods says
he filed very thin rubber ball with
a mixture Of the white Of egg and
water. He added To 1t sufficient red
dye to dissolve and color the solution.
Then he added Paris green. whose
minute grains will not dissolve. Then
insolubIe grains Of some yellow pow
der. The rubber ball itself was brown
like the leaf cell Then he held the
ball up to the light and saw only the
green Of all the three colors contained
In the brown ball.
To demonstrate the autumnal colors
pf leaf tints Mr.. Woods says he spread
upon the table a handful Of varicolore1
glass beads but more Of the green than
pf the red and yellow. Then he took
out all Of one color. afterwards all Of
another. and so on. The general shade
Dr tint OF the entire mass changed with
zach color that was abstracted. In the
same manner the leaf changes; the
frost takes out the green and for the
first time we see the red and the yell
low and believe that the frost has put
them there.
III an autumn leaf turns entirely red
,nly the red pigment is left: II yellow,
al the other pigments have been de-
'troyed, leaving only the minute yell
ow grains. If the leaf turns brown IL
s dead. 'AlI living tints have disap-
reared. leaving only the brown cell tis-
'ue." Light frosts. not sufficient to kill
caves. greatly facilitate their color
'tion by causing an increase within
hem of a normal chemical ferment.
which attacks the color compounds or