The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-10-11

and display scarlet arils within.
The sweet viburnum, or black haw,
dyes its leaves with rich reddish
brown, like the color of the carvings
in some of the old cathedrals. Now
and then a box elder is strikingly
beautiful, part of the leaves being
green and others very pale lem
on yellow, making charming con.
trast
Iowa has been denied the great
glory of the scarlet oaks which are
SO striking in some of the eastern
states. But We have the white oaks.
which show beautiful shades of pur-
pie mixed with fiery red and wine
color. And the beauty of the white
oaks is their ability to hold this wine
color in tn ir leaves and the persist
ence of the foliage which makes a.
hillside glow with color oft n through
the month of November. Long after
the other deciduous trees have be.
come leafless, the white oaks, espac-
tally If they are young trees, hold
nearly all their leaves, waning wine
color tinting the russell and brown for
weeks and weeks, as If the trees were
10th to lose the beauty of the season
that has passed. The red oaks display
varying shades of red and orange and
drab, but the black oaks rarely show
any colors excepting dingy yellow and
rusty brown. The burr oak, or messy
cup oak rarely has any great beauty
OF coloring. But the oaks, taken as
whole, are the glory OF the Iowa hill
sides in October, with a myriad of
tints sweetly blended, glossy green,
crimson and scarlet, yellow and rus.
set and the rich autumn brown that
comes when the oxidation processes
in the leaves have been completed
and there remains in the leaf struc-
ture only the waste products of the
chemical fires.
The coloring of leaf usually be-
gins at the midvein and gradually
spreads through the network of veins
to the outside of the leaf. In the ash
leaves, for example, the purple first
appears in the midrib, and then
spreads to the surface of the leaf. In
the cotton woods, especially the young
leaves, the midrib is fine tint of red
but the flaky leave itself turns yellow.
AS early as the last of August one
may find crimson veins in the leaves
of the Virginia creeper. Sometimes
the leaves themselves when studied
individually are somewhat of a disap-
pointment The colors are not nearly
SO pure as they appeared when seen
| on the tree. This is especially true of
the oaks. The sunlight adds much,
blending the impure colors so beau
tifully that they seem like pure tints.
1t also seems to aid in the chemical
process which take place in the
ayes. The interior of the foliage
mass is yellow while the leaves on
the outside twigs, which catch the
fuel sunlight, show tints of orange
and scarlet and crimson. To the art
list the sunlight makes every tree at
this season of the year \ rare study of
high lights and half-tones and shad-
ows.
The observer win note also, that
there is much Of individuality in the
autumnal coloring of the trees. Each
| tree shows the same tints year after
year. For instance one of the naples
on Mr.. Ferguson's corner at Second
avenue and Seventh street always
puts out branch over the avenue
! glowing like a red torch, so vivid that
it is conspicuous from the railroad
/ tracks at Fourth street A small tree
/ at tee corner of Third avenue and
\ Twelfth street never shows any red
/ tints but always the most beautiful
( golden color like the finest of butter.
/ Another not far away always shows
an exquisite mingling of green and
i gold. A similar blending Of green and
/ gold is seen in the magnificent willow
which stands in the open part part of
| Ridgewood near Mr.. Sinclair's lew
4 uOlllS. Ol6 may nave most OIL CQeSe
4 field and forest friends and he notes
that they possess Municipalities just
like his friends in the human, animal
and bird families.
While all the wealth Of autumnal
beauty has been delighting the eye,
/ the leaf has been preparing to fall
/ AT the base of the leafstalk, where 1t
! is Joined to the twig, layer of cells
4 has been forming. separating 1t from
i the twig. A small crack between the
leaf stalk and the twig widens and
deepens. Finally the leaf has so deli
cate hold that few drops of rain
or little puff of wind detaches it, and
4 it falls. Early some morning maple
4 tree stands, clothed with yellow
leaves whitened by the frost when the
sun comes up; as the frost melts the
leaves fall by hundreds and the en-
/ erald grass beneath the old tree is
covered with them, as with carpet
/.