WHY THE LEAVES TURN

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 21, 1889

WHY THE LEAVES TURN.

"PROBABLY not one person in a thousand knows why leaves change their color in the fall," remarked an eminent botanist the other day. The common and old-fashioned idea is, that all this red and golden glory we see now is caused by frosts. A true and scientific explanation of the causes of coloring of leaves would necessitate a long and intricate discussion. Stated briefly and in proper language, those causes are these: The green matter in the tissue of a leaf is composed of two colors, red and blue. When the sap ceases to flow in the autumn, and the natural growth of the tree ceases, oxidation of the tissue takes place. Under certain conditions the green leaf changes to red; under different conditions it takes on a yellow or brown tint. This difference in color is due to the difference in combination of the original constituents of the green tissue, and to the varying conditions of climate, exposure, and soil. A dry, cold climate produces more brilliant foliage than one that is damp and warm. This is the reason that our American autumns are so much more gorgeous than those of England. There are several things about leaves that even science cannot explain. For instance, why one of two trees growing side by side, of the same age and having the same exposure, should take on a brilliant red in the fall, and the other should turn yellow; or why one branch of a tree should be highly colored and the rest of the tree have only a yellow tint, are questions that are as impossible to answer as why one member of a family should be perfectly healthy and another sickly. The coloring is not as good this fall as usual, but in the country there is some very gorgeous foliage. The maples and oaks generally have the brightest colors.—Selected.