leaved variety, deep lake; it was quite a tree. The Viburnums are generally well colored at this season; the large leaves of the hobble-bush especially are quite showy now. This is the American “way-faring tree,” but on several accounts it scarcely deserves the name; though pretty in its way, it is only a shrub, and instead of giving pleasure to the wanderer, it is frequently an obstacle in his path, for the long branches will sometimes root themselves anew from the ends, thus making a tangled thicket about them; this habit, indeed, has given to the shrub the name of “hobble-bush.” The blackberry-bushes are a deep brownish red; the wild raspberries purplish red. Altogether, the shrubs and bushes strike us as more vividly colored than usual. Every season has some peculiarity of its own in this way, the trees and bushes varying from year to year, which is an additional source of interest in the autumnal pageant. A particular maple, which for years has turned a deep purple crimson, is now yellow, with a flush of scarlet. Observed several ashes yellow shaded with purple, the two colors being very clearly marked on the same tree.
Monday, 16th.—Charming weather; bright and warm, with hazy Indian summer atmosphere. They are harvesting the last maize-fields; some farmers “top” the stalks, that is to say, cut off the upper half, and leave the lower ears several weeks longer to ripen. Others cut the whole crop at once, gathering the ears first, then cutting the stalks and leaving them to stand in sheaves about the fields for a few days. The maize harvest is usually several weeks going on, as some farmers are much earlier with the task than others. The red buckwheat sheaves are also left standing about some farms much longer than others; they are seen in many fields just now, in neighborhood with the maize-stalks.
