Fall of the Leaf. The decay and fall of the foliage is a phenomenon which takes place during the autumnal season, beginning with the early trees, as limes, elms, and others about Michaelmas, and continuing till the feast of St. Catherine, Nov. 25th, after which few leaves are left except on the oaks, and some trees which scarcely shed them at all till spring.

Thomas Furly Forster, The Pocket Encyclopaedia of Natural Phenomena, published 1827