North of the village the ground starts lifting toward the Adirondack foothills, and Herkimer takes its autumn early — the gold comes down the hillsides before it ever reaches the valley floor. Franklin Tree Specialists LLC keeps lawns in order under all that leaning shade, mowing the dappled ground beneath old maples and running the trimmer close around trunks, stone steps and fence posts. Shaded turf asks for a lighter touch and a patient eye, and it gets both here. Come November the leaf fall is serious business in this county, and a yard raked down to clean grass looks twice the size it did a week before. That is the reward: light back on the lawn, lines straight, nothing left underfoot.