26 Mr Stevenson on the Building Materials 



affected by heat or moisture than any other, it is much employed 

 for railway sleepers. I remember, in travelling on some of 

 the railways, to have been most pleasantly regaled for miles 

 together, with the aroma of the newly laid sleepers of this 

 wood. It is now, however, becoming too scarce and valuable 

 to be used for this purpose. 



The White Cedar (Cupressus thyoides) and the Arbor 

 Vitae {Thuja occldentalis) are employed for sleepers and other 

 purposes to which the red cedar is applied, but the latter is 

 preferred when it can be obtained. 



The only other tree which I shall notice is the Sugar Maple 

 {Acer sacchar ilium), which occurs in great abundance in 

 Canada and the northern states. It attains the height of 

 50 or 60 feet, and is from 12 to 18 inches in diameter. 

 The wood of this tree is soft, and when exposed to moist- 

 ure it soon decays. It is very close-grained, and when 

 cut in certain directions is remarkably beautiful, its fibres, 

 owing to their peculiar arrangement, producing a surface 

 variegated with undulations and spots. It is also suscep- 

 tible of a very high polish. These qualities tend to ren- 

 der it a valuable acquisition to the list of American woods 

 for ornamental purposes, for which it is very generally 

 employed, and is well known in this country by the name of 

 " Bird's Eye Maple." The wood of the Red-flowering Maple 

 {Acer Tubrurn) is also employed for ornamental purposes, and 

 is generally known by the name of " Curled Maple." The 

 cabins of almost all American-built vessels are lined with 

 these woods, or with mahogany inlaid with them, and they 

 are also much used for making the finer parts of the furniture 

 of houses. 



The property of the sugar maple, however, from which it 

 derives its name, is of perhaps more importance in a commer- 

 cial point of view than its use as timber. I allude to its pro- 

 perty of distilling a rich sap, from which sugar is largely ma- 

 nufactured throughout the States. From two to four pounds 

 of sugar can be extracted annually from each tree without 

 hurting its growth. I had an opportunity of making some 

 inquiries regarding this simple process when on the banks of 

 the river Ohio, where I saw it in progress. One or two holes 

 are bored with an augut; at the height of about two feet from 



