REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 323 



snowball, the scarlet flower and japonica, regal lilies, brilliant peonies and 

 tulips ; even the old fashioned, homely, dear old hollyhock will brighten some 

 dull corner. 



In setting out to make ourselves attractive homes, homes that shall be beauti- 

 ful in the memories of our children reared amid their influences, do not forget 

 the fruit, especially the small fruits so quickly and easily grown, and that add 

 so much to the health and the pleasure of life. With trees, fruit and flowers 

 almost for the asking who may not have a truly beautiful home ? 



MAPLE TREES ALONG THE WAY-SIDE. 

 BY D. P. GRISWOLD, NORTHTILLE. 



I am confident that my subject will be appreciated by all, for you have often 

 seen and doubtless admired, the rows of maples by the way-side. 



I do not expect to develop any new thoughts in its connection, but I wish to 

 call attention to the beauty and utility of maple trees along the road or vil- 

 lage street. What can be more beautiful than the hard maple in early spring; 

 before we can hardly realize that winter has left us, she comes out in a daz- 

 zling wealth of flowers with graceful golden blossoms swinging in the April 

 wind, intoxicating the busy bee, with her wealth of honey, each tree is 

 thronged with a humming multitude. 



In May the blossoms drop and the bright green leaves appear. Then indeed 

 we see a picture that is never seen in the sunny South. 



Florida, the land of flowers, has nothing equal to the bright green of our 

 maples; nor is there ever such a transformation as we experience in May — 

 from the somber, apparently dead, and naked tree, to the perfect life and rapid 

 growth of the new leaves. It is not surprising that we are a restless, bustling, 

 energetic, always-in-a-nurry people, for we can not escape the infection of 

 rapid, growth experienced in the North. 



Where nature seems to be in such a tremendous hurry, man cannot afford 

 to sleep, or seed time and harvest will pass him by. 



As summer comes with its fuming heat, we find our friend the maple, 

 with its long spreading branches, inviting us to her shelter and we discover a 

 most grateful shade, without expecting a worm such as infest the apple or elm 

 to drop in our faces or down our backs. All nature seems to love the maple 

 and give her room. She has no enemies. The coldest winter only makes her 

 life more rich and sweet; the hottest sun but deepens the green of her foliage. 

 Her tender leaves are not liable to be destroyed by nauseous crawling things. 

 Her full glory appears in autumn, when the leaves approaching maturity put 

 on the most wonderful colors, delighting the children and grown people alike 

 with their wonderful beauty. The hard maple is a slow growing tree, and 

 thus opposed to our natural desire of rapid development, but when we see it in 

 full maturity we are content to wait, and say it is worth the while. 



The maple is as useful as ornamental, not only as a honey producer, gratefully 

 accepted by the bees in early spring, but its sap yields the most delicious sweet 

 only equaled by the sugar cane of the South, easily obtained and made ready 

 for family use by simple evaporation, and all this without injury to the tree. 



I have reason to know that the labor of making sugar from long rows? of 

 shade trees is hardly one-half of what it is in the woods and the yield from 

 each tree is one-third more. From a row of one hundred trees set along the 



