12 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Hard Maple.* 



Acer Saccharum — Marsh. 



This tree is of the maple family. lu 

 shape, even in forest growth, it has a rounded 

 top. It is most familiar as a field or shade 

 tree and grows in a most beautiful contour 

 of dome-like shape. In height it ranges 

 from 50 to 150 feet and in forest growth it 

 is often seen with a symmet- 

 rical bole 60 feet to the first 

 limb. Its range of growth is 

 from Newfoundland southward 

 and westward, and it is one 

 of the most widely distributed 

 species of forest growth in 

 the United States and British 

 dominions. Its time of bloom 

 is from April to May, and it 

 fruits in September to Octo- 

 ber. 



The bark is light gray, 

 rather rough, becoming more 

 scaly with age. The leaves 

 are simple, opposite, with long 

 petioles, rounded in outline, 

 squared or cordate at the base, 

 with 3, 5, or 7 coarsely cut 

 and sharply pointed lobes, the 

 lower portion smaller than the 

 other three. The color of the 

 leaf is rich green and glabrous 

 above ; lighter below and pu- 

 bescent. 



The flowers are greenish yel- 

 low, growing on drooping pedi- 

 cels in sessile, abundant cor- 

 ymbs appearing with tlie 

 leaves. The calyx is bell- 

 shaped and fringed. There 

 are no petals. The samaras 

 are greenish yellow, drooping 

 on slender hairy pedicles; the 

 wings broad and slightly 

 spreading, and about one inch 

 in length. 



Upon this wood a variety of 

 names are bestowed in various 

 parts of the country, the most 

 universally common name be- 

 ing hard maple, although very 

 frequently it is known as the 

 sugar maple, rock maple and 

 the sugar tree. Its entire 

 range of growth is from New 

 Brunswick to Western Florida 

 and west to South Ontario, 

 through Michigan to Eastern 

 Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and the Indian 

 Territory. It is often referred to as the 

 silver maple in Maine, Vermont, Massachu- 

 setts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jer- 

 sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, West 

 Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, 

 Florida, Mississippi, Kentucky, Ohio, Illi- 

 nois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, 

 Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and South Da- 



THIBD FAFEB. 



kota. It is sometimes called white maple, 

 river maple, silver leaf maple, water maple, 

 creek maple and swamp maple. 



Unquestionably the highest quality of hard 

 maple growing anywhere is that range of 

 it in the northern portion of the southern 

 peninsula of Michigan, from Cadillac and 

 Grayling to the Straits of Mackinac. A 

 large part of tins portion of Michigan is 



rvi'HAl, 



HAKD M.U'l.K (ilidWTH. l'-ni!i:ST nl-- I. STKl'HEXSON 

 CD.Ml'.WY. WEI-LS, MICH, 



covered with liardvvood forests showing an 

 average of about forty per cent of hard 

 maple growth. Originally interspersed in 

 this growth was the white pine, hemlock 

 and cedar, which has been very largely- 

 felled and fouverted into lumber and shin- 

 gles. While the hardwood forests of this 

 section have been considerably depleted, they 

 still contain a considerable area of compre- 



hensive growth, of which the Relative quan- 

 tity of maple noted above obtains. 



Another large section of maple growth is 

 in the northern peninsula of Michigan and 

 in northern Wisconsin, extending across the 

 Minnesota line. The maple of this section 

 is not quite as large and is not as free of 

 defects as that first noted, but it is ex- 

 tremely hard in texture and very valuable 

 for a good many uses to which 

 maple is placed. The Adiron- 

 dack region of northern New 

 York, northern Vermont and 

 nortnern New Hampshire con- 

 tains an extensive hard maple 

 growth, which is generally of 

 very poor good quality, though 

 not equal to its Michigan pro- 

 totype. The higher ranges of 

 the Alleghenies in Pennsylva- 

 nia still produce a considera- 

 Ijle quantity of hard maple of 

 very excellent quality. Tht 

 ranges named constitute about 

 all the maple that exists with- 

 in the United States in com- 

 prehensive forest gro'wth, or 

 (if sufficient quantity in mixed 

 growth as to constitute a wood 

 iif .commercial importance. 

 West Virginia has considera- 

 ble maple and so have Ken- 

 tucky and Tennessee, but the 

 maple of this section does not 

 compare in quality with that 

 of the Michigan wood. 



The color of the heart wood 

 of hard maple is brownish, 

 and the sap wood, which large- 

 ly predominates, is very much 

 lighter, approximating ivory 

 white. The grain is close and 

 of compact structure and occa- 

 sionally curly, blister, or 

 bird 's-eye. The wood is tough, 

 heavy, hard, strong, susoep- 

 tihle of a high polish, wears 

 evenly, and is very durable 

 when not exposed to alternate 

 dryness and dampness. The 

 chief uses of the wood are for 

 the manufacture of flooring, 

 agricultural implements, furni- 

 ture, shoe lasts, piano actions, 

 machinery frames, wooden type 

 for show bills, pegs, dowels, 

 interior finish, vehicles and 

 veneers. The wood when 

 srreen has a strength in excess of that of 

 hickory, but when seasoned — and especially 

 after being exposed to the weather — frac- 

 tures easily under a sudden jar with a short 

 break. In the elements of structural quali- 



•Authorities quoted In the foreKoins nitlcle nro 

 •"ITie Timber of Commerce." "Oulde to the 

 Trees." "Principal Species of Wood," and "Check 

 1. 1st of the Forest Trees of the United States." 



