Differentiating Between Maples 



The maple is wideh' and abundantly distributed over tlie )uud- 

 wood forest areas of the northern hemisphere. It extends south 

 of the equator in the high mountains of Java. Its center of dis- 

 tribution is Asia and .Japan. There are at least seventy species 

 of maples in the worhl and thirteen occur in the United States. 



The most important species are the sycamore majile {Acer 

 pseudoplatanus) of Europe, the sugf* maple (Acer saccharum) of 

 -America, and the Indian maple, or daom, {Acer campbelU) of India. 

 The sycamore m-iple, which is seen frequently along our streets, is at 

 its home used extensively in turnery and '.voodenware, such as trays, 

 rollers, spoons and plates. The Indian maple is a large tree, the 

 wood of which is extensively employed in India for planking aiiii 

 for ordinary tea boxes. The Asiatic and .Japanese species are abund- 

 ant in cultivation for decorative purposes, but are usually small 

 trees of minor importance for their wood. The whole group of 

 maples is largely used for decorative idanting and the brilliant 

 foliage of many of the species adds materially to their value for 

 this purpose. This is particularly true of tlie oriental species iind 

 our native red maple. 



Of the thirteen American species the following are of more or 

 less importance in the lumber industry: Sugar, hard or rock nuiple; 

 black maple, red maple, silver maple, Oregon or broadleaf maple, 

 and box elder or ash-leaf maple. There are four kinds on the 

 Pacific slope, but only the Oregon maple readies large size or possesses 

 wood of merit. 



The wood of all maples is diflfuse-jiovous, that is, the pores are 

 scattered throughout the wood instead of collected in rings. The 

 pores are very small to minute, and not distinct without a hand 

 lens. The texture is fine aud uniform'; there is little contrast 

 between the wood formed early in the season and that produced in 

 the summer. The rays are quite distinct, and iu sugar maple par- 

 ticularly some of them are conspicuous on quarter-sawed material. 

 There is considerable variation in the weight and density of the 

 woods of the various species, so that it is customary to divide them 

 into two gToups — hard and soft. The first group includes the sugar 

 and tlu" black maple, the other all the remainder, except the Oregon 

 mai)le, which is rather intermediate. 



Tlie natural durability of maple wood when exposed to decay- 

 is poor. Wheu properly treated with antiseptics it becomes valuable 

 for ties and is now coming into common use. Prior to 1908 the 

 number of maple ties manufactured was negligible, but in that 

 year 151,000 were reported by tlie railroads. In 1909 the number 

 was a little larger— 158,000; in 1910 it was 793,000, and in 1911 

 a total of 1,189,000 maple ties were purchased. This rapid increase 

 is (hie mainly to the fact that uitli an cfiective preservative treat- 

 ment ties cut from this class of timber will last as long as, or even 

 longer than, untreated ties made from the more expensive standard 

 lie woods, such as white oak and longleaf pine. Maple wood lends 

 itself quite readily to imjircgnatiou, wliicli is an important factor 

 in reducii'g the expense of treatment. Sugar maple in particular 

 is liighly resistant to abrasion aud wear of all kinds. 



In 1910 a total of over a billion feet of maple lumber ^as manu- 

 factured in thirty-six states, including Oregon, Washington, and 

 <very state east of Colorado, except North Dakota, South Dakota 

 and Nebraska, , The annual ]iroductiiin is remarkably uniform, 

 .mikI though less than in 1909 the ijuantity reported in 1910 was 

 greater than in any earlier year. Michigan has, for many years, 

 ranketl first in maple lumber production, about four-fifths of the 

 quantity reported being cut in tlir Icwii peninsula. Wisciinsin, 

 Pennsylvania, West Virginia ami .\i>\v Vink, in the order iinmed. 

 followed Michigan in 1910, niid ti)g<'Hier prcidiir>>il almost thlvty- 

 tHo jier cent of the total outpur. 



Maple is little used in tight cooperage. In slack cooperage, how- 

 ever, it ranked sixth in 1910 in number of staves (79,113,000) and 

 I'liurth in the number of sets of heading produced (12,628,000). 

 The number of staves reported for 1910 was 54.140,000 less than 

 lor 1909, about 45,600,(1110 less than for 1908, and 18,200.000 lesstli:in 



—26— 



for 1907. Maple staves were manufactured principally iu Michigan 

 and Pennsylvania. The amount of heading manufactured annually 

 has remained fairly constant during the same years. In Canada 

 maple supplies about one-twentieth of the slack staves manufac- 

 tured. 



In the production of \eneer maple ranked third iu 1910 with a 

 total of .39,471,000 feet, log scale, being a close second to yellow 

 jiine but entirely outclassed by red gum with its cut of 158,157,000. 

 feet. The importance of maple in this business is growing quite 

 rapidly, judging from the returns for the three years previous. 

 Consitierable sugar maple veneer is used for exterior finish for 

 furniture. 



staple is one of the three principal hardwoods used in destruc- 

 tive distillation. Charcoal, wood alcohol and gray acetate of lime 

 ;ire the leading products. L'sually a cord of wood furnishes from 

 forty-five to fifty-two bushels of charcoal and distillates yielding 

 from seven to ten gallons of wood alcohol and from 130 to 2'00 

 pounds of acetate of lime. The total amount of beech, birch and 

 maple used for this purpose was, in 1910, 1,258,000 cords, but the 

 proportion of maple is not known. Wood distillation is a growing 

 industry. 



The wood of the hiird maples is extensively used for other pur- 

 poses than those mentioned above. In house construction it pro- 

 vides flooring, ceiling, paneling and stair work. In car and boat 

 building it is much used for finish, particularly in street cars, and 

 very frequently in the form of veneer; also the keels of boats and 

 ships. It is extensively employed in the manufacture of implements 

 and machinery. In turnery it is one of the most common woods for 

 shoe lasts, shoe trees, shoe pegs, wood type, tool handles, broom 

 handles, mallets, saddle trees, pulleys, carvir.g, school apparatus, 

 wood strains and tooth picks. Furniture made of it includes bed 

 room suites, chairs, tables, stands, cabinets, school desks and benches. 

 The bird's-eye forms .are highly valued for furniture and cabinet 

 work. It fills a valuable place in the manufacture of athletic and 

 sporting goods, such as ten pins, bowling alleys, billiard cues, hockey 

 sticks, croquet mallets and balls; also in musical instruments. As 

 a fuel wood hard maple has few equals, ranking close to hickory 

 in this respect. 



Soft maple wood lacks much of the figure and strength of the 

 liard kinds, but is employed for some of the same purposes. Its 

 jirincipal uses are for boxes, crates, baskets, fixtures, furniture, 

 flooring, interior finish, wooiieuware, broom h.andles, shelving, cores 

 for veneers, excelsior and pulp. 



The sap of the hard maples is the source of the very important 

 by-product, maple sugar and syrup, vforth over $5,000,000 in 1909. 

 The sugar maple {Acer saccharum) is the most important tree of 

 ilic group, though trees of the other species contribute something. 

 The industry is almost entirely confined to the northeastern part of 

 the United States and southeastern Canada, the three most im- 

 ]iortaut states being New York, Ohio and Vermont. 



Sugar maple {Acer f:avc)iarum) , also commonly known as hard 

 maple, rock maple and sugar tree, is widely and generally dis- 

 tributed throughout the eastern half of the United States, but is 

 most important in the North. When mature it is a large tree, reach- 

 ing in the forest a height of 100 to 120 feet, a diameter of 3 to 4 

 leet, and not infrequently a clear length of 60 to 70 feet. The 

 wood is hard and heav\-, weighing about 43 pounds jier cubic foot, 

 with a specific gravity of .69. It is very strong, stiff, tough, 

 fine and uniform textured, usually straight-grained, readily split, 

 though curly grained and bird's-eye forms are frequently met with. 

 The wood shrinks considerably in seasoning, dries slowly, but does 

 not twist cr warp when properly handled. The wood is distinguished 

 from that of other maples (except black) by its greater density, 

 hardness and weight. Part of the rays are comparatively large, 

 being broader in cross section than the pores; on quarter-sawed ma- 

 terial they are high, reddish-colored and quite conspicuous. The 

 lays betv.cen the largr one-; are \ery narrow, mostly only a single 



