TREES OF AMERICA. 75 



" Yes, three more, that grow in this country 

 the striped maple or *moose-wood, the box 

 elder or ash-leaved maple, and the mountain 

 maple." 



" Why do they call striped maple moose- 

 wood, Uncle Philip?" 



" The name was given by the first settlers 

 in Nova Scotia, and the most northern parts 

 of the United States, from observing that the 

 moose, which, you know, is 'a very large 

 animal of the deer kind, fed upon the young 

 twigs in the winter. It is not very common 

 in any part of the United States except Maine ; 

 but still, it is found all along the Alleghany 

 Mountains as far south as Georgia. The bark is 

 smooth and green, with black stripes ; and 

 this gives it the name of striped maple, by 

 which it is known in Pennsylvania and New- 

 Jersey." 



" Oh, then I have seen some of the trees 

 Uncle Philip ; the leaves are rose-coloured." 



" Yes, in the spring, when they first come 

 out ; but they soon change to green." 



" And is it as valuable as the sugar maple ?" 



•*0h no ; not by any means : the trees are too 

 small to allow of the wood being much used ; 

 and the greatest use that is made of the moose- 



