300 THE RED MAPLE. 



with the valleys and lowlands, but a wet soil is not 

 necessary for its prosperity. Some of the finest single 

 trees I have known were standing upon a dry soil ; but a 

 forest of them is always located in a swamp. 



The Red Maple is one of the most common trees in 

 the southern parts of New England, and it occupies a very 

 wide geographical range. In the North it first appears 

 in the latitude of Quebec. It seems to avoid the com- 

 pany of the rock maple, and forms no large assemblages 

 above the northern boundary of Massachusetts, below 

 which the kindred species becomes rare in New England. 

 The Eed Maple is abundant in all the Atlantic States, as 

 far as Florida, and there is no other tree that occupies so 

 large a proportion of the wet lands in the Middle States. 

 According to Michaux, it is the last tree which is found 

 in swamps, as we approach the boundary of vegetation. 



Preference is generally given to the other two species 

 for planting by waysides and in pleasure grounds in Mas- 

 sachusetts, because they are more luxuriant in their growth. 

 Perhaps they are chosen for the sake of variety, being 

 less common in the woods of this State than the Eed 

 Maple ; and being planted from nurseries, and costly, they 

 are found chiefly in dressed grounds. But the Eed Ma- 

 ple is far more interesting and beautiful than any other 

 species, and its lighter foliage, more airy habit, and more 

 delicate spray bring it into better harmony with wild and 

 rude scenery, as the paler and less luxuriant wild flowers 

 better adorn a wood-path than the more showy denizens 

 of the garden. The Eed Maple bears a profusion of crim- 

 son flowers in the spring, and from them it derives its 

 name. When the flowers have dropped their petals, the 

 keys, or fruit-pods, that succeed them, retain the same 

 crimson hue for some days, gradually fading into brown 

 as they mature. 



