236 The Maples. 



colored tints, that give a characteristic splendor to the woodlands 

 during the few days that they remain after they are fairly ripe. 



931. THE SUGAR MAPLE (Acer saccharinuni). This tree, which 

 is altogether the most valuable of the maples, is a native of Can- 

 ada and the Northern States, extending southward along the mount- 

 ains into the Caroliuas, and westward to the Mississippi river. It 

 is abundant in Western North Carolina, but it thrives best in a 

 rather cool climate, and in a calcareous and loamy, rather than a 

 sandy soil. In Canada it extends northward to a line running from 

 the northeastern shore of Lake Superior to a short distance below 

 Quebec, and thence northeastward to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 The " Maple Leaf" is a national emblem with the Canadians, and the 

 gorgeous splendor of the autumnal forests in the north is largely 

 due to the colors assumed by the foliage of this tree at this season. 



932. The sugar maple. grows to a height of sixty to eighty feet, 

 and to a diameter of two feet and over. When planted alone, it as- 

 sumes a rounded, symmetrical form, and it deservedly enjoys a high 

 reputation as an ornamental tree in village and roadside planting, 

 but it does not endure the dust and smoke of cities. When grown in 

 woodlands, it assumes a tall, regular form, and it is often found in for- 

 ests by itself, or mingled with beech, birch, hemlock, and other trees. 



933. Upon the prairies of Illinois this tree grows slow when 

 young, but at length takes a more vigorous start, and becomes a 

 fine tree. It will not grow with entire success beyond the Missis- 

 sippi, and fails altogether in Kansas and Nebraska. 



934. In the Northern States and in Canada, when tapped upon 

 the approach of spring, and for a period of thirty or forty days, 

 ending as the buds begin to swell, this tree yields a sweetish sap, 

 which by evaporation may be reduced to syrup and to sugar of su- 

 perior quality. Several million of pounds of this sugar are made 

 every year, and upon some farms in Vermont and Northern New 

 York more profit is realized from a maple woodland, than could pos- 

 sibly be gained upon an equal area by any agricultural crop. The 

 yield is usually two or three pounds to the tree in the season, but in 

 exceptional cases it may be more. 



935. From the limited experiments that have been made, it ap- 

 pears that the sap of the maple contains more sugar in the early 

 part of the season than toward its close, and that different trees 

 vary in the amount of sugar, some giving much sweeter sap than 

 others. As the buds begin to swell, the sap becomes " ropy," and 



