)36 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Fig. 2372. Sugar Maple. 



tools, etc., and on account of its fine grain 

 and the fact of its taking- a g^ood polish it is 

 much utilized in furniture making, the well- 

 known Bird's-Eye Maple being obtained 

 from this species. As fire wood, the Hard 

 Maple has few equals, and many a logf has 

 warmed Canadian homes on wintry nights. 

 The sap of the Sugar Maple gives it a 

 unique place among Canadian trees, for 

 although other trees yield sap which may be 

 converted into syrup or sugar, there are 

 none which produce it which equals the 

 Sugar Maple in richness and palatability. 

 Sugar making is quite an important and 

 profitable industry in some parts of Ontario 

 and Quebec, and the supply of pure syrup 

 and sugar never seems to equal the demand. 

 The continued tapping of the trees does not 

 appear to lessen the vigor of them, and 

 trees which have yielded many a quart of 

 sap live through several generations of tap- 

 pers. It is as a shade tree, however, and on 

 account of its brilliantly colored foliage in 

 autumn, that the Sugar Maple is best known 

 to those living in cities, towns and villages. 

 For street purposes it stands without an 

 equal, being of fine shape, dense foliage. 



comparatively free from insect pests and 

 fungous diseases, and long lived. In 

 October the foliage of this species and the 

 Red Maple assume those varied, delicate, 

 and gorgeous tints which help to give such 

 character to our forests, brightens up our 

 city streets, and gives autumn a gayness 

 which the falling leaf alone dispels. 



The Sugar Maple thrives on almost all 

 kinds of well drained soil, but makes little 

 growth where the ground is constantly wet 

 and cold. 



2. Black Maple {Acer nigrum, Michx ; 

 Acer saccharinum nigrum, Torr & Gray). — 

 "Large tree, 120 feet, with black bark; 

 leaves cordate, with sinus mostly closed, 

 generally 3-lobed, with broad sinuses, the 

 sides of the blade mostly drooping, green 

 and pubescent beneath ; lobes acute, entire 

 or obtusely toothed ; fruit with diverging 

 wings." 



For a long time this was regarded as 

 merely a variety of the Sugar Maple, but it 

 now ranks as a distinct species, and rightly 

 so, for it has quite a different appearance 

 from the former, and is fairly well distrib- 

 uted throughout Ontario, from Ottawa west- 

 ward. It is not as attractive a tree as the 

 Sugar Maple, the foliage being much duller, 

 but it makes a striking object, as the leaves 

 differ so much from the other large maples, 

 the lobes being almost or quite entire. The 

 wood of this tree ranks next to the Sugar 

 Maple in quality. This tree also yields 

 sweet sap, but is not used in sugar making 

 to any extent. 



3. Red, Scarlet, or Soft Maple {Acer mbrum, 

 Linn). — "Large tree, 120 feet; leaves 3-5 

 lobed, 3-4 inches long, green above, pale 

 or glaucous beneath ; lobes unequally and 

 crenately serrate ; flowers red or scarlet, 

 rarely yellowish; petals 5 ; fruit glabrous.'' 



The range of this maple in Canada is 

 from the Atlantic Ocean west to the Rainy 

 River and a little further north than the 

 Sugar Maple. 



