MAPLE : ECONOMICAL 1 



MAPLE: ECONOMICAL I 



famomUjr connected with the internal centre (supposed fixed) of the 

 glob*. If then the north and mith pole* b* pulled away from the 

 equator, the thin membrane of the iphere will be extended ; and if 

 the pull be continued until the pole* are sufficiently dictant, a large 

 portion of the sphere on each aide of the equator will assume a cylin- 

 drical form, or one nearly cylindrical ; and the greater elasticity of the 

 upper parU will catwe the small fold* of the different ipiraU to be 

 much more extended than the larger one*, eo aa to become equal to 

 them. Let the mathematical hypotheais implied in the preceding bo 

 carried to iU extreme limit, that in, let the pole* be polled to an infl- 



. 



nite diitance ; and let the law of the elasticity b* such, that the several 

 loxodromio spirals ahall have precisely aimilar successive folds on the 

 resulting cylinder, that is, let them take a regular screw-like form. 

 The meridians will then all become straight lines parallel t 

 another ; and if the membrane be then fixed in its cylindrical shape, 

 that is, if it lose its elasticity, and if one of the meridians be slit all the 

 way down, and the cylinder unrolled into a plane, we ahall have before 

 us Meroator's projection, as shown in the following diagram. The 

 degrees of longitude remain everywhere the same, those of latitude 

 increase sensibly. The map goes up to 80 of latitude, and any part of 



the remaining 10* might be drawn ; but no space would be sufficient 

 for the whole of the remainder. Any two points A and B, being given, 

 the line A B joining them points out, on the supposition that all the 

 meridians look towards the north, the most direct course on which a 

 ship can sail from one to the other : if a compass were placed at A, 

 then A B would show, A K being the north direction, the point of the 

 compass on which to steer. Again, from c to D the most direct course 

 is on the dark line c D ; but c n, r>, is another way of coming to the 

 -r m - point. It must be remembered that the extreme lines on the 

 right and left represent the same meridian, as they coincided before 

 the cylinder was divided for the purpose of being unrolled. 



It thus appears that we have a map on which the sailing course 

 between any two places is found by simply drawing a right line. 

 Another advantage, depending upon the nature of the rhmnli line. 

 however, and not on the protection, is the simplicity of the rule by 

 which the distance sailed can be determined. This is pointed out in 



The preceding is Hercator's projection of the whole 360 degrees of 

 longitude up to 80 degrees of latitude. A chart, as in other cases, is a 

 part of the projection, enlarged to a convenient size. 



MAl'LK : ECONOMICAL USES. The maple is a very useful tree 

 fur industrial purposes, especially in America. Of tho sugar-maple, it 

 is calculated that there are ten millions of acres in the states of NYw 

 York and Pennsylvania alone. The wood, when cut, is white; but 

 after being wrought and exposed some time to the light, It assumes a 

 roseate tint ; its grain is fine and close, and when polished it presents a 

 silky lustre. It is used in many of the states as a substitute for beech, 

 birch, and elm ; it is employed by wheelwrights for axletrees and 

 spoke* ; it is made into Windsor chairs ; it forms the keels and bottoms 

 of many ships built in Maine ; and it constitutes the framework of 

 whole villages of timber-bouses. The wood of the scarlet or swamp 

 maple is largely used for the frame, nave, and spokes of spinning- 

 wheels ; for saddle-trees ; for yokes, shovels, and wooden dishes ; for 

 bedsteads, nearly equal in richness and lustre to those of the finest 

 mahogany ; and especially for Windsor chairs, the manufacture of which 

 is largely carried on at New York and Philadelphia, with maple wood 

 brought down by canal and railway from the forest*. The wood has a 

 fine close grain, is easily wrought in the lathe, and acquires by 

 polishing a glossy and silky lustre. (Some of the old treos, in which 

 the grain is undulated or curled, have so much strength and toughness 

 added to the natural lightness and beauty, that the wood is eagerly 



purchased for making the stocks of rifles and fowling piece*. Tho 

 wood of the white maple is whiter, softer, and lighter than that of the 

 other species g it is used for making bowls, and in cabinet work, but 

 not so largely as the two kinds just noticed. The wood of tlm 

 sycamore maple is yellowish, compact, firm, finely-grained, m: 

 veined, susceptible of a high polish, and easily worked at the ben.-h or 

 the lathe ; it is very much employed in France and Germany by wheel- 

 Wrights, cabinet-makers, turners, wood carvers, musical instrument 

 makers, toy makers, gunstock makers, and the manufacturers of pestles, 

 rollers, wooden spoons and platters, and numerous other articles : in 

 England and Scotland it is used for many of tho above-named purposes, 

 and also for cider presses. Besides these various useful purposes, 

 special examples of the maple are much prized for the beauty of their 

 grain, rendering them well-fitted for surface-veneers for picture 

 and cabinet-work. About one specimen in a hundred of the scarlet 

 maple presents a wavy appearance, produced by a serpentine arrange- 

 ment of the grain, rendering the wood difficult to split and work, but 

 highly beautiful when smoothed and polished. Some specimens of tho 

 sugar maple present what is called a binft rye arrangement of the 

 grain; when smoothed and polished, the surface is diversified \\iih 

 roundish spots of peculiar character, reflecting flashed of light in .1 

 beautiful way. Mr. Holtzapffel, in an examination to discover the 

 cause of this, found that the stem of the tree, when tho bark is stripped 

 on", present* little pita or hollows of irregular form some as if m.idn 

 with a conical punch ; others ill-defined and flattened like the 

 impression from a nail-head. lie found that these hollows are caused 

 by internal spines or points in the bark. Tho layers of the wood being 

 moulded as it were upon these spines, each fibre becomes abruptly 

 curved at these points; insomuch that when cut through by (lie 

 ing-plane, they give, in the tangential slice, the appearance of 

 projections just as in some rose-engine patterns and medallion- 

 engravings, the closer approximation of the lines at their curvatures 

 ' causes those parts to be more black or shaded, and produces upon tho 

 plain surface the appearances of waves or furrows and ridges. 



There are many other economical uses to which the maple is 

 applied. Charcoal made from the sugar-maple wood is mi 

 i countries where coal-fuel is scarce ; while both the plain wood and the 

 i charcoal of the sycamore and white species have a high rcput-ii , 

 > their heating imalitios. Tho Kalmucks boil tho maple-fruit in water, 

 i and eat it with milk and butter. The horses and cattle in Nova 

 Scotia browse eagerly upon the leaves of the striped-bark maple. A 



