146 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



I have not observed the progress of the maple in vegetation : 

 here are some by the road-side ; let us examine them. 



C — The terminal and lateral buds are both opened ; 

 the former seem to have been expanded some days. 



F. — I supposed they were ; the maple usually leafs at 

 about the same time as the birch. 



C. — How many kinds of maple are native ? 

 F. — I believe some five or six species ; but the Rock 

 Maple (Acer Saccharinum) and the Soft Maple (A. Ru- 

 brumj are the best known, and the only ones that are of 

 any note as trees. The Rock, or Sugar Maple is the most 

 noble of our native trees : it grows to a great height, and is 

 crowned with a dense mass of foliage at the summit ; the 

 trunk is generally straight, though often studded with pro- 

 jections and excrescences. When it grows in a clearing, 

 with room for it to spread on every side, and when all its 

 branches are exposed to the light, it is a tree of great beauty. 

 It somewhat resembles the English oak, in its outline^, its 

 trunk, the form of its branches, and the massy character of 

 its foliage — trees with broad sinuated leaves having this 

 character in a higher degree than those whose leaves are more 

 regular in their shape. Their colour is a fine green, changing 

 in autumn to bright scarlet or deep crimson. 



C. — We have seen its utility *n producing sugar ; has 

 it any other use ? 



F. — I have already mentioned it as affording firewood of 

 the best quality ; and though as a sugar tree it is so valuable 

 when growing together, yet as it is found scattered through 

 all our upland woods, and as it is so very abundant, the 

 greater part of our winter fuel is composed of this wood. 

 Besides this, sound and healthy trees are often sawed into 

 plank, which is used for many purposes. When a tree of 

 this kind, or birch, or elm is found, which has a sudden curve 

 or bend in the trunk, it is sawed into plank for the runners 



