10 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Acer rubrum, Linne. 



The Red Maple of North America. A tree, attaining 80 feet ; 

 wood close-grained. Grows well with several other Maples, 

 even in dry, open localities, although the foliage may somewhat 

 suffer from hot winds, but thrives most luxuriantly in swampy, 

 fertile soil. It is valued for street-planting. The foliage 

 turns red in autumn. The wood is of handsome appearance, 

 used in considerable quantity for saddle-trees, yokes, chairs, and 

 other furniture. That of old trees is sometimes cross-grained, 

 and thus furnishes a portion of the curled Maple- wood, which 

 is very beautiful and much in request for gun-stocks and inlay- 

 ing. The tree yields also Maple-sugar, but, like A. dasycarpum, 

 only in about half the quantity obtainable from A. saccharinum 

 (Porcher) . 



Acer saccharinum, Wangenheim.* 



The Sugar or Rock Maple ; one of the largest of the genus. 

 It is the national emblem of Canada. In the colder lati- 

 tudes of North America 80 feet high. The wood is strong, 

 tough, hard, close-grained, of rosy tinge, and when well seasoned 

 used for axle-trees, spokes, shafts, poles, and furniture ; when 

 knotty or curly it furnishes the Birdseye and Curly Maple- wood. 

 In the depth of winter the trees, when tapped, will yield the 

 saccharine fluid, which is so extensively converted into Maple- 

 sugar, each tree yielding 2 to 4 Ibs. a year. The trees can be 

 tapped for very many years in succession, without injury. 

 According to Porcher, instances are on record of 33 Ibs. of 

 sugar having been obtained from a single tree in one season. 

 The tapping process commences towards the end of winter. 

 The Sugar Maple is rich in potash, furnishing a large propor- 

 tion of this article in the United States. The bark is an 

 important constituent in several of the American dyes. The 

 tree is particularly recommended for our Alpine regions. It 

 bears a massive head of foliage on a slender stem. The au- 

 tumnal colouring is superb. In the eastern states of North 

 America the Sugar Maple is regarded as the best tree for shade- 

 avenues. Numerous other Maples exist, among which as the 

 tallest may be mentioned Acer Creticum, L., of South Europe, 

 40 feet ; A. Isevigatum, A. sterculiaceum, and A. villosum, 

 Wallich, of Nepal, 50 feet; A. pictum, Thunb., of Japan, 30 

 feet. 



Achillea millefolium, Linne. 



Yarrow or Millfoil. Europe, Northern Asia, and North America. 

 A perennial medicinal herb of considerable astringency, per- 



