Children's Department 



Devottd to imparting information about trees, zvoods and forests to boys and girls so that they may grow to knozv 

 how necessary trees are to the health, wealth and future of their country. 



By Bristow Adams 



MARCH is the month for maple sugar, so the 

 maple tree is a good one for us to think about at 

 this time. 

 Maples are to be found all around the world, except in 

 the tropics and in the very far north. In the United 

 States their range is from the extreme north to the ex- 

 treme <i>uth. and hard maple, or sugar maple, forms a 

 large part of our Northern hardwood forest. Florida 

 maple, at the southern extreme, belongs to the soft maple 



MAKING MAPLE SUGAR 



good deal of white pine and hemlock. In the fall the 

 evergreens appear very dark, almost black, in the midst 

 of their more brightly colored neighbors. The birch is 

 always a flaming yellow, the beech leaves are somewhat 

 coppery, but the maple has all hues, from red to yellow. 

 and adds the more striking color notes to the autumn 

 landscape. 



The maple, if any, is the child's tree, both because of 

 the lovely colors which tempt the little ones to carry 



HOKlNc; HOLE IN SUGAH MAPLE 



Into thi* hole a "spile,'' either of metal or wood, is driven. Tapping a 

 tree doe* not hurt it unless a large number of spiles are used in each 

 tree. 



type, and its bright leaves are a delight among the darker 

 long-leaf pines with which it grows. About this time of 

 the year, when the sap is beginning to flow with its 

 Northern cousins, its new coral-pink leaves can be seen a 

 long way through the darker pine woods, where they 

 shine almost like a pillar of lire. Later on the leaves 

 turn to green, but even this green is lighter and brighter 

 than all of the surrounding trees, and in the fall the 

 leaves turn back toward the red shades, and in most cases 

 are a brilliant scarlet. 



Ml over its range the maple -is noted for the bright 



I : of its foliage. In the North woods it grows witli 



and birch, among which there is likelv to be a 



A CROIP OF TAPPED MAPLES 



These grow in a pasture convenient to the farmhouse, and yield a 

 goodly supply of sap every spring. The sap runs out through the 

 tapped hole in the tree just as water would run out of a barrel and 

 drips into the buckets. 



sprays of the leaves to teacher in spring and fall, and 

 because it is the source of maple sugar and maple syrup. 

 And what child, where the soft maples grow, has not 

 "squirted" the green seeds from the winged "keys," or 

 has not sprayed the sweetish, refreshing juice into his 

 or her mouth ? 



It is said that the Indians in New England knew how 

 to tap the maple trees and get the sweet sap long before 

 the whites came; but trees had been tapped for sugar In 

 people in the Old World long before America was dis- 

 covered, so it is hard to tell who gets the praise for 

 starting the American maple sugar industry. 



While Vermont is generally thought of as the maple 



