1020 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



BARK OF THE SUGAR MAPLE 



The bark is usually ashen gray, but may be a dark brown. On young 

 trees it is smooth, but on older ones it has deep furrows and is 

 divided into broad plates or large, shaggy flakes. 



ing the sugar maple from the red and silver maples, in 

 which the leaf notches are sharply cut and angular. The 

 leaves are 3 to 5 inches long and of a slightly greater 

 breadth ; they are thin in texture, colored deep green on 

 the upper surface and paler green underneath. The 

 entire leaf margin is coarsely toothed. 



The tree is as beautiful in winter as in summer. The 

 branches trace a pleasing pattern , against the sky. The 

 twigs are slender, smooth and of a beautiful light brown 

 color. The buds are sharp-pointed, conical, and about 

 one-quarter inch long. The scales are small, dark brown 

 or purplish in color, and overlap on the bud to form an 

 attractive design. Unlike red and silver maples, which 

 bloom early in the spring before the leaves come out, the 

 sugar maple flowers appear with the leaves in April or 

 May. The flowers that produce the pollen are in sepa- 

 rate clusters from those which produce the fruit. Some- 

 times a tree bears only one kind of flower, but usually 

 both appear on the same tree. They are small, greenish- 

 yellow and are borne in clusters on thread-like stems about 

 2 J/2 inches long. 



The fruit of the sugar maple is winged, two being 

 joined together to form the familiar maple key. Usually 

 only one fruit of the key is perfect and will grow ; if 

 this is carefully opened, the baby tree may be plainly 

 seen. The clusters of keys are usually found at the tips 

 of the twigs and often remain on the tree over winter. 

 In this respect, sugar maple dififers from the red and 

 silver maples, whose fruits usually appear on the sides 



of the branches, ripen early in the summer and fall 

 quickly. The wings on the fruit serve as an aeroplane 

 to carry the seeds to a considerable distance from the 

 parent tree. The heavy end falls first, and, if the keys 

 split apart, the shape of the wing causes the fruit to 

 revolve rapidly and work its way through the grass and 

 debris to the moist ground where it can germinate. 



The wood of the sugar maple is hard, heavy, fine- 

 grained and strong. It has a satiny surface which takes 

 a high polish. The sap wood is white or cream color 

 and the heart is various shades of light brown. The sugar 

 maple is one of our most valuable broad-leaved timber 

 trees. The wood is easily split and is one of our best 

 fuel woods, it is also one of the principal woods di.i- 

 tilled for producing wood alcohol and acetic acid. 



The wood is not naturally durable in contact with 

 soil, but when it is creosoted, it makes excellent railroad 

 ties and fence posts. When burned, its ashes yield large 

 quantities of potash which are leached for soap making 

 and other uses. The ashes are also valued highly for 

 fertilizing purposes, especially for lawns and orchards. 



Curly maple is caused by a twisted grain which gives 

 a beautiful pattern to the wood. Bird's-eye maple is due 

 to the growth of great numbers of buds in the thick bark, 

 or, in some cases, it may be caused by the holes drilled 

 by woodpeckers in quest of the sweet sap. At any rate, 

 the wood has unusual markings, and, like curly maple, it 

 is much in demand for furniture and cabinet making, 

 logs bringing about $90 per thousand feet, board measure. 



Acer, the scientific name of the maple family, means 

 hard or sharp. It was applied because the wood of some 

 kinds of maples is extremely hard and was greatly es- 

 teemed by the ancients for making pikes and lances. The 

 Romans prized maple wood very highly, and tables inlaid 

 with curious portions of it in some instances brought 

 their weight in gold. Virgil celebrates the maple as the 

 throne on which Evander seated Aeneas. 



LEAF OF THE SUGAR MAPLE 



Shaped somewhat like a human hand, the leaf is readily identified. The 

 edges are divided into five points or lobes. The leaves are three to five 

 inches long, thin in texture and colored deep green on the upper sur- 

 face and pale green beneath. 



